August 17th

In Israeli army, rabbis deepen religious tone. Is that kosher? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - August 9, 2009 - 12:00am In the final days before his infantry platoon entered Gaza last January against Hamas, "M." and his reservist buddies were approached by a representative of the military rabbinate. Would they be interested in a chat with a military clergyman during a break in training? With no objections, they were introduced to a "Rabbi Chen," dressed in civilian clothes and red-bearded, who told the soldiers that "holiness of the people of Israel" would keep them safe. » Read more

Israel, Hezbollah threaten war – again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nicholas Blanford - August 15, 2009 - 12:00am Israel and its arch foe Hezbollah are waging an increasingly heated war of words, fanning concerns about another bruising encounter between the two enemies who fought a devastating but inconclusive conflict in 2006. » Read more

'Israel Is Real: An Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and its History' by Rich Cohen ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ruth Andrew Ellenson - (Book Review) August 16, 2009 - 12:00am If you have an inclination to be a rabble-rouser and find yourself bored at a dinner party with American Jews, bring up Israel. You might not get invited back, but in the meantime you'll have fun throwing down a choice apple of discord. Just for kicks, ask people how they feel about Noam Chomsky, the Jewish American linguist who's famously critical of Israel's policies regarding Palestinians, and let the games begin. » Read more

For Hamas, Challenges May Be Growing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - August 17, 2009 - 12:00am The deadly shootout in a Gaza Strip mosque Friday between members of the ruling Islamist Hamas movement and a militant splinter group may signal further challenges to Hamas's authority in Gaza as it tries to reconcile the demands of running a government with its policy of armed conflict with Israel, according to Palestinian and Israeli analysts. » Read more

Radical Leader Killed in Gaza Clashes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - August 17, 2009 - 12:00am A shootout at a mosque in the southern Gaza city of Rafah between Hamas security men and a more extreme Islamist group called the Warriors of God ended early Saturday with 22 dead, including the group’s leader and a senior Hamas security officer. The Ministry of Interior in Gaza said the leader, Abdel Latif Moussa, died in an explosion at his house near the mosque when fighting resumed after dawn. A ministry spokesman said his death might have resulted from explosives in his house that detonated when security men sought to reach him. » Read more

Mubarak to Tell U.S. Israel Must Make Overture ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Michael Slackman - August 17, 2009 - 12:00am In White House meetings beginning Monday, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is expected to tell the Obama administration that Arab nations want peace, but are unwilling to abide Mr. Obama’s call to make good-faith concessions to Israel until Israel takes tangible steps like freezing settlements, an Egyptian official said. » Read more

August 14th

Obama is right not to spoil Israel in the same way that Bush did ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) August 14, 2009 - 12:00am Alarm bells have been ringing around the neighborhood pretty much nonstop since July 13, when President Barack Obama sat down to talk Middle East policy at the White House with a pack of leaders from a dozen American Jewish organizations. The meeting was supposed to help buff up Obama’s relationship with the Jewish community, which is bubbling lately with resentment at the president’s aggressive peace-processing. By reaching out to the community’s customary spokesmen, he hoped to build rapport and perhaps recruit a few backers for his policies. » Read more

A Fateh facelift? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) August 14, 2009 - 12:00am If one chooses to be charitable, last week’s meeting of the most significant Palestinian nationalist movement in Israeli-besieged Palestine for the first time since its founding in the early 1960s could be considered an achievement, certainly historic. If nothing else, it allowed over 2,000 members of the Palestinian Liberation Movement, or Fateh, to assemble in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, and begin the process of rejuvenating what has been described as “a bloated gerontocracy” which has not met for 20 years. » Read more

Perpetual and collective failures ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) August 14, 2009 - 12:00am Two opposing trends were affirmed in Israel and Palestine this week, and one of them must disappear. The Fateh congress in Bethlehem reaffirmed the strategic decision among a majority of Palestinians to seek a negotiated peace with Israel, while a string of senior Israeli officials said that they would continue expanding settlements in East Jerusalem and would not repeat the “mistake” of withdrawing from Gaza. » Read more

Israel sells off refugees’ hopes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Jonathan Cook - August 14, 2009 - 12:00am Amin Muhammad Ali, a 74-year-old refugee from a destroyed Palestinian village in northern Israel, says he only feels truly at peace when he stands among his ancestors’ graves. The cemetery, surrounded on all sides by Jewish homes and farms, is a small time capsule, transporting Mr Muhammad Ali – known to everyone as Abu Arab – back to the days when this place was known by an Arabic name, Saffuriya, rather than its current Hebrew name, Tzipori. » Read more