February 5th, 2013

Israel, Palestine and the mapping of power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Tristram Hunt - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am 'It's almost comical. The idea of maps is to represent reality; here it represents fantasy." So Professor Bruce Wexler of Yale University comments on how the vast majority of maps in Palestinian and Israeli schoolbooks omit the existence of the other entity. » Read more

Need for textbook examples of peace in Israeli-Palestinian conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor (Editorial) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am When two peoples are in conflict, one path to peace is to write textbooks that don’t further hate of the other. For today’s school-age Palestinians and Israeli Jews, there’s now some hope of that becoming true. On Monday, a group of scholars released a three-year analysis of 94 Palestinian and 74 Israeli textbooks that found few characterizations that demonize or dehumanize the other side. And most of the schoolbooks were factually accurate. This is encouraging. » Read more

A free-speech controversy grows in Brooklyn ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Michael McGough - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am “That’s a nice college you’ve got there. » Read more

‘The Gatekeepers’ is a harsh portrayal of life outside the ghetto of self-denial ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Film Review) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am The Gatekeepers is a very Israeli film. It is a film by Israelis, for Israelis and about Israelis. Even if it wins an Oscar. Even if you read the English subtitles. Even if you’ve heard that it mainly deals with the occupation, which it does, it is still essentially and exclusively Israeli. » Read more

Litmus Tests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) February 5, 2013 - 1:00am One dispiriting lesson from Chuck Hagel’s nomination for defense secretary is the extent to which the political space for discussing Israel forthrightly is shrinking. Republicans focused on Israel more than anything during his confirmation hearing, but they weren’t seeking to understand his views. All they cared about was bullying him into a rigid position on Israel policy. » Read more

ATFP to Host Briefing on Israeli and Palestinian Schoolbooks Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 5, 2013 - 1:00am   DO ISRAELI OR PALESTINIAN SCHOOLBOOKS TEACH VIOLENCE?   Invitation to Briefing and Discussion of the First Definitive Study of Israeli and Palestinian Schoolbooks   Read more

Israel’s ‘Gatekeepers’ break their silence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Richard Cohen - (Film Review) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am Imagine six former directors of the CIA talking with a distinguished filmmaker and confessing to the murder of two terrorism suspects, ordering the assassination of others, alleging a lack of real leadership by the president and stating to the camera and the entire world that the war in Afghanistan is an unconscionable botch — a bloody, daily slog without end or justification. This, of course, could never happen in the United States. It did, though, in Israel. » Read more

Interview: Palestinian official slams Israel for settlement expansion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua (Interview) February 5, 2013 - 1:00am A senior Palestinian official on Monday accused Israel of continuing settlement construction and " Judaizing" the holy city of Jerusalem, warning that it would endanger the Palestinians' presence in East Jerusalem. » Read more

The Vision of Rawabi Nears Fruition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am The American businessmen and women appeared transfixed as they listened to the man behind the first Palestinian planned city depict his journey from vision to reality. » Read more

Dayan: Palestinian state further away than ever ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am Dayan chastised the settlers that he charged drove former MK Bennie Begin (Likud) out of the Knesset. He also criticized Migron residents for breaking the council’s 2008 agreement with the government, a move that he said led to the outpost’s relocation last summer. The 57-year-old secular hitech businessman took over the council in July 2007, when it was demoralized in the aftermath of the 2005 disengagement and the violent clashes between settlers and border police during the demolition of nine homes in the Amona outpost in 2006. » Read more