NEWS: Israel is focusing "national investment" in nine sites in the occupied Palestinian territories. Palestinians accuse occupation forces of killing a farmer near the Gaza border, but Israel denies any responsibility. Palestinians also say occupation forces killed a teenager in the West Bank. A new manuscript details Jewish life in 11th-century Persia. Centrist parties in Israel are hoping a last-ditch voter drive movement will help alter what looks like a sure victory for PM Netanyahu. Settlers, however, appear confident of a strong right-wing victory. The UN Human Rights Council says Israel seems to be resisting a routine review of its rights record. Palestinians say Israeli forces arrest the former mayor of Al-Bireh village in the occupied West Bank. Teachers and other civil servants are on strike this week in the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu says "preconditions" from Pres. Abbas are making negotiations impossible. A group of Israeli academics predict that a Netanyahu victory in the coming Israeli election will mean the end of the peace process. Winter storms intensify the plight of Palestinians in Gaza. COMMENTARY: Jeffrey Goldberg says Pres. Obama wants Netanyahu to act in Israel's best interests by withholding settlement activity and pursuing peace. Bradley Burston expresses admiration for the Palestinian E1 tent city protest. Uzi Benziman says Netanyahu is widely perceived as someone addicted to deceit. Yoel Meltzer says Israeli ultranationalists, torn between Likud and the Jewish Home parties, may soon merge into one large extremist group. David Bernstein says Israeli politics are cyclical, not stuck on the far-right. Hassan Barari says it's tragic that peace is not an issue in the Israeli election, but blames regional trends as well. Shalom Yerushalmi says Israel's settlements cannot actually be evacuated. Gideon Rachman says Netanyahu is a "tactical genius" but a "strategic idiot."

Netanyahu: tactical genius, strategic idiot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Financial Times
by Gideon Rachman - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am

  In a normal time, in a normal country, Benjamin Netanyahu would be a political giant. He is already the second-longest serving prime minister in Israel’s history. Next week, when the country goes to the polls, he is likely to win a third spell in office. He has presided over an economic renaissance in Israel, during which the country has become a byword for high-tech flair. At a time when the world economy has been in turmoil, Israel has kept growing strongly.  

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Israeli Settlements Are Irreversible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
(Opinion) January 15, 2013 - 1:00am

  Is there a prime minister, from the right or the left, who will evacuate Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem or settlements in Judea and Samaria?

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Peace is not an ‘issue’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am

 

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Israel’s political cycle not stuck on the right
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by David Bernstein - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poised to win re-election later this month, some critics of Israel’s peace and security policies worry out loud that Israel’s political cycle -- its pattern of cycling alternately between the political left and right -- is stuck on the right.

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Likud or Jewish home?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yoel Meltzer - (Opinion) January 15, 2013 - 1:00am

One of the hottest topics currently being discussed in the broadly defined national camp is whether to vote for a seemingly more right-wing Likud or for a revitalized Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) in the upcoming elections.With quality candidates such as Yariv Levin, Tzipi Hotovely and Moshe Feiglin in t

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It’s deceit, stupid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uzi Benziman - (Opinion) January 15, 2013 - 1:00am

 

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An Israeli in awe of a Palestinian act of non-violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) January 15, 2013 - 1:00am

  An act of non-violence is a fuse playing the role of a bomb. If the act of non-violence is creative enough, appropriate and resonant and shocking, and, therefore, dangerous enough, it will do what no bomb can: Change things for the better. Persuade. Put the lie to the liar. And cause a man like Benjamin Netanyahu to panic.

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Obama: ‘Israel Doesn’t Know What Its Best Interests Are’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am

 

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Winter Storm Brings More Misery to Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Abeer Ayyoub - January 14, 2013 - 1:00am

  Om Sobhi Awaja gathers her seven children around a small fire as the cold winter air blows into her home that has no flooring, windows or doors. The smoke from the fire stings the children’s eyes, but there’s no other way to keep them warm.

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