March 14th

Israeli counterterrorism unit warns of imminent attacks in Turkey, urges Israelis to stay away
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel is calling on its citizens to stay away from Turkey because of intelligence warning of imminent attacks against sites frequented by Jews and Israelis there. The prime minister’s counterterrorism office issued the warning late Tuesday. It said “terror groups are planning to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli sites inside Turkey in the coming days.” Last month Israel blamed Iran for attacks in Thailand and India. An Israeli diplomat’s wife was wounded in India.

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Islamic Jihad Holds Victory Rally in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

Thousands of Islamic Jihad sympathizers participated in the group's victory rally celebrating the end of the current round of violence against Israel on Tuesday. The rally was attended by senior Islamic Jihad officials while the group's secretary-general, Ramadan Shallah, sent a video message from Damascus.

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Israeli-Egyptian relations still stable after rocket bombardments: official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 14, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, March 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior Israeli military official on Tuesday said that last week's targeted assassination of an Islamic militant headed off a cross-border attack with " strategic implications" for already-tense relations with Cairo. "Always -- in our constellation -- the peace between us and Egypt is very important, and the national security of Egypt is very important as well," Maj.-Gen. (res) Amos Gilad, the Defense Ministry's Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs, told reporters in a conference call focusing on the targeted assassination.

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Unannounced Truce Calms Violence in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram, Isabel Kershner - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Both Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza indicated Tuesday that they would abide by an Egyptian-brokered truce ending four days of cross-border fighting, but each warned that maintaining the calm would depend on the actions of the other side. Bary Mike cleaned up his store in the port city of Ashdod on Tuesday. A rocket fired from Gaza had landed near his business.

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March 13th

NEWS: The latest round of cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza is being shaped by new rocket defense systems and the emerging political order in Egypt. An Egyptian-mediated truce is calming tensions, and a Hamas official says Egypt promised to increase fuel supplies to Gaza. Three more Palestinian civilians have been killed in the latest barrage. As tensions ebb, Israel allows some aid into Gaza. This is only the latest experience of war for the people of Gaza. A new report finds Palestinian children struggle to return to normalcy after being in Israeli prisons. Israeli journalist turned politician Yair Lapid says Palestinians are to blame for the impasse in negotiations. A delegation of Knesset members is boycotting the United States after an MK was denied a US visa due to membership in a banned foreign terrorist organization, Kach. Supposedly pro-Israel American lawmakers push bills recognizing Israeli rule in the occupied territories, apparently without realizing this is one-state advocacy. COMMENTARY: Avi Issacharoff says with the new fighting, Islamic Jihad is trying to upstage Hamas. Amos Harel says behind the scenes, both Israel and Hamas want the violence to end. Gershon Baskin says because the status quo is untenable, leaders need to be imaginative. Leonard Fein says the recent flap about Israel's national anthem reveals deep rifts between Jewish and Arab citizens. Fareed Zakaria hosts a discussion on Iran, Israel and a Palestinian state.Peter Beinart says Pres. Obama has betrayed his ideals when it comes to Israel. John Tirman says the greatest existential threat to Israel is its own policies. Gershom Gorenberg says PM Netanyahu and "his Republican friends" should "shut up" about bombing Iran. Aaron David Miller says the US and Israel are not well-aligned on Iran yet.

Why U.S., Israel aren't neatly aligned on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

(CNN) -- Over the years, I've seen a good many meetings between U.S. presidents and Israeli prime ministers on big issues during critical moments. It usually takes a few days before we can begin to make sense of what occurred and what to expect. Here's a guide to interpret last week's meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iranian nuclear issue and how to read the next several months. Best meeting yet but don't be fooled

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Please Shut Up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Rhetorically filling the fuel tanks of warplanes is all the rage. Benjamin Netanyahu did it at the AIPAC parley last week, dismissing diplomacy, sanctions and deterrence for dealing with Iran, and equating sorties over Qom with bombing Auschwitz. Rick Santorum used that venue to promise to "tear down" Iranian nuclear facilities. Mitt Romney was slightly more restrained, but his intent was the same: Bomb, baby, bomb. When Barack Obama tried to shush "loose talk of war," he got as much traction as a vicar giving a sermon during a soccer riot.

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The "Existential Threat" to Israel Is Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by John Tirman - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The nearly complete mastery of U.S. politics that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again displayed in Washington last week belies a dark reality for the Jewish State. That is the startling prospect that it has sown the seeds of its own destruction, one which will come to its ghastly fruition in a matter of a few years.

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Obama Betrayed Ideals on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Bibi was coming again, and the White House was determined: this visit would not play out like the last one. On Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's previous trip to Washington, Obama had proposed that Israel and the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal based on the armistice lines drawn after Israel’s birth. Netanyahu reacted badly, lecturing the president publicly that “we can’t go back to those indefensible lines.”

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GPS Panel: Iran, Israel and a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Fareed Zakaria - (Interview) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave President Obama a gift in Washington this week. It was a copy of the book of Esther, which tells the tale of a benevolent king who saved the Jewish people from an enemy who wished to destroy them - a Persian enemy (not very subtle). So where does the Israel-Iran conflict end? On Sunday, I had an excellent panel to talk about that and much more. Daniel Levy is co-director of the Middle East Task Force of the New America Foundation. Bret Stephens is the foreign affairs columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

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