NEWS: With crossings closed, the pilgrimage to Mecca has become virtually impossible for Palestinians in Gaza. Pres. Ahmadinejad calls the Israeli government “an insult to humankind.” Kadima leader Mofaz demands clarifications from PM Netanyahu about a possible military action against Iran. PA debt is affecting the Palestinian private sector. Four Egyptian soliders are wounded in another attack by militants in Sinai, as Hamas asks Egypt to exclude Israel from security cooperation regarding the Peninsula. The US and Israeli navies are holding joint maneuvers in the Mediterranean. Israel's Deputy PM condemns “outrageous” attacks by Jews against Palestinians. Israeli police say hundreds of Jewish Israelis witnessed a lynching attack against Palestinians but did nothing to stop it. Five suspects are arrested in that attack. Netanyahu promises Pres. Abbas that Israel will catch whoever is responsible for a firebomb attack on a taxi that injured six Palestinians. Hamas arrests an extremist suspected in the death of an Israeli laborer in June. Israeli university heads petition the High Court to reverse a decision granting university status to a school in a settlement. COMMENTARY: Carol Williams asks if Israel is “crying wolf” regarding a possible attack on Iran. James Traub asks if Netanyahu and DM Barak are “crazy enough” to attack Iran against the wishes of the US and the majority of Israelis. Daniel Nisman and Avi Nave explain why, in their view, Israel expects an Iranian retaliation to have a limited impact. Leonard Fein questions Netanyahu's assertions that Iran is an existential threat. Uzi Rubin warns an attack on Iran could bring a massive missile response. Amira Hass outlines how Israel uses military orders to seize Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. Jeff Barak says it's a sad state of affairs when Israel's 89-year-old president must serve as the isolated "voice of reason" in government. The Jerusalem Post says tolerance of violence and bigotry against Palestinians in Israel must stop. Ben Lynfield says little drama is expected this year if Palestinians resume efforts at greater recognition at the UN.

Palestinian Statehood Returns (Ho-Hum)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ben Lynfield - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

A second bid by the Palestinian Authority to have the United Nations recognize Palestinian statehood appears to be a case of “once more, but with less feeling.”

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Intolerable behavior
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Editorial) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Jews were reportedly responsible for two attacks perpetrated against Palestinians in recent days. Last Thursday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a taxi carrying six Palestinians outside the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin. The ensuing explosion caused the taxi to flip over and resulted in the injury of several of the passengers. The assailants were aware that the victims were Palestinians since the attack took place during the day and the vehicle was yellow with green license plates, characteristic of Palestinian taxis.

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Reality Check: Peres and the voice of reason
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

It’s a sad state of affairs when it takes an 89-year-old to provide the clearest perspective on Israel’s present-day reality. Admittedly, President Shimon Peres is no ordinary almost-nonagenarian, but he is to be applauded for both his courage in publicly demolishing the prime minister and defense minister’s arguments in favor of an Israeli strike on Iran and for his cogent analysis of the limits of Israel’s strength.

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A proper Zionist live fire zone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) August 20, 2012 - 12:00am

When police of the African National Congress are slaughtering platinum miners who demand that the mine owner (a private transnational company registered in London! ) pay them a wage that begins to befit the hardships of the job and value of the metal in operating rooms and on the fingers of plutocrats, there is no chance that one Palestinian tractor impounded by Israeli soldiers will attract the attention of a single foreign news editor anywhere on earth.

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Israel Attack on Iran Runs Risk of Massive Missile Retaliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Barbara Slavin - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

If Israel attacks Iran, the Israeli heartland could face retaliation from more than 10,000 missiles based in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, according to Uzi Rubin, the founder and first director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization.

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Bibi's Iran Plan Rests on Shaky Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel’s leading television news program, Channel 2 News, now informs us that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak are “on the brink” of approving an Israeli military attack on Iran.

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Why Israel shrugs at retaliation after attack on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Avi Nave, Daniel Nisman - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week Iran sent a high-level envoy, Saeed Jalili, on a particularly controversial public-relations tour to Lebanon and Syria, the most explosive corner of the region. After ruffling feathers during a Beirut stopover, Mr.

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Zone of Insanity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by James Traub - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

It must drive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crazy that scarcely anybody outside his immediate circle of advisors -- oh, and Mitt Romney -- understands the imperative for war against Iran. Israel's retired security chiefs uniformly consider a war unnecessary right now. Israel's president, Shimon Peres, agrees. A poll released this week found the Israeli public opposed to war by a solid 46 percent to 32 percent. As for the United States, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta insists that "the window is still open to try to work toward a diplomatic solution."

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Israeli threats about Iran -- crying wolf or laying groundwork?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Carol J. Williams - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

They're passing out gas masks in Jerusalem and testing a new text-messaging system for alerting Israelis to incoming rockets. The civil defense preparations follow a week of renewed warnings by Israeli officials that airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities may be imminent, despite U.S. misgivings, to thwart Tehran's alleged pursuit of nuclear bomb-making capability.

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