August 16th

Israeli military: Blasts heard in southern city
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Explosions rocked the southern Israeli city of Eilat late Wednesday, and the military said it suspected that rockets were fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. No casualties or damage were reported. Eilat is a Red Sea resort next to Sinai, scene of many militant attacks in recent months. On Aug. 5, Sinai militants killed 16 Egyptian soldiers where the borders of Egypt, Israel and Gaza converge. Then they stole Egyptian army vehicles and crashed into Israel, where Israeli forces stopped them with gunfire.

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Romney must stop playing politics with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Frank R. Lautenberg - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The rhetoric coming from Republicans and their presidential candidate, Governor Mitt Romney, concerning the US relationship with Israel is downright dangerous. Republicans want to use our relationship with Israel as part of a political game – which is terrible for US national security and bad for Israel’s safety.

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2 Palestinians killed in Yarmouk shelling
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

A Palestinian refugee and his child were killed Thursday after the Syrian regime bombed residential areas in Yarmouk camp in Damascus, local activists said. Palestinian activists in Yarmouk camp told Ma’an that the refugee, Jamal Abu al-Haija, and his daughter Hanin, 10, were killed by a mortar shell fired near their house in the sport city area. Activists said dozens of shells were fired at Yarmouk camp at dawn because Syrian and Palestinian houses are next to each other in the camp. He pointed out that the sounds of shells had frightened children.

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US punched Bibi, Barak in the face
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Attila Somfalvi - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Once every few years Israel needs a slap in the face to remember where it stands in the world. On Tuesday it was US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey who assumed the role of the responsible adult and slapped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the duo orchestrating the national hysteria surrounding the possibility of an attack in Iran.

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Gentlemen, America is telling you 'no'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Many years ago, the US ambassador to Israel requested an urgent meeting with the defense minister. The ambassador (I'm fairly certain it was Thomas Pickering) sat opposite Yitzhak Rabin, took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read from it.

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The price of settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

On Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a request by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to hold a cabinet meeting on the political stalemate with the Palestinians, to discuss ways of advancing peace negotiations for a final agreement. On Monday Haaretz reported Barak as saying in private talks that a thaw in relations is in Israel's strategic interest and that the country is "living on borrowed time." On Tuesday the European Union demonstrated the price of neglecting this political channel, combined with the race to expand settlements.

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Chance of success slim for Palestinians' 2nd UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas is considering launching a second attempt at upgrading the status of the Palestinians in the United Nations from an observer entity to a non-member observer. With an upgraded status, the Palestinians would be able to vote in the UN General Assembly and seek full membership in UN organizations and at the International Criminal Court. The upgrade would also likely to help define the borders of a Palestinian state as containing the entire West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

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Stopping Extremist Settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Daniel Byman, Natan Sachs - (Opinion) August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Late this past June, a group of Israeli settlers in the West Bank defaced and burned a mosque in the small West Bank village of Jabaa. Graffiti sprayed by the vandals warned of a “war” over the planned evacuation, ordered by the Israeli Supreme Court, of a handful of houses illegally built on private Palestinian land near the settlement of Beit El.

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August 15th

What Edward Really Said
In Print by Hussein Ibish - NOW Lebanon (Opinion) - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Few contemporary thinkers have been more revered and reviled than the late Palestinian-American professor Edward Said. But even his most ardent critics can hardly deny that Said was one of the most significant public intellectuals of our time. And while he is probably best remembered for his political activism, it was as a major literary theorist that he produced his most important work. 

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NEWS: Individual “lone soldiers” from countries around the world are volunteering for Israeli military service. A Palestinian prisoner detained by Israel is refusing water after 2 months on hunger strike. An Israeli human rights group is asking a court to prevent the demolition of five Bedouin villages in the Negev desert to make way for new Jewish farms. Israel is training its diplomats in using Twitter and other social media. PM Netanyahu has reportedly decided to bury the Levy Committee Report rather than dealing in any way with its recommendations. Israel's ambassador to the US says Israel's clock on Iran is “ticking faster." Sec. Panetta says he doesn't think Israel has made any decision. A former Obama administration official says Israeli threats towards Iran should be taken “very seriously.” PA spokesman Khatib resigns. Despite Israeli restrictions, the PLO holds a Ramadan event in occupied East Jerusalem. Egypt is reportedly about to resume efforts to foster Palestinian national reconciliation. The South African government refutes Israel's claims that by boycotting settlement goods, it is boycotting Israel itself. Israel protests the inclusion of several localities on an EU list of Israeli settlements. The Lebanese Army is relocating in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. The PA grants 4.7 million NIS to West Bank universities. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish reviews a new book on key terms in the writings of Edward Said. Avi Issacharoff asks what's the point of Israel's psychological warfare against Iran. Carlo Strenger looks at a new film that refuses to portray Israeli soldiers as either monsters or heroes. Brandon Davis contrasts an Israeli settlement and a nearby Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank that share the same name, but little else. Emily Hauser says proposed new restrictions barring undocumented migrants and stateless Palestinians from filing suit in Israeli courts are part of a broader pattern of an Israeli siege mentality. Frida Ghitis says Israel may benefit from the “Arab Spring." Daniel Byman and Natan Sachs look at the rise of settler terrorism in the occupied West Bank.

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