January 9th

Israel Charges 5 Settlers in West Bank Army Base Clash
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 8, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors on Sunday charged five radical Jewish settlers with tracking troop movements in the West Bank and organizing a raid on an Israeli Army base there last month. The indictment was the first sign of a promised crackdown on settlers whose increasingly provocative actions have been described by some Israeli officials as homegrown terrorism.

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Fayyad: Govt raises tax, cutting costs to plug deficit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 9, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is cutting spending and raising taxes in an attempt to plug the $1.1 billion deficit in the public budget, he told reporters in Ramallah on Sunday evening. Fayyad's government aims to knock $350 million off the budget deficit through new measures to cut costs and increase revenues, including an income tax increase now in effect, the premier said. The global financial crisis and a failure of donor countries to honor their aid pledges has caused a sharp increase in the budget shortfall in 2011.

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January 6th

NEWS: Israel and the United States will conduct a major joint missile defense exercise. A Saudi computer hacker is continuing a campaign against Israeli sites. Hamas leader Mishaal makes a surprise visit to Cairo. Israeli, Palestinian and American negotiators will meet again on Monday. Hamas leaders dismiss the negotiations. Analysts say by hosting the talks, Jordan is defending its strategic interests. US officials say Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have given them assurances on the peace treaty with Israel. Two Palestinian citizens of Israel are arrested on charges of working with Hamas. Palestinians say Israel is creating a politically-motivated series of parks in occupied East Jerusalem. The Forward profiles the far-right-wing Israeli politician Danny Danon. COMMENTARY: The Huffington Post interviews former Pres. Carter on brokering Egyptian-Israeli peace. Mahmoud Abu Rahma says some Palestinian “resistance groups” have caused serious problems for people living under their rule and neglected governance. Yoel Marcus says Israel is making a mistake if it thinks Pres. Obama is no longer effective. Kadima leader Livni says she misses former PM Sharon because he cared about Israel's long-term future. Hirsh Goodman says the Israeli government has been ineffective in fighting for Israel's legitimacy.Jane Eisner looks at the role of Fadwa Barghouti. Sarah Wildman says criticism of Israeli policies cannot be conflated with anti-Semitism. Rami Khouri says the parties are beginning 2012 with a return to failed models of diplomacy. A.B. Yehoshua says Israeli policies and Palestinian conduct are dragging both peoples towards an unworkable binational reality. Daniel Gordis says loving Israel means sometimes defending and sometimes criticizing it.

PostScript: Time to get smart
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel’s legitimacy, over the past few years, has become the battle cry of Israel and its supporters. With no wars, suffering, mass immigration and other heart-wrenching situations to flesh donor dollars out of ever-tightening wallets, saving Israel from those who seek to delegitimize it has become the new cause; the new war.

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I miss Ariel Sharon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Tzipi Livni - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

Arik Sharon sank into a coma six years ago. All of us followed it and prayed with hope as the ambulance disappeared into the hospital. When today I try to think about the essence of the public longing for Sharon, six years later, it appears that the longing for Arik has turned into longing for a prime minister who does not fear domestic politics and who sees the welfare of the nation of Israel before him when making decisions.

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Israel should remember: Obama is down, not out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am

While we are toying with the notion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will bring forward the elections here in order to gain a decisive majority, we are simultaneously entering the real thing: the U.S. elections. This is not only the matter of President Barack Obama's potential second term, it's also election year for the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. Although we don't vote in America, we are keeping very close tabs on the elections' progress.

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The gap between resistance and governance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Mahmoud Abu Rahma - (Opinion) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am

Once again, the media have begun to focus their attention on Palestinian reconciliation talks, which seem at last to be headed in a positive direction. These talks will include the particularly difficult process of social reconciliation for the period between 2004 and 2007 when inter-communal violence led to the terrorizing, wounding, and killing of scores of people as well as the widespread destruction of property.

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Marwan Barghouti Speaks, Through Wife
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Jane Eisner - (Editorial) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am

He is the Palestinians’ most famous prisoner and most popular politician. Now Marwan Barghouti is speaking to the American public, through the voice of his wife. Every 15 days, Fadwa Barghouti is allowed to visit her husband in an Israeli prison, where he has served 10 years of five consecutive life sentences for helping to arrange and fund terrorist attacks that killed five Israelis. Marwan Barghouti insisted that his trial was politicized and unfair, and even some Israelis have spoken out for his release.

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Jimmy Carter Interview: Real Story Behind Egypt Israeli Peace Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Paul Brandeis Raushenbush - (Interview) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

Jimmy Carter is the 39th president of the United States, founder of the Carter Center and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He has authored many books, the most recent being "Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President." In this wide-ranging interview, HuffPost's Senior Religion Editor spoke to President Carter by phone about the role faith played in the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, the time of his greatest alienation from God, faith in the White House and his personal daily devotional practice.

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When 'Anti-Semitism' Is Abused
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Sarah Wildman - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

We were raised to be vigilant. We were taught to fight oppression, admonished to be New Jews — strong, muscular, defiant. We were told to look for the signs, the slogans and the double-speak. We learned at the knee of those with tattooed forearms; knelt at the feet of those who lost brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, lovers, spouses, children. We have cried, we have wailed, we have lit thousands upon thousands of memorial candles. And we have sworn, again and again, that we would never forget.

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