Netanyahu's power play pays off ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jonathan Marcus - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am Having created one surprise in pushing for an early general election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now delivered an even greater bomb-shell. The plan for early elections has been abandoned. Instead a new broadly-based governing coalition has been called into existence with the opposition centre-right Kadima party of Shaul Mofaz joining the government. Many of Kadima's members of parliament were facing defeat in any early general election: they will breathe a great sigh of relief. » Read more

Not social justice, peace! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) May 7, 2012 - 12:00am Everyone is in agreement; this election season will be about social justice. Shaul Mofaz has suddenly discovered the economy and wants to be the hero of the under classes in Israel. Shelly Yacimovich had propelled into the public eye and has doubled the support for the Labor Party by being the champion of the working class. Yair Lapid wants to parade in front of the middle class camp. Shas always claims to represent the Israeli poor. Binyamin Netanyahu wants to convince us how much better off we are economically now than three years ago with him at the helm. » Read more

It’s time for civil disobedience ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Meir Margalit - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am I was questioned under caution! Not in a gloomy cellar, without blinding projectors like in the movies, and without Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) interrogators who shouted and caressed alternately. The questioning was conducted by officials from the Interior Ministry’s Construction Inspection Unit in Jerusalem. The suspicion – “illegal construction” that I allegedly carried out in east Jerusalem, and on more than one occasion. » Read more

Iron Dome: Israeli necessity, American priority, strategic imperative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Howard Berman - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am For years, Sderot was a city under siege, the target of non-stop rocket attacks launched by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza. School was halted, synagogues were silenced and in a community defined by courage, the fragments of rockets and mortars – the vehicles of attempted murder aimed at innocent Israelis – were plain for all to see. Sderot became a living museum of terror. » Read more

Netanyahu's next Israel: Bad for the Right, good for the Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am Israelis don't change, unless someone or something creeps up on them from a direction they never look, and slips the comfort zone rug out from under them. The rug may be frayed to the floor, faintly gummy to the touch, it may be mined with thorns and shards of shattered glass. But they'll hang onto it for what passes for dear life. Unless … » Read more

Mofaz-Netanyahu cabinet may pave the way for an Israeli strike on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amir Oren - May 8, 2012 - 12:00am A "prime ministers' forum" was held as part of the unity government of 1984-1990: Shimon Peres, first as prime minister, later as vice-prime minister and foreign (or finance minister); Yitzhak Shamir, first as former and future prime minister and then as incumbent; and Yitzhak Rabin, as former prime minister and incumbent defense minister. » Read more

We Need to Talk ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) May 7, 2012 - 12:00am It's a simple dictum, but one that many still have trouble accepting: Israelis and Palestinians have to talk to each other if they're going to get anywhere. » Read more

Abbas, Fayyad agree on new PA cabinet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - May 7, 2012 - 12:00am A new Palestinian Authority cabinet is expected to be announced within the next 48 hours, sources in Ramallah said Monday evening. They said that the new cabinet will be headed by current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The sources said that Nabil Qassis, the former president of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, will replace Fayyad as finance minister. The new cabinet will be formed in accordance with an agreement recently reached between Fayyad and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

EU: Israel must allow medical, family visits to hunger-strikers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 8, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The European Union offices in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday expressed concern about the deteriorating health condition of Palestinian prisoners on hunger-strike for over two months. Israel's Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeals of administrative detainees Bilal Diab, 27, from Jenin, and Thaer Halahla, 33, from Hebron -- who have refused food since Feb. 29. » Read more

Israel raids office of Palestinian anti-settlement organization ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 8, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli forces on Tuesday seized computers and cameras from the office of a Palestinian organization that organizes public activities against Jewish settlement activities, Palestinian witnesses said. The soldiers smashed the doors of the Public Campaign against Settlements and Wall's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, seized the equipment and left. The incident took place before the workday started. » Read more