US envoy in Israel to Rivlin: Obama will visit Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post July 5, 2011 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama will visit Israel, US ambassador to Israel James B. Cunningham told Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday. "The president wants to visit and he will do so," Cunningham told Rivlin. Though he did not specify a date for the visit, Cunningham said it was on Obama's agenda. Rivlin told Cunningham that "Israelis sense that the atmosphere in the White House has changed for the worse. The feeling is that Obama views Israel as a burden more than as a strategic asset." » Read more

2 killed in IDF strike on terror cell ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hanan Greenberg - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Israel Air Force targeted a terror cell in Gaza Tuesday, after it was identified as attempting to fire projectiles at Israel. The pilots reported hitting their mark. A Palestinian medical source said two people were killed and one wounded in the strike, which took place east of the Maghazi refugee camp. The sources said the three were hit while approaching the security fence in central Gaza; adding that the bodies were taken to the Gaza hospital. It is still unclear which militant organization the three were associated with. » Read more

Alarming rise in clashes between settlers and Palestinians in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The IDF is alarmed by the increase in clashes in the West Bank between Palestinian villagers and settlers in nearby outposts and by the growing harassment of senior army officers and civil servants by right-wing extremists. The commanders are concerned that the situation may deteriorate even further with the diplomatic crisis looming in September when Palestinians make their bid for UN recognition. » Read more

Israel, Palestinians hope to avoid fall violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 3, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli and Palestinian security forces are already taking precautions to avoid an outbreak of violence after an expected U.N. vote for Palestinian independence in September, officials on both sides said Sunday, reflecting shared concerns about the possibility of renewed fighting this fall. For now, Israeli and Palestinian officials said they do not want — or expect — armed hostilities to resume. But both sides fear that one small incident could quickly spin out of control. » Read more

Conspiracy to block flotilla ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Linda S. Heard - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am It never ceases to astonish how a sliver of a country that has been illegally occupying another people's land for 44 years succeeds in leading the international community by the nose. The efforts by several countries to block the Freedom Flotilla II from setting sail to Gaza for the purpose of breaking the Israeli blockade is a shameful example of governments' machinations. » Read more

Israel pushes on with settlement plans on annexed land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - July 4, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's Jerusalem municipality approved a plan on Monday to build hundreds of new homes for Jews on annexed land in the occupied West Bank, a council member said. Elisha Peleg told Reuters that the city planning commission had approved building plans for 900 new units in Gilo, an urban settlement built on land Israel captured in a 1967 war and unilaterally annexed to Jerusalem. » Read more

Netanyahu gallops on while peacemaking stumbles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jeffrey Heller - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The last time an Israeli prime minister led a government that served out a full four-year term, Ronald Reagan was just settling into the White House. Political in-fighting and, in one case, an assassination, have cut short the governance of Israeli leaders who formed fragile coalitions after elections in which no party in Israel has ever won an outright parliamentary majority. » Read more

An Israeli View: Why we are going to the UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Blog) July 4, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestine Liberation Organization has now officially decided to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Leaving aside speculation as to whether this really will happen in September and what the consequences might be on the ground back home in Palestine and Israel, this is a good occasion to ask how we arrived at this juncture. The conventional wisdom that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's intransigent behavior has driven the Palestinians to adopt the international track is important, but hardly offers a complete explanation. » Read more

With Gaza flotilla stalled, both sides claim victory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - July 3, 2011 - 12:00am After intense diplomatic efforts and threats of military action, Israel appeared Sunday to have stymied an attempt to challenge its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, with nearly all boats in a planned aid flotilla confined to ports in Greece. Israeli officials pronounced themselves satisfied with efforts to block the flotilla, which have averted a confrontation at sea. Last year, Israeli naval commandos boarded a similar flotilla and killed nine people in clashes on a Turkish ship, drawing international condemnation that forced Israel to ease its land blockade of Gaza. » Read more

West Bank demolitions highlight struggle for Jordan Valley ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Israeli troops and bulldozers arrived in the early morning and quickly got to work, tearing down shelters made of plastic netting and poles that had served as homes for about 100 people in this impoverished Bedouin community in the parched Jordan Valley. » Read more