April 27th

VAT director: Drop in Tax Evasion Boosts PA Revenues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 24, 2012 - 12:00am HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Top VAT official Ahmad al-Helou told Ma'an on Tuesday that better enforcement of tax procedures has boosted the Palestinian Authority's budget. The Ministry of Finance VAT Director said VAT revenues increased from 2.4 billion shekels ($638 million) in 2008 to 3.3 billion shekels ($878 million) in 2011. Updated equipment in Palestinian shops and the use of tax receipts has increased enforcement of tax collection, he said. » Read more

An Anthem for All? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) April 26, 2012 - 12:00am There are times when beautiful, soulful music can transport us to a new and challenging place, a place we might never have visited were we not swept along with song. Neshama Carlebach performs that sort of music — when, for instance, she mixes ancient Jewish tropes with the pulsating rhythms of an African American Baptist choir, creatively pushing the boundaries of expectation. The Forward thought there was no better artist to launch a musical conversation about whether and, if so, how the words of “Hatikvah” could be altered to include all Israel’s citizens. » Read more

War isn’t always a rational outcome ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Dylan Evans - (Opinion) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am Will there be another war between Israel and Hezbollah? Over the past few months I’ve put this question to many experienced commentators in Lebanon, and most of them doubt that there will be a conflict any time soon. The most common reason they give for their optimism is that starting a war is not in the interest of either party. Israel risks greater political isolation if it attacks Lebanon, while Hezbollah handsomely benefits financially from the calm. » Read more

What’s the Israel-Azerbaijan connection? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News by Sheera Frenkel - April 26, 2012 - 12:00am The burgeoning relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan is raising eyebrows throughout the Middle East, not least of all because Azerbaijan is Iran’s neighbor to the north and shares close cultural and demographic ties with Iran. » Read more

The European Union and the peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) April 26, 2012 - 12:00am Who would have believed only 65 years ago that the main international support in last week’s French presidential election President Nicolas Sarkozy – Charles de Gaulle’s successor – would be the chancellor of Germany? For centuries war and antagonism characterized Franco-German relationships, coming to a climax with the Nazi occupation of Paris. And yet there is probably not a single Frenchman or German who believes that war between these former foes is realistic in the foreseeable or distant future. » Read more

Mansour: Settlements prove Israel rejects 1967 borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 27, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The PLO ambassador at the United Nations on Wednesday condemned Israeli settlement activity in a series of letters to senior UN officials. "There have been confirmations by the UN Security Council and General Assembly, Human Rights Council and the Social and Economic Council on the illegality of all settlement activity in a number of resolutions which are still available, and we are still calling on Israel to respect and implement the resolutions," Mansour said. » Read more

Jewish refugee rights is an unsolved human rights issue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Lyn Julius - (Opinion) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am Refael Bigio remembers the moment in 1962 that the regime of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized his family's property. Police had cordoned off the Bigio bottling plant at 14 Aswan Street in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis. A policeman barked at Bigio and his father: "Hand over the keys!" » Read more

Israel asks to defer demolition of settler homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press April 27, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Israeli government has asked the nation's Supreme Court to defer next week's deadline for demolishing an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost. The request Friday said the government needs 90 more days to consider a court order to destroy the 30 apartments there. It is not clear whether the court will agree. Critics of the proposed delay accuse the government of trying to flout the rule of law. The state previously agreed to destroy the apartments in the Ulpana outpost because they were erected on privately owned Palestinian land. » Read more

Being an occupier has a destructive effect on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ben Lynfield - (Opinion) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am With international attention distracted by Iran and Syria, Israel’s fateful entanglement in the West Bank hardly gets a mention in the news these days. » Read more

The 'rehabilitated' IDF ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am I won a bet recently over Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner. My friend said to me, "That lieutenant colonel is going to be booted from here to kingdom come." And I said, "He'll be suspended, so that he can stay on." I won. Because nowadays, the chief of the General Staff doesn't run the Israel Defense Forces; it's run by the generals of Judea and Samaria - its activists and rabbis - and Eisner is one of their favorite sons. » Read more