NEWS: New divorce laws are allowing Palestinian women to more easily initiate divorces on their own. A rocket fired from Gaza hits a house in southern Israel, with no injuries reported. PM Netanyahu announces he will address the UN in September and focus mainly on Iran. DM Barak says Egypt is determined to control Sinai. Palestinians denounce new Israeli plans to control more land in the occupied West Bank. Iranian leaders say they support Palestinian reconciliation. Settlers stone a Palestinian bus near Ramallah injuring five. Hamas says it plans to censor the Internet in Gaza, ostensibly to fight pornography. Many Western countries have travel warnings for Israel. FM Lieberman compares FM Al-Maliki to Joseph Goebbels. Deputy PM Ya'alon complains that the US is undermining Israeli military threats against Iran. A UN rapporteur for human rights condemns the Rachel Corrie verdict. Normal life continues in Tel Aviv in spite of rumors of war with Iran. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey says the US should not be complicit in an Israeli attack against Iran. Gaza is enduring a severe and protracted crisis over water. The rabbi of a major Israeli settlement says attacking innocent Palestinians is “a sacrilege.” Swiss experts reiterate their willingness to analyze the remains of the late Pres. Arafat but they warn time is running out. COMMENTARY: Chaim Levinson provides a primer on the ongoing dispute over a tiny settlement outpost. Ben Shalev looks at a new sound being explored by violinist-composer Nassim Dakwar. Yehuda Lukacs says Israel should join NATO. Hassan Barari thinks Israel might attack Iran even without prior warning to the United States. Rachel Dolev says women are shut out of the national security conversation in Israel. Emily Hauser looks at the history of extremist comments by Rabbi Yosef of the Shas party.

“Destroy them, God, obliterate them from the face of the earth.”
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Pop quiz: What religio-political leader said the following, about which nation? Do good, God, wipe them out, kill them…. Destroy them God, obliterate them from the face of the earth. If you said Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, head of Israel’s Shas Party and one of the country’s ultra-Orthodox kingmakers, and further guessed that he was talking about Iran—please take a seat at the head of the class.

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In Israel, No Women Are Deciding Matters of National Security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth
by Rachel Dolev - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am

"The prime minister, the defense minister and the foreign minister each have their own specific authorities; there is the forum of nine ministers and there is the Cabinet and the decision, when it has to be made, will be made by the government of Israel – that's the way it has always been and that's the way it should be; not any group of citizens is going to dictate the decision nor even any press editorial." Thus said (Israeli) Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the special parliamentary session convened to approve the appointment of Avi Dichter as home front defense mi

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How serious is Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) August 31, 2012 - 12:00am

The sense of urgency for the Israeli government these days cannot be higher. Israel’s concerns of Iranian nuclear capabilities have repeatedly been made at all international forums over the past two years. Additionally, Israeli leaders have made it perfectly clear that they would risk a war rather than coexist with an unpredictable and “irrational” nuclear Iran. Knowing the grave consequences of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Israeli public has strongly supported a military option to deal with Iran.

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Bring Israel into NATO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yehuda Lukas - (Opinion) August 31, 2012 - 12:00am

A nuclear Iran is virtually a fait accompli. A military strike by Israel, the United States or both may delay but will not prevent the Islamic Republic from eventually acquiring such capability. Decision-makers ought to consider devising a new security architecture, one that would deter Iran and guarantee Israel's long-term survival. A radical alternative to war is required - one that would make Israel a member of NATO, protected by the "one-for-all, all-for-one" policy of the 28-member alliance.

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Violinist-composer Nassim Dakwar is back with a new trio – and a new stripped-down sound
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ben Shalev - (Music Review) August 31, 2012 - 12:00am

If only his violin were in his hand, it would be a whole lot simpler. He would play and things would be clear. But the violin is not here, and Nassim Dakwar is sitting in his kitchen in the northern village of Tarshiha, trying to describe the inner core of his music. He talks about the emotional connection between him and the violin, and says he aspires to reach the magic behind the sounds. These attempts leave him dissatisfied, however; he sighs and appears a bit frustrated.

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A short primer on the Migron outpost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - (Analysis) August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Q: What's the story with the eviction from Migron? A: Migron is a settlement outpost that was established near the main highway in the West Bank in 2001, just north of Ramallah. Nearly 50 Israeli families live in the outpost today. All the land upon which the outpost was built belongs to Palestinians.

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Swiss experts ready to help Arafat probe, but time running out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Stephanie Nebehay - August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

(Reuters) - A Swiss institute has agreed to a request from the Palestinian Authority to exhume Yasser Arafat's body and determine whether he was poisoned, but time is running out for a credible scientific examination of his remains, it said on Thursday.

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Settlement rabbi: Attacking innocent Palestinians ‘sacrilege’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 31, 2012 - 12:00am

(JTA) -- The rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Bat Aiyn defined a recent attack on a Palestinian taxi as “sacrilege.” Rabbi Daniel Cohen said he hoped a police investigation of the attack, which occurred earlier this month, would show that youths from his community were not involved, Israel Radio reported on Friday. The attack left six wounded after a Molotov cocktail hit the driving taxi. Police questioned several youths from Bat Aiyn about the incident, which happened near the settlement. 

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Water crisis will make Gaza strip 'unliveable'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by John Vidal - August 31, 2012 - 12:00am

The Gaza strip faces a water crisis that will soon make it "unliveable" unless plans for a $500m desalination plant are approved by banks, delegates at a water conference in Stockholm were told this week.

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