March 4th, 2013

Winners in Israel's game-changing election unlikely to lead charge for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still without a coalition more than a month after winning parliamentary elections, but amid the political horsetrading the next government's agenda is coming into view.

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AIPAC and American Jews: Be proud of Jewish power
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Eric H. Yoffie - (Opinion) March 4, 2013 - 1:00am

American Jews have a complex about power, and they need to get over it. The simple fact is that power – or more precisely, influence - is a good thing. To the extent that Jewish Americans have influence, they should nurture it and use it responsibly. But they should never minimize it, apologize for it, or be squeamish about it. And they should avoid the trap of thinking that the exercise of influence in our political system is contrary to some abstract notion of American interests; it is not.

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Israeli Premier Gets Extension to Form a Coalition but Faces Turmoil
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - March 2, 2013 - 1:00am

Israel’s president on Saturday granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a two-week extension to form a governing coalition, a task complicated by mathematics and chemistry.

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Israel opens Palestinians-only bus lines in W. Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - March 4, 2013 - 1:00am

Israel launched two Palestinians-only bus lines in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a step an Israeli rights group described as racist and which the Transport Ministry called an improvement in service. The left-wing Haaretz daily reported the ministry opened the lines, to be used by Palestinian labourers travelling between the West Bank and Israel, after Jewish settlers complained that Palestinians on mixed buses were a security risk.

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March 1st

NEWS: Israeli officials claim injuries to a Palestinian who died in custody are consistent with heart attack resuscitation attempts. (New York Times) The PA says it is going to try to ensure that an independent physician evaluates the case. (Ma'an) Israel's allies increasingly warn it that it is undermining its own security in the occupied Palestinian territories. (LA Times) A Hamas official predicts a third intifada. (Al Monitor) A local Fatah leader tells Israelis they must either make peace with his generation of leaders or face a future of open-ended conflict. (Ha'aretz) Israeli troops practice combating mass protests in the occupied West Bank. (Xinhua) Israel may be suspending highly controversial settlement construction in the occupied territories in advance of Pres. Obama's visit. (Washington Times) PM Fayyad joins a protest at a village deeply affected by Israel's West Bank separation barrier. (YNet) PM Netanyahu criticizes reported comments about Zionism by PM Erdogan. (Reuters) PM Erdogan is sharply criticized for comments equating Zionism with other trans-historical evils. (AP) Sec. Kerry will reportedly raise the issue with him. (Reuters) UNSG Ban calls the comments "hurtful." (YNet) A Fatah official says Israel is increasing "oppressive measures" in occupied East Jerusalem. (PNN) Republicans push a congressional bill ensuring the United States would support Israel in a confrontation with Iran. (AP) Syria protests an Israeli decision to go ahead with oil exploitation in the occupied Golan Heights. (AP) Palestinian doctors say three are wounded in Israeli shelling of Gaza, but Israel denies this. (Ma'an) Croatia says it's going to pull its peacekeeping troops from the border with the occupied Golan Heights. (AP) More Palestinian citizens of Israel are volunteering for National Service. (The Media Line) According to a new poll, most Americans sympathize with Israel, but want equal treatment for Israel and the Palestinians. (Real Clear World)

COMMENTARY: David Makovsky and Ghaith al-Omari say the rhetoric of leaders is crucial to laying the groundwork for renewing progress towards peace. (Washington Post) Gideon Levy and Alex Levac ask what really happened to Arafat Jaradat, the Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody. (Ha'aretz) Yossi Sarid says it's absurd that the issue of National Service for the ultra-Orthodox in Israel is overshadowing the question of the occupation. (Ha'aretz) Alon Pinkas says with Sec. Hagel, Israel has a friend in the Pentagon. (YNet) Yehuda Bauer says "Netanyahu doesn't know history." (Ha'aretz) Adnan Abu Amer says Israel is preparing for cyber warfare with Palestinians. (Al Monitor) Jonathan Schanzer says Palestinians aren't ready for a third intifada… Yet. (Foreign Policy) Peter Beinart asks if Pres. Obama has lost interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Daily Beast) Amos Harel says tensions between Israel and Palestinians are continuing to accumulate and simmer. (Ha'aretz)

A campaign to talk up a two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ghaith Al-Omari, David Makovsky - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am

The White House announcement that President Obama will not bring a peace initiative on his upcoming trip to Israel and the West Bank reinforces the sense that he sees the visit as an opportunity to reset ties with both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples at the start of his second term.

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Israeli-Palestinian tensions could ultimately spark a major confrontation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

As though 25 years hadn’t gone by, the Israel Defense Forces this week went back to using some of the terminology of the first intifada. Beginning this morning, a special alert was to be declared in the territories, with security forces deployed there ahead of an expected wave of demonstrations, revolving around the prayer services in the mosques. The police, too, will beef up their presence, with an eye on the weekly prayers on the Temple Mount.

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What killed Arafat Jaradat?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

It has been many years since last I saw a mourners' pavilion in the territories as large and as busy as the one for Arafat Jaradat, a previously obscure gas-station attendant from the town of Sa'ir. He was 30 years old, with two children; his wife is four months' pregnant. Jaradat was suspected of having thrown stones and a Molotov cocktail at Israeli forces and was arrested. He died last weekend after six days of detention and interrogation in an Israeli prison, and his death has become a national symbol.

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Israel actually suffers from a litany of burdens
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

What does Yesh Atid MK Yael German, formerly of Meretz and the Geneva Initiative, have to do with the Hebron cemetery where the Jewish murderer is buried alongside Zionism, may the Holy One avenge its blood?

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A friend in the Pentagon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Alon Pinkas - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am

Let's begin by making it clear that new US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is a friend of Israel and is attentive to the Jewish state's vital security and diplomatic interests.

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