French Jews Mostly Side With Sarkozy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Robert Zaretsky - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Like the United States, France will choose a president this year. Little more than two months away from the elections, the conservative president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is running behind the Socialist candidate, François Hollande. Several other candidates are polling well: Marine Le Pen of the extreme right-wing Front National hovers at about 20%, followed by the centrist candidate, François Bayrou, and by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who represents a coalition of parties to the left of the Socialists.

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NEWS: The Israeli government gives preliminary approval for 600 more settler housing units. An agreement between Hamas and Egypt may end the fuel crisis in Gaza. Hamas abandons the plan to tax goods imported through Israel. An Israeli talkshow host is being investigated for calling leftists and Arabs “anti-Semites” and “Nazis.” US officials and EU FP chief Ashton criticize Israel's decision to retroactively recognize “unauthorized” settlement units. Extremist settlers propose Israel annex huge chunks of the occupied territories. Hamas and Fatah hold talks in Cairo on a national unity government. News reports say Hamas will demand key positions in any new government, including the Interior Ministry, and no change in security arrangements. PLO officials dismiss Israel's leaked account of recent negotiations as “half-truths.” COMMENTARY: Ari Shavit says it's up to Pres. Obama to stop an Israeli attack on Iran. Bradley Burston says the BDS movement is coming under some overdue scrutiny. Mira Sucharov says a recent debate on Twitter over a hunger strike shows how value-free the conversation has become. Cameron Brown says whatever they think about Israel, most Jewish Americans should and will continue to support Obama. Ray Hanania says Palestinians need to do more to tell their story through film. Douglas Bloomfield notes GOP presidential candidates are doing almost nothing to reach out to Arab-American voters. Robert Zaretsky says French Jews mostly support Pres. Sarkozy. John Whitbeck says Palestinians have real options in the UN General Assembly. Alex Brummer says Israel would improve its security and future by addressing concerns of its Bedouin citizens. The Economist interviews Hirsh Goodman on the future of Israel. David Makovsky says issues regarding Iran will challenge relations between Obama and PM Netanyahu as never before.

Friendship Under Fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by David Makovsky - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Next month, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a key meeting over the Iranian nuclear challenge that will test their sometimes rocky relationship. After a weekend visit by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon to Israel, the White House announced this week that Obama will host Netanyahu in Washington on March 5. This will be an opportunity for the two leaders to synchronize their positions on Iran.

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It could be just like Switzerland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
by Hirsh Goodman - (Interview) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

HIRSH GOODMAN is a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is former vice president of the Jerusalem Post and founder and former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Report. He is the author of “The Anatomy of Israel’s Survival” (2011). ECONOMIST: What don't most people know about modern Israel?

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The future of Israel lies not in international relations, but in the hands of Israelis themselves
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Daily Mail
by Alex Brummer - (Opinion) February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

When it comes to Middle East reporting, the central narrative has for several decades been Israel-Palestine. But for the past year, since the start of the Arab Spring (Israeli sources prefer to call it the Arab Winter or Arab Tempest), it is the rest of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from Egypt to Bahrain, from Syria to Libya, that have been in the limelight. Indeed, of the 17 or so countries which make up the MENA region, almost all – including Israel with its own ‘cottage cheese’ protests – have seen some kind of protests, many of them violent and bloody.

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Momentum for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

There was visible and audible euphoria at the UN General Assembly in September when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Palestine’s application for UN membership, at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters in October when Palestine was admitted as a member state, and at UNESCO in December when the Palestinian flag was formally raised in Abbas’ presence. Since then, nothing.

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Watching the Arab vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Quite a bit has been written lately about the impact of the Jewish vote in this year’s presidential race, but what about the Arab-American vote? That will be tested next week in the state with the country’s second largest Arab-American population, Michigan, and a week later in Ohio, which ranks eighth. Unlike Jews, who historically vote 3:1 Democratic, Arab Americans have been less predictable. Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have done little discernible to court Michigan’s Arab- American voters.

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The power of film not given its due in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ray Hanania - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Many say the pen is mightier than the sword, but today film is mightier than the pen. Every year at this time, our attention turns to the power of film at the Academy Awards, many times in a competitive way between Palestinians and Israelis. This year, only one Middle East film has been nominated for an Oscar. But my favorite film wasn’t.

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Obama – good for the Jews?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Cameron S. Brown - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Mitt Romney is finally emerging as the Republican nominee for president. In the weeks ahead, he will begin to face off directly against President Barack Obama, and this will cause American Jews to once ask again the oft-repeated question of whether or not Obama is good for Israel. The debate so far has regrettably been overly partisan and more than a little close-minded. A sincere discussion of the issue requires us to go beyond the present tendency of each side to rummage through facts in their mad search for evidence that proves their view.

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What the case of Khader Adnan can teach us about Twitter morality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

As Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli administrative detention, ends his 66-day hunger strike, activists and Israeli government officials are no doubt breathe a sigh of relief. One man remains alive while Israeli authorities get to catch their breath. Whether they decide whether to reevaluate the use of controversial practices like administrative detention to enforce the occupation is another story.

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