Aharonovitch: Israelis, Palestinians on a collision course ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post April 5, 2011 - 12:00am Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Tuesday said that Israel is on a collision course with the Palestinians and cannot allow the threat to expand to the point that it is at Tel Aviv's doorstep, Israel Radio reported. Speaking while on a tour of Sderot, Aharonovitch added that Israel can not quietly accept rocket and mortar fire and that the Palestinians need to be hit hard. Aharonovitch advised Sderot residents to prepare for another round of violent conflict. » Read more

Hamas suspect held in WBank actor killing-Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Mohammed Assadi - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am A top Palestinian security official said police had arrested a member of the Islamist Hamas group over the assassination of award-winning Arab-Israeli actor and director, Juliano Mer Khamis. "One of those arrested is a prime suspect in the killing, he belongs to Hamas and is being interrogated," the official, who declined to be named, said on Tuesday, » Read more

Goldstone Report: Reexamining 5 key findings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ariel Zirulnick - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Israel targeted Gazan civilians The Goldstone Report claimed that Israel intentionally targeted Palestinian civilians as a matter of policy, which is a violation of international law. Judge Goldstone's column last week retracted that charge, which may have been the most controversial allegation leveled against Israel in the report. Paragraph 1,886 from the original report: » Read more

Encountering Peace: Israelis vote yes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Okay, so Israel has been exonerated from the allegations in the Goldstone Report. We can all breathe a sigh of relief. We now know for sure the IDF did not intentionally kill Palestinian noncombatants. » Read more

Gaza: the stain remains on Israel's war record ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Kenneth Roth - (Opinion) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Netanyahu government is doing everything it can to interpret a recent Washington Post op-ed article by Justice Richard Goldstone as vindication of Israel's conduct in the 2008-09 Gaza conflict. It is nothing of the sort. Israel's reluctance to confront that reality finds a parallel in its refusal to date to conduct credible investigations into the serious violations of the laws of war that it committed in Gaza. The Goldstone article does not relieve it of the obligation to pursue those investigations. » Read more

What's behind Goldstone's flip-flop? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times (Editorial) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am Few recent events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been as wildly controversial and polarizing as the release of the Goldstone report, a United Nations-sponsored study prepared in the aftermath of Israel's devastating, 3-week-long assault on the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-09. » Read more

The Goldstone Report and Israel’s moral standing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Richard Goldstone - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am It came as (almost) no surprise to me that Japanese utility workers remained at their crippled and highly toxic nuclear plant even at the risk of death. It came as (almost) no surprise either that in the chaos of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, there were no reported incidents of widespread looting. Japan is one vast community, mostly a single ethnic group, and societal pressures are intense. A nation, like an individual, has a culture. » Read more

Ross: Turmoil sharpens Israeli needs for security guarantees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Mohamed Ahbdellah - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am The recent Middle East turmoil has sharpened Israeli needs for tangible security guarantees in exchange for concessions to the Palestinians, Dennis Ross said. Ross, President Obama’s top Middle East adviser, told the Anti-Defamation League’s annual leadership conference in Washington on Monday that security guarantees sought by Israel toward a peace deal with the Palestinians were critical, “particularly during a time of change.” The Palestinians, in turn, “need to see that they can have an independent state that is viable and contiguous” as well as “signs the occupation is receding.” » Read more

Israeli actor slain in Jenin refu­gee camp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am A prominent Israeli actor and director who mentored young Palestinians at a youth theater that he founded in the West Bank town of Jenin was fatally shot Monday in the community’s refugee camp. Juliano Mer Khamis, 52, born to a Jewish mother and a Christian Arab father, personified the complexities of the conflict dividing his country. He served in Israel’s army as a paratrooper and portrayed Israeli Jews in film and on stage, but he cast his lot with the Palestinians. » Read more

How to Break the Mideast Deadlock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab-Israeli peace process is frozen solid. A breakthrough would require something far bolder and more imaginative than the president articulating another set of sterile American policy positions. But a bolder proposal — outlined below — has a high risk of failure and may be well beyond the will or capacity of the United States to achieve. Given the current turbulence in the Arab world, the smart money on such a risky venture — or on any peace initiative — would be to wait at least until after U.S. elections in November 2012. » Read more