April 4th

Palestinian, Israeli negotiators expected to meet in Amman today ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Hani Hazaimeh - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am AMMAN — Palestinian and Israeli top negotiators are expected to meet “most likely in Amman”, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday. Speaking from Ramallah, the official, who asked to remain unnamed, stopped short from confirming reports that exploratory talks Jordan hosted this year between the two sides would resume, but said there is a plan that Palestinian top negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Molcho would meet today, either in Cairo or Amman, “but most likely in Amman”. » Read more

A Middle East Twofer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am There is so much going on in the Middle East today, it’s impossible to capture it all with one opinion. So here are two for the price of one. » Read more

Israel is not the threat, Mr. Obama. Iran is ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by John Bolton - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am The Obama administration appears to be conducting an organized campaign of public pressure to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s well-developed nuclear-weapons program. So intense is this effort, and so determined is President Obama to succeed, that administration officials are now leaking highly sensitive information about Israel’s intentions and capabilities into the news media. » Read more

Just like Iran, Israel has a supreme leader: Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am The horizon has a familiar optical quality. The closer you think you're getting, the more it recedes. To avoid disappointments, the best thing is to stay where you are so that the horizon always seems at arm's length, or at least not further away. For decades now, the term "political horizon" has been an inseparable part of the Palestinian dictionary. Without a political horizon, they will start an intifada, without a political and economic horizon, they will remain our enemies. » Read more

Giving up Jerusalem would mean end of Zionism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ronen Shoval - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said a few days ago: "It breaks my heart to initiate relinquishing sovereignty over the Temple Mount but there is no other choice." However, conceding the Temple Mount means opting for a one-way road that leads straight to the annihilation of Zionism. And the heart that will be broken will not be that of Olmert but rather that of the Jewish people. There is only one meaning to giving up the Temple Mount: the end of the State of Israel. » Read more

Israelis Divided Over Changing Anthem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am TEL AVIV — When an Arab Supreme Court justice stood silent instead of singing the national anthem at a public ceremony in late February, it sparked a furor on Israel’s nationalist right. Some lawmakers said that the judge, Salim Joubran, should be dismissed, and Yisrael Beiteinu’s David Rotem went so far as to claim that he “spat in the face of the State of Israel.” » Read more

The infernal U.S.-Iran-Israel triangle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am Why does most of the world continue to lose respect for the United States and its conduct of foreign policy? Two developments in the past week shed some light on this, and – not surprisingly – they both relate to Washington’s relations with Iran and Israel, an arena in which American rationality, fairness, consistency and integrity go out the window, and hysteria takes over the controls. » Read more

Crisis in Zion Square: Can Peter Beinart Shake Up American Zionism? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am Israel, settlements, and boycotts, have been attracting something of a wave of attention recently. A small co-op in Brooklyn's Park Slope has voted against implementing a ban on stocking any Israeli products. The ban would have had miniscule economic significance, but it hit the national mainstream press nonetheless. Meanwhile, Peter Beinart called for a boycott on any good produced in Israeli settlements, to be matched by re-investing in "Israel proper." His column stirred up an even more intense debate, some of it quite vitriolic. » Read more

Netanyahu Wants Deal to Prevent ‘Binational State’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dan Perry - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Tuesday that he still hopes to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, because the alternative would be absorbing them into Israel and destroying the Jewish character of the state. "I want to solve the conflict with the Palestinians because I don't want a binational state," Netanyahu told a rare news conference. "For as long as it depends on me, we will ensure the Jewish and democratic character of Israel." » Read more

April 3rd

Safer Side by Side: Why Israel Needs Palestine In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Daily Beast (Opinion) - April 2, 2012 - 12:00am Benny Begin, a member of Prime Minister Netanuyahu's inner cabinet, recently dismissed the idea of the creation of a viable Palestinian state, claiming it would be an unbearable security threat to Israel. He added that Netanuyahu's 2009 Bar-Ilan speech, which seemingly endorsed the two-state goal, was aimed exclusively at foreign audiences but that Palestinian statehood "was not brought up for discussion in the government, nor will it be discussed." "This is not the government's position," he stated bluntly. All the evidence suggests he's correct. » Read more