June 4th

US: Israel "supportive" on future Iran sanctions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dan Williams - June 4, 2012 - 12:00am

The United States is conferring with Israel about new sanctions planned against Iran should international negotiations this month fail to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, a U.S. official said on Monday. The comment offered a strong hint that Washington is continuing to apply the brakes on any plan by Israel to attack Iranian nuclear facilities preemptively.

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Netanyahu: Israel must bolster West Bank settlements and follow law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel must bolster settlement activity in the West Bank while maintaining the rule of law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Sunday, in wake of a newly surfaced plan to relocate structures in the illegal outpost of Ulpana Hill so as to avoid their demolition. On Saturday, sources close to Netanyau told Haaretz that the prime minister is examining a two-par solution to the issue of the Ulpana Hill outpost that will avoid the need for legislation on the matter.

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Israeli PM to remove West Bank outpost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ian Deitch - June 2, 2012 - 12:00am

An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to remove a West Bank outpost ahead of a court deadline, and is mulling whether to demolish the buildings or relocate them. The official said Saturday that Netanyahu said in a meeting that if Ulpana is destroyed its five apartment buildings will be built tenfold elsewhere. Otherwise, the buildings will be moved to the nearby settlement of Beit El. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

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June 1st

Why Unilateralism Won't Work
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Daily Beast (Opinion) - May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently warned that if negotiations with the Palestinians do not yield results soon, Israel might consider "unilateral measures" in the occupied West Bank. He didn't specify what those might be, but several others have suggested that Israel create “temporary” or “provisional” unilaterally-imposed new borders in the territory. This idea is simple, superficially appealing and profoundly dangerous.

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NEWS: Two American tourists kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula are released. A Palestinian militant and an Israeli soldier are killed in a clash near the Gaza border. International consumers and states have difficulty distinguishing products made in Israel from those made in Israeli settlements. 3 Palestinians are wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Israel is reportedly considering moving settlers from an “unauthorized” outpost to land in the occupied West Bank confiscated for a military base. The PA education Ministry approves a new high school qualification exam. Sec. Clinton tells Israel that there is no substitute for negotiations. Pres. Peres calls for an end to incitement and racism in Israeli society. Australia pledges $90 million for Palestinian refugees. Palestinians condemn proposed Israeli unilateral actions in the occupied West Bank, suggested by DM Barak. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish and Emily Hauser separately explain why Israeli unilateralism won't work. Adam Gonn says many Israeli officials are unimpressed with Barak's idea about Israeli unilateral measures in the occupied West Bank. Yossi Verter says Israeli unilateralism is a real possibility given the new coalition. Ha'aretz interviews Shlomo Sand. Danny Rubinstein says Israel's blockade in Gaza is actually strengthening Hamas politically and economically. Stephen Robert says PM Netanyahu needs to explain his vision of the future. Lara Friedman says it's laughable and disturbing that a Senate Committee would try to legislate the Palestinian refugee issue. Saleh Al-Naami says Palestinian reconciliation is being stymied by mutual mistrust and international pressures.

Crisis of confidence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram
by Saleh Al-Naami - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Suddenly the sound of laughter broke the silence on a bus transporting dozens of students from the centre of the Gaza Strip to the district where university campuses are located in southern Al-Rimal in Gaza City. One student had mentioned that delegates from Hamas and Fatah were in Cairo again to finalise details about a consensus government as stipulated in the Doha Declaration.

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Legislating the Refugee Problem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) May 24, 2012 - 12:00am

You have to laugh, or it would make you cry. That is, if you are someone who genuinely cares about Israel and believes that the two-state solution is the only thing that can save Israel as a democracy and a Jewish state, and that can end the occupation and permit the Palestinians to live, finally, as a free people with dignity and self-determination.

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Come Clean, Mr. Prime Minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Stephen Robert - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced this week that he favors unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank. But who will ultimately determine when and where—and if—the Palestinians are to be granted a state? 

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Gaza Bustling Under Hamas Despite Economic Isolation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Calcalist
by Danny Rubenstein - (Opinion) May 29, 2012 - 12:00am

The isolation policy applied by Israel, separating the Gaza Strip from the West Bank both economically and socially, is designed to weaken and possibly even bring down the Hamas government.

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Author of 'The Invention of the Jewish People' vents again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Dalia Karpel - (Opinion) May 24, 2012 - 12:00am

The concept of homeland is one of the most amazing and also, perhaps, one of the most ruinous of the modern era, says Prof. Shlomo Sand. In his new book, “When and How Was the Land of Israel Invented?” ‏(Kineret, Zmora-Bitan Dvir, Hebrew‏), Sand examines the attitude of the Zionist movement toward that territory since its inception. More particularly, he is out to discover how Zionism adopted the idea...



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