May 7th

Israel says inclusion on UN list 'absurd'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 30, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's Foreign Ministry has criticized a U.N. statement that places the country on a list of nations it says are moving to further restrict advocacy and rights groups. Spokesman Yigal Palmor on Monday called Israel's inclusion on the list "absurd." The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the statement last week. It criticized an Israeli law requiring groups to report more rigorously on funding from foreign governments.

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NEWS: The Israeli military has closed an investigation into the killing of 21 members of a family in Gaza in 2009 and says no charges will be filed regarding the tragedy. Hamas denies that Khaled Meshal and the Politburo have been stripped of control of the organization's budget and paramilitary operations. A “blame-game” is hampering a solution to the Gaza energy crisis. Palestinians say new Israeli settlement plans threaten the Palestinian tourism industry. The US is reportedly pressuring the UN Human Rights Commissioner to postpone an investigation into Israeli settlement activity. Speaker Rivlin says the Knesset is likely to be desolved next week. Arye Deri may return to a senior position in the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Abbas and PM Fayyad separately send condolence letters to PM Netanyahu upon the death of his father. A Palestinian TV station is sued as the PA media crackdown continues. Hezbollah may be stockpiling drones in anticipation of possible conflict with Israel. COMMENTARY: Alon Ben-Meir says Israel's continued independence depends on Palestinian independence. Hadani Ditmars explains how traveling overseas can easily cost Palestinian Jerusalemites their residency permits. Attila Somfalvi says Tzipi Livni's career is not over. Bruce Acks says most Israelis and Palestinians could find a peace agreement if their leaders would permit them the chance. Susan Hattis Rolef says the epidemic of settlement outposts challenges both Israel's rule of law and the prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Tony Karon says Netanyahu's push for a war with Iran is losing momentum. The National says hunger striking Palestinian prisoners are losing world attention, but Osama Al Sharif says the Arab world and others should rally to their cause. Gershom Gorenberg looks at the legacy of Netanyahu's recently deceased extremist father. Hussein Ibish says the PA must stop censoring the Internet.

PA Must Stop Censoring Internet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Last weekend, Palestinian Authority Attorney General Ahmad al-Mughni publicly defended the blocking of several websites critical of the PA government and especially President Mahmoud Abbas. It was the first effort by any official to explain or defend these extraordinary actions, which have garnered widespread condemnation in Palestinian society. 

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Benzion Netanyahu's Legacies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Honesty is difficult, perhaps distasteful, in talking of man just now dead. Honesty nonetheless requires saying that Benzion Netanyahu would be briefly eulogized as a historian, and more briefly recalled as a footnote to forgotten Zionist rivalries, were it not for his other legacy: the son whose politics, view of history, and resentments he shaped.

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`Palestinian prisoners
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

In what is probably the biggest act of defiance by Palestinians since the second Intifada, 12 years ago, more than 2,000 prisoners in Israeli jails are now on an open-ended hunger strike to protest against unfair prison conditions.

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Palestinian hunger strikers losing audience
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Ever since Khader Adnan shone an international spotlight on Israel's harsh detention without trial of Palestinians, the Israeli government has feared his successful hunger strike would be copied by others. That has now happened, but the spotlight has faded.

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Netanyahu's warmongering on Iran losing momentum
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

So, what's going to be the main foreign policy contest of the US presidential election? A week ago, you'd have gotten long odds for any answer other than Iran; now, it's looking a lot more like China. The political earthquake has yet to register, but register it must after blind dissident Chen Guangcheng escaped his house arrest and sought shelter in the US embassy in Beijing.

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The outpost and the rule of law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Susan Hattis Rolef - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Last Friday the state requested that the High Court of Justice put off by 90 days the demolition of five houses in the Ulpana outpost in Beit El that were built on private Palestinian land. Just over a year ago the court ruled that the houses should be demolished by May 1, 2012.

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Discovering the Palestinian territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Bruce Acks - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Almost every visitor to Jerusalem knows about the Central Bus Station. It is beautifully built, made from white Jerusalem stone, and a large clock sits in the center against a background of dark blue windows. What many tourists (and Israelis) do not know, however, is that there is actually another Central Bus Station in Jerusalem. This station is not as grand, fancy, or comfortable as the first, but its buses go to destinations that only they can reach.

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Livni's career is not over
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Attila Somfalvi - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

"I'll see you sometimes, somewhere," said Tzipi Livni to her supporters on the night she lost the Kadima primaries to Shaul Mofaz.

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