NEWS: The emergent Palestinian IT sector in the occupied West Bank evades Israeli restrictions on physical movement. Sec. Panetta says he does not believe Israel has made a decision regarding what to do about Iran. Mitt Romney courts donors and raises cash in Israel, declares Jerusalem to be Israel's capital, and says differences with the United States embolden the enemies of both countries. PM Fayyad meets with Romney. A Palestinian man is killed at an Israeli checkpoint. Pres. Abbas says he's confident Palestinians can gain further recognition at the UN. Israel plans to deploy new rocket interceptors in 2013. A member of the committee looking into the question says trying to determine the cause of death of the late Pres. Arafat is “like looking for a needle in the ocean.” Palestinians say Israeli settlers are draining West Bank water supplies. The EU is pressuring Israel to change its policies towards “Area C,” and complains about wide-ranging human rights violations. The US has reportedly presented Israel with a contingency plan for a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Another mysterious incident raises the question of Israeli espionage in the United States. Former Obama aide Dennis Ross reportedly will not be campaigning for the president's reelection. COMMENTARY: Israel Hayom interviews Romney. Barak Ravid says PM Netanyahu has embraced Romney as no Israeli prime minister has ever embraced the US candidate before. Gershom Gorenberg says Romney didn't really have much to gain by visiting Israel. Herb Keinon says Israel has become a backdrop set for US presidential politics. Jan Schakowski asks what exactly Romney is proposing that would be so different from what Pres. Obama has done with regard to Israel, and Abraham Katzman suggests some examples. Uri Avnery says Israelis are avoiding looking at the contradictions of their own ideology and politics. The Independent publishes extracts from Raja Shehadeh's new book “Occupation Diaries.”

Key Pro-Israel Obama Ally Splits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Eli Lake - July 28, 2012 - 12:00am

As Republican donors are financing multimillion-dollar campaigns to bring Jewish voters over to Mitt Romney, one of President Obama’s most important liaisons to the pro-Israel community has opted to sit out the 2012 election cycle.

»

Tales from the West Bank: Palestinian Raja Shehadeh chronicles life during occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Raja Shehadeh - (Book Review) July 28, 2012 - 12:00am

13 December 2009: I'm just back from a lovely day spent in Wadi Kelt, the ravine on the way between Jerusalem and Jericho. This is one of the few places in the West Bank where one can be sure of finding water even after the drought of the past eight months. Turned out we were not the only ones who had the idea of an outing there. Just after we put down our rucksacks and stretched out on the rock in the sun, a Palestinian family of nine arrived. They were disappointed to find us there but settled for the second best slab of rock on the opposite side of the pool.

»

‘Talk Zionism’ — a string of empty phrases
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) July 30, 2012 - 12:00am

HE talks Zionism,” used to be a very derogatory comment when I was young. It meant that some elderly functionary had come to waste our time with a boring speech consisting largely of empty phrases. That was before the foundation of the State of Israel. Since then, the term Zionism has been elevated to the status of a state ideology, if not state religion. Everything the state does is justified by the use of this word. Some would say that Zionism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

»

US sees Israel as spy threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
July 30, 2012 - 12:00am

The CIA station chief opened the locked box containing the sensitive equipment he used from his home in Tel Aviv to communicate with CIA headquarters in Virginia, only to find that someone had tampered with it. He sent word to his superiors about the break-in. The incident, described by three former senior US intelligence officials, might have been dismissed as just another cloak-and-dagger incident in the world of international espionage, except that the same thing had happened to the previous station chief in Israel.

»

The 'opposite' of Obama: A primer for Democrats
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Abraham Katsman - (Opinion) July 29, 2012 - 12:00am

In June, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told an audience of Christian conservatives that he would do the “opposite” of what US President Barack Obama has done in terms of Israel. “I think, by and large, you can just look at the things the president has done and do the opposite.” Romney explained that his “overarching” message was that “I would not want to show a dime’s worth of distance between ourselves and our allies like Israel. If we have disagreements, we can talk about them behind closed doors.

»

U.S. presented Netanyahu with contingency plan for Iran strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - July 29, 2012 - 12:00am

The U.S. national security adviser has shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the United States' contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran. According to a senior American official, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon briefed Netanyahu on the plans during Donilon's visit to Israel two weeks ago. According to the official, who requested anonymity, Netanyahu hosted Donilon at a three-hour dinner. For part of the time, Israel's national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, was on hand.

»

EU slams Israel’s 'human rights violations'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
July 29, 2012 - 12:00am

In a recent statement issued by the EU-Israel Association Council, the European Union (EU) sharply criticized Israel for what it referred to as a wide range of human rights violations in the Jewish state and the "occupied Palestinian territory (OPT)."

»

Romney on Israel: What is doing the 'opposite' of Obama?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jan Schakowsky - (Opinion) July 29, 2012 - 12:00am

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney boldly declares that, if elected to the most powerful office in the world, he will do the opposite of US President Barack Obama on Israel. Speaking by satellite last month to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference of Christian conservatives, meeting in Washington DC, Gov. Romney said he would represent “the opposite” of what President Obama is doing on US relations with Israel and Iran.

»

EU pressure for aid change in Area C
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 28, 2012 - 12:00am

As demolition orders continue to threaten the work of humanitarian organizations in Israeli-controlled Area C in the West Bank, the European Union and humanitarian agencies are pressing to change the rules of the aid game.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017