December 10th

1947's Zionists, Today's Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by David N. Myers - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am Sixty-five years ago, the Zionist movement scored the greatest success in its history—recognition on November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly, of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. U.N. General Assembly resolution 181 called for the creation of a Jewish state alongside an Arab State, with Jerusalem as an international protectorate. It was this diplomatic act that brought the State of Israel into existence. » Read more

Peace moving further away ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am There were times when the entire world would "hold its breath" before Egyptian rulers delivered their speeches, thinking they would make some earth-shattering remarks. In Israel, way before the Egyptian leaders spoke, IDF intelligence officers would hand their commanders reports containing the statements they expected the Egyptian leaders would make. The result, in most cases, was quite amusing. » Read more

Losing Hope on Israeli-Palestinian Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by Leon Wieseltier - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am LOST CAUSES are not wrong causes, unless winning is the measure of right. The historical victory of an idea reveals nothing about its merit: power has uses for fictions, and the popularity of lies is an ancient feature of human affairs. » Read more

Drying out the Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am Since the beginning of the year, Israel has destroyed 35 rainwater cisterns used by Palestinian communities, 20 of them in the area of Hebron and the southern Hebron Hills. In 2011, Israel destroyed 15 cisterns, and in the preceding 18 months, 29. In many of these cases ancient cisterns were destroyed that had served the forefathers of the inhabitants of these communities. Recently, they have been restored with European assistance. » Read more

Israel takes a harder line ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times (Editorial) December 4, 2012 - 1:00am When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would seek recognition from the United Nations for a Palestinian state, Israel complained that Abbas should have pursued that objective in face-to-face peace negotiations and warned of grave consequences, threatening to expand » Read more

The Full Israeli Experience ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am THESE were the main regional news headlines in The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday: “Home Front Command simulates missile strike during drill.” Egypt’s President “Morsi opts for safety as police battle protestors.” In Syria, “Fight spills over into Lebanon.” “Darkness at noon for fearful Damascus residents.” “Tunisian Islamists, leftists clash after jobs protests.” “NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons.” » Read more

Beyond the UN vote: New futures for Palestine and Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New Jersey News by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am On Nov. 29, which marked the 65th anniversary of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for partitioning British-mandate Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states and a special international regime for the city of Jerusalem, the U.N. granted Palestine the status of a “nonmember observer state.” » Read more

EU mulling ways to press Israel to ditch settlement expansion plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters (Analysis) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am   The European Union will look at ways on Monday to press Israel to ditch a plan to build settlements in a highly sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, but hold off on tough action soon despite international outrage over the decision. » Read more

Undercover Units Not Allowed To Operate Against Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Amichai Atali - (Analysis) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am   An unprecedented resolution taken by the Israeli minister of public security, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, stipulates that from now on the undercover “Arabized” counter-terrorism units (commonly known as the Arab Platoons) will be barred from acting against Jews and are to act against Arabs only. » Read more

Reconsider 2002 Arab peace offer to Israel, says Qatar ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) (Analysis) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am   Qatar said yesterday that it was time to reconsider the Arab offer to normalise ties with Israel in return for its pullout from occupied Palestinian land. It also said the international Quartet attempting to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians should be branded a failure. » Read more