November 11th

Israeli army: Soldiers accidentally kill settler near Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 11, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli soldiers shot dead a settler and wounded two others when they opened fire on a car at a roadblock south of Hebron on Friday, the army and settler leaders said. "Soldiers who had been warned of a suspicious vehicle opened fire, killing one Israeli and wounding two others," a military spokesman told AFP. The car, driving from the Haggay settlement towards Hebron, had failed to stop at a barrier specially erected to intercept it following an alert, the spokesman said. » Read more

Obama’s Influential Mideast Envoy to Resign ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mark Landler - November 10, 2011 - 1:00am WASHINGTON — Dennis B. Ross, a seasoned diplomat who has been one of President Obama’s most influential advisers on Iran and the Middle East, announced Thursday that he would leave the White House, at a time when Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are frozen and tensions over Iran are flaring up anew. Mr. Ross, who disclosed his departure at a lunch with Jewish leaders, said he promised his wife that he would leave the government after two years. He joined the State Department in February 2009 as a senior adviser on Iran before moving to the National Security Council that June. » Read more

November 10th

What Obama really thinks of Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am The open mike I-wish-I-hadn't-said-that moment when French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "liar" and Barack Obama didn't disagree is a tale as old as the hills for American presidents and secretaries of state. For decades, American presidents and diplomats have been locked in uneasy relationships with Israeli prime ministers from the Likud Party. One example: "Who's the f---- superpower here," a frustrated Bill Clinton exploded to his aides after his first meeting with Netanyahu in 1996. » Read more

Voting against Palestine may cost Australia a seat on the Security Council ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sydney Morning Herald by Richard Woolcott - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am The importance of Australia's candidature for election next October as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term (2013-14) should be better understood and supported by our politicians and the Australian public. Unfortunately, our prospects have been undermined by our recent vote against Palestine's admission to the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation. » Read more

Judge Goldstone’s offensive apology for apartheid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com by Udi Aloni - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am I write as an Israeli Jew who was brought up and molded at the very center of secular, Zionist Israel. My parents, Reuven and Shulamit Aloni, exemplify everything that is good and just about Israel for humanistic Jews like Judge Richard Goldstone, the noted South African jurist, who in a recent New York Times Op-Ed, denied the practice of apartheid in Israel. » Read more

What the UNESCO vote on Palestine means for the U.N. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ziad Abu Zayyad - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am In a development that gave the Palestinian leadership a significant hand up, the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) became the first international organization to admit Palestine as a full member last week despite strong opposition from several member countries. » Read more

Israel running out of American friends ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am It was fortuitous that three prominent Americans spoke within days of each other to full-house audiences at three different think-tanks in Washington, blasting Israeli policies and the blatant favouritism of American administrations towards Israel and a failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, now in its 64th year. Shockingly, US media neglected the harsh criticism voiced within a mile’s radius of the White House. » Read more

Stalled bid for statehood is not end of the road ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations may be drowning in a procedural swamp. As The National reports today, the US appears to have wielded the tools of big-power diplomacy so effectively that the issue will not even come to a Security Council vote, sparing the US the embarrassing need to use its veto to protect its ally Israel. » Read more

Attack on Iran Unlikely — For Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am The recent intimations that Israel is planning a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure are not likely to lead to any such action anytime soon. More likely, they reflect an attempt to generate stronger international sanctions, coming as they did just as Vienna’s International Atomic Energy Agency was about to release a report confirming Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Right now, though, hype, pressure and deterrence appear to be the name of the game. » Read more

Brinkmanship could spark Middle East war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) November 10, 2011 - 1:00am When it comes to attacking enemy nuclear installations, Israel has an excellent record for springing surprises and getting the job done. Just ask the Iraqis and Syrians. So why is everyone from the prime minister on down talking so much these days about paying a visit to Iran? Media in Israel and around the world have been filled with stories of how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak want to hit the Iranian nuclear facilities and are trying to convince the rest of the cabinet, over the objections of the military and intelligence leadership, to go along. » Read more