April 16th

The three myths that distort every discussion of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Barry Rubin - (Opinion) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am Whatever side you are, or aren’t, on, and whether you never think about these issues or are an impassioned activist, there are three fundamental issues about Israel, its enemies, and the Middle East that tie the narrative into knots. Each of these ideas, of course, has a strong basis in fact. Yet no matter how counter-intuitive you find the following points questioning the conventional wisdom, they are nonetheless accurate. You can’t understand events without grasping them. 1. Israel’s existence is jeopardized. » Read more

Much ado about flytilla ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am Making predictions in a newspaper column is a risky business, but anyway, here goes. At the time of writing over the weekend, Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) are putting together the final pieces of their plan to block the planned “fly-in” of leftwing activists to Ben-Gurion Airport, from where the activists intend to travel to the West Bank to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinians. » Read more

Let's talk about refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Dan Calic - (Opinion) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am This month a meeting took place with little fanfare, addressing a subject that has sat on the sidelines throughout the peace process, having received only the slightest media attention. The topic of the meeting was about refugees. No, not Palestinian refugees; Jewish refugees. For many years the world has heard about the "right of return." This refers to Arabs who became displaced during the defensive war Israel was forced to fight when the surrounding Arab countries attacked it the day after declaring independence in 1948. » Read more

From Yamit to the Jordan Valley, the IDF continues to force Arabs from their homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Analysis) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am Last week, evacuees of Yamit marked the 30th anniversary of the demolition of their illegal settlement in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. Radio reports blithely skirted the fact that the construction of these Sinai settlements was preceded by mass destruction. Under orders from then-defense minister Moshe Dayan and Southern Command head Ariel Sharon, in 1972 the Israel Defense Forces secretly expelled 1,500 Bedouin families from the Al-Ramilat tribes, from a 140,000 dunam area. » Read more

Israel should never forget its Mideast atrocities ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am The person who symbolized "the other Germany" more than anyone in West Germany, the person who was Germany's conscience throughout his literary career, has made the Israeli establishment and its clones crazy. These people have responded pettily and violently. Gunter Grass' service in the Wafen SS when he was 17 has nothing to do with his positions. You need lots of chutzpah and maybe even ignorance to think the Germans don't know how many despicable Nazis Israel catered to, as long as they supported its policies. » Read more

Netanyahu fears victory over Iran's nuclear program ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am A recent skit on the sketch comedy "Eretz Nehederet" featured a "debate" about the Iranian nuclear program between U.S. and Israeli leaders. After some discussion, U.S. President Barack Obama accedes to the position of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and he urges them to attack Iran. Netanyahu and Barak exchange frightened glances and plead with Obama to stop them. » Read more

Arab revolts fail to stir divided Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - (Analysis) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 15 (Reuters) - Popular uprisings have transformed the Middle East and North Africa in the past year, unseating four veteran autocrats and capturing the imagination of a generation of youths. But the protests have left Palestinians - long at the centre of the Arab world's main political conflict - unmoved. Dejected by lingering political divisions and exhausted by decades of mostly fruitless rebellion against Israel, they appear to have lost their appetite to take their fight for change up another level. » Read more

Jews Cast Wary Eye on Evangelicals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - April 16, 2012 - 12:00am Washington — Advocates for improved relations between Jews and Christian evangelicals had hoped that years of working together to support Israel would build bridges between the two otherwise distant communities. But a new poll indicates that mistrust and suspicion still run deep, at least on the Jewish side. Only one in five Jewish Americans holds favorable views of those aligned with the Christian right, a category that includes most of Israel’s evangelical supporters. » Read more

Palestinians Ban Sale of Israeli Produce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - April 15, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority (PA) started to block the sale of Israeli potatoes as part of a new policy to support local farmers and remove foreign produce in the marketplace, agriculture officials told The Media Line. “We are doing this to protect the farmers because they can’t sell their potatoes due to the cheaper ones the Israelis are unloading on us,” said Zakaria Salawdeh, a deputy director of the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry, saying that the ban wasn’t directed against Israel for political reasons. » Read more

'US will veto any Palestinian statehood bid at UN' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post April 16, 2012 - 12:00am The United States will continue to act against Palestinian attempts to gain recognition through the United Nations, and if necessary will use its veto to that end, US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said Monday. Speaking at the Netanya Academic College, Shapiro said that there are no shortcuts to peace in the Middle East, and the Palestinians must return to direct negotiations with Israel without preconditions, on the basis of what was outlined by US President Barack Obama. » Read more