September 14th

Jerusalem, Why Did We Forget Thee? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am In a few days we’ll celebrate one of the emotional peaks in the Jewish calendar, the twice-yearly proclamation that ends the Yom Kippur fast and Passover feast: Next year in Jerusalem. We won’t mean it literally. For most it’s a metaphorical prayer for a better world, expressing faith that history has direction and meaning, with heavenly Jerusalem its symbolic end-point. But it’s also a literal affirmation of devotion to the earthly Jerusalem. » Read more

Israel: Learn the power of words, not just might, in the new Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Rachel Shabi - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am It’s pretty hard to combine schadenfreude with escalating panic, but when it comes to regional pronouncements, Israeli commentators have a special talent. Witness this incongruous cocktail in the analysis of Egypt’s new leadership – the gist of so much of which is: The Muslim Brotherhood in power is horrifying for Israel, but at the same time terrible news for Egyptians, who really shouldn’t be experimenting with the democracy to which they, being Arabs, clearly aren’t suited.   » Read more

Israel on the Ballot ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am It’s difficult to recall a time when an Israeli prime minister has inserted himself into a presidential election campaign in the way that Benjamin Netanyahu has. It’s even harder to recall a time when a trusted ally openly urged the American president to undertake a questionable, unpopular and highly risky war. We sure hope Netanyahu knows what he’s doing, because the stakes for him — and for the two nations he professes to care about the most — could not be higher. » Read more

The abandonment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am There are two positions one can take regarding the Iranian nuclear program: (a) it doesn’t matter, we can deter them; or (b) it does matter, we must stop them. In my view, the first position — that we can contain Iran as we did the Soviet Union — is totally wrong, a product of wishful thinking and misread history. But at least it’s internally coherent. » Read more

Israeli Fallout ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Eric L. Lewis - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am It should go without saying, but apparently does not, that the tragic crisis unfolding in the Middle East calls for sober statesmanship rather than political posturing. The jihadist murder of the American ambassador to a newly liberated Libya; the carnage unleashed by the Assad regime on the Syrian people; the emergence of a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt; the conundrum of Iranian nuclear ambitions — the region presents decades worth of complex challenges telescoped into real time. » Read more

East Jerusalem Families Demand Improvement of Schools ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Linda Gradstein - September 13, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM -- Dressed in school uniforms and wearing small backpacks, dozens of boys walk in the street, passing a gas station and an auto body shop. They turn into a narrow alleyway and walk uphill toward a residential white stone building. » Read more

The two sides of the Holy Land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Lauren Gelfond Feldinger - September 14, 2012 - 12:00am With a Palestinian Muslim guide and an Israeli Jewish guide, it wasn't a typical Jerusalem tour. Aziz Abu Sarah, 32, grew up in East Jerusalem throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers, the only Jews he had ever met. Student Shira Nesher, 24, had toured East Jerusalem as a military tour guide during her national service, teaching soldiers about the Arab enemy. On this summer afternoon in Jerusalem, they stood together in front of 28 tourists - Israelis, foreigners and two Palestinians - to describe what they had learned in the years since. » Read more

Israeli Bedouin to protest anti-Islam film ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jack Khoury - September 14, 2012 - 12:00am Bedouin in Israel's Negev will hold a protest march on Friday against the anti-Islam movie that has sparked a wave of demonstrations across the Muslim world. The demonstration, which is slated to leave from the mosques in the city of Rahat and will end in the center of the city, comes against the backdrop of violence in the Arab world, including in Egypt, Yemen and Libya, where U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed on Tuesday. The violence may have been sparked by an anti-Muslim film, "Innocence of Muslims." » Read more

Gazans join protests against anti-Muslim film ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Rushdi Abu Alouf - September 12, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA STRIP -- Dozens of Palestinians in Gaza Strip on Wednesday burned an American flag in front of the United Nations headquarters to protest a U.S. film mocking the Islamic prophet Muhammad. About 100 members of the militant group Popular Resistance Committees chanted anti-American slogans and called for the death of the California filmmaker behind the movie. “We call upon Arab and Islamic countries to expel American ambassadors until Obama administration apologizes to Muslims around the world,” said one protester, who would only identify himself as Abu Mussab. » Read more

Among the ruins of Bedouin al-Araqib ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Charlotte Alfred - September 10, 2012 - 12:00am AL-ARAQIB, Negev (Ma'an) -- Saba Ismail Araqib, heavily pregnant, strides purposefully around the ruins of her destroyed village in the Negev desert of southern Israel. "This tent was demolished a few weeks ago, and this one was my father's house," she says, gesturing to broken wooden beams and tarpaulin strewn around the dusty hill, until reaching her flattened marital home on the edge of the plateau. » Read more