August 3rd

Rocket attacks on Israel and Jordan highlight how Hamas could use Sinai ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am A salvo of at least five rockets, believed to have been fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, hit the Red Sea border area between Jordan and Israel on Monday morning. Three of the Katyusha rockets fell on the Israeli coastal resort area of Eilat, while the others hit outside the Intercontinental Hotel in the Jordanian resort city of Aqaba, killing one Jordanian and wounding at least three others. » Read more

Who will speak up for Israeli citizens' right to free speech? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Daphna Baram - (Opinion) August 3, 2010 - 12:00am The most widely mentioned text in Israel over the last few weeks has been the famous quotation by Pastor Martin Niemöller from 1946, which begins: "First they came for the Communists". » Read more

Israel approves new east Jerusalem apartments ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli municipal officials have approved the building of 40 apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem's disputed eastern sector. The move could undermine efforts to restart direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It comes as U.S. peace envoy David Hale is visiting the region. Municipality spokesman Stephen Miller confirmed the approval and said on Tuesday that construction would continue for residents of all faiths in Jerusalem. » Read more

In the midst of Gaza's calamity lies an opportunity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Joseph Mayton - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Beyond the most obvious hardships brought about by the Gaza blockade, there is another less commonly discussed environmental calamity in the making that could have terrible long-term implications. According to the United Nations Environment Program, the blockade on the Strip is causing severe water shortages and preventing farmers from tilling their land, leading to environmental damage that could take decades to repair. » Read more

Israel, Turkey and the U.N. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) August 3, 2010 - 12:00am It took too long, but Israel made the right decision in saying it would cooperate with a United Nations-led investigation into its disastrous attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship. Only a transparent and credible inquiry has a chance of calming international outrage over the incident and beginning to repair fractured Israeli-Turkish ties. » Read more

Is one-state solution an answer to Greater Israel dreams? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Leslie Susser - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am In one of the more curious twists in Israeli politics, prominent figures on Israel’s right wing have begun pushing for a one-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians as equal citizens with full voting rights. The one-state solution previously had been the preserve of the post-Zionist left, Palestinian hard-liners and left-leaning European intellectuals who envisioned turning Israel proper, the West Bank and Gaza into a single state in which the Palestinians soon would become the majority and assume the reins of government. » Read more

U.S. group launches campaign against West Bank settlement construction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Americans for Peace Now, a sister group to the dovish Israeli group Peace Now, has announced the launching a unique campaign on Monday, meant to sway public opinion against containing settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the construction freeze West Bank settlements, due to expire on September 26, in last November, after months of pressure from the Obama administration, and following a Palestinian refusal to begin talks without one. » Read more

August 2nd

Fruitless talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) August 2, 2010 - 12:00am Suddenly the mood music for a resumption of direct talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis has changed key and grown louder. The Arab League Thursday endorsed such negotiations subject to Palestinian judgment on timing. It would seem Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s speculation that direct talks could be under way by the middle of this month, was not merely diplomatic window-dressing. » Read more

U.S. companies helped finance Dubai slaying ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) August 2, 2010 - 12:00am Money transfers made through U.S. companies may have used to help finance the January assassination of a senior Hamas leader, the Wall Street Journal reported. The transfers were discovered by American investigators cooperating with the probe into the Jan. 20 assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel room in Dubai. » Read more

Robert Fisk: Israel has crept into the EU without anyone noticing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Robert Fisk - August 2, 2010 - 12:00am The death of five Israeli servicemen in a helicopter crash in Romania this week raised scarcely a headline. » Read more