July 21st

Breaking the Israel-Palestine Impasse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy In Focus by Didier Jacobs - (Opinion) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am On a recent trip to Israel, I visited a school in Sderot featuring bunkers in the playground. I asked the principal what she thought about her government: “Things are quiet now, so the policy is working”, she replied. And when rockets rain down, it’s time to retaliate. Hawks take political advantage of violence, and doves can’t convey the urgency of peace in good times. » Read more

September: Why Israelis Are Anxious ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Talking Points Memo by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am This week, the Fatah leadership of the Palestinian Authority announced a full-bore diplomatic effort to gain UN membership for a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem. President Mahmud Abbas is touring Europe and Turkey. Emissaries will be traveling to China, India and other rising powers. Saeb Erekat, Abbas's indefatigable chief negotiator, called the campaign for statehood "massive." » Read more

Standing up to the pro-Israel establishment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com by Teresa Cotsirilos - (Interview) July 20, 2011 - 12:00am In the two years since Jeremy Ben-Ami founded J Street, which bills itself as a "pro-peace, pro-Israel" voice for a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, his organization has been attacked as "morally deficient" and "appallingly naive" by critics in the American Jewish community and on the right end of the political spectrum. And in Israel, members of the Knesset have even formed a committee to determine whether J Street is "anti-Israel" and should be publicly condemned. » Read more

As U.S. Steps Back, Europe Takes Bigger Role in Mideast Peace Push ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mark Landler - July 20, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — It is a truism of Middle East peacemaking that the United States is the pivotal player — the most credible broker between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But with talks at a standstill, the Obama administration now finds itself on the sidelines, and Europe is emerging as the key diplomatic actor. » Read more

Israel is afraid of peaceful protest for good reason ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am Over 63 years, Palestinians have not only had to resist Israel's occupation, but also the propaganda campaign that justifies acts of aggression as the "right of self-defence". Killing non-violent protesters, Palestinian or otherwise, is not self-defence. That obvious truth is staring Israel in the face. New peaceful demonstrations inspired by the Arab spring, as well as the Palestinian Authority's bid for UN recognition as an independent state, have shown that Israel is far more comfortable dealing with Qassam rocket attacks than it is with intelligent, non-violent resistance. » Read more

Noam Sheizaf: Worrying About Israeli Democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward by Noam Sheizaf - (Opinion) July 19, 2011 - 12:00am A few minutes after midnight on July 11, the night the Knesset passed its anti-boycott law, a hundred or so young Israelis gathered at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Since the square is being renovated, they clustered along one of its edges. Some of them improvised protest signs, facing them towards busy Ibn Gvirol Avenue. Others were chatting. After about an hour, it was all over. Watching from the bustling pubs and coffee shops on the other side of the street, it was impossible to tell that Israeli democracy had just suffered its worst blow in years. » Read more

The Forgotten Incentive of Settlement Businesses ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Hagit Ofran - (Opinion) July 19, 2011 - 12:00am There is a sense of outrage within the Israeli public following the passing of "the boycott law" in the Knesset last week. The law allows any individual or institution who faces possible damage as a result of any person's call for boycott settlement products to sue that person. Evidence of actual damage will not be required. Organizations calling for such boycott could lose their legal standing as non profit organization. » Read more

Washington Watch: Threatening Israeli democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am If Bibi Netanyahu had been a young, white Jew growing up in Mississippi in the 1960s instead of the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he might take a different view of boycotts. He would understand that political protests strengthen democracy, and that laws restricting free speech and association weaken the fiber of a nation. » Read more

MK Danny Danon is the new McCarthy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am A bit less of a Kahanist than National Union MK Michael Ben Ari, a bit less of a garbler than Likud MK Yariv Levin and a bit less pompous than Likud MK Ofir Akunis, Likud MK Danny Danon will go far. He's a member of the ruling party and is definitely going to show all those leftists and Arabs. He has already threatened them once: The party is over. Yesterday he acted once again to implement his threat. » Read more

IDF must fight its growing religious extremism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am Maj. Gen. Avi Zamir, the outgoing head of the Israel Defense Forces' Personnel Directorate, is urging that the IDF's drift toward religious extremism be stopped. In a document he sent to the chief of staff and all the major generals, whose content was reported by Amos Harel in yesterday's Haaretz, Zamir called for a reorganization of secular-religious relations in the army. » Read more