November 10th

Blasts hit Egypt-Israel gas pipeline ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 10, 2011 - 1:00am Saboteurs blew up the gas pipeline between Egypt, Israel and Jordan on Thursday in Northern Sinai using remote controlled bombs, forcing it to shut down, Egyptian security sources said. The first blast, the sixth since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and the seventh this year, was near Mazar area, 30 kilometers west of the town of Al-Arish, security sources and witnesses said. » Read more

White House tries to limit Netanyahu 'liar' damage ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 10, 2011 - 1:00am The White House sought on Wednesday to limit damage to US-Israel relations following revelations that French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel "a liar" in a private conversation with President Barack Obama. "Our record speaks very clearly about the president's commitment to Israel and he has maintained a very close working relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters, referring to Obama. » Read more

'Liar': Will Sarkozy's Netanyahu jab mar cooperation on Iran? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - November 9, 2011 - 1:00am On a day when the United Nations offered evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, the news that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was caught calling Israel's prime minister a "liar" to President Obama highlighted tensions between Israel and its Western allies – and whether they can effectively team up to face a common enemy. » Read more

PA unlikely to ask for full UN membership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - November 10, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority failed in its bid for full UN membership, its officials admitted on Wednesday. They said they were now unlikely to call for a vote on the matter in the Security Council. The PA is expected instead to turn to the General Assembly, where it has an automatic majority, and ask that its status be upgraded to that of an observer nation. This would give the Palestinians de facto international recognition as a state, even if it does not bestow upon them full-state rights in the international arena. » Read more

November 9th

Why do Sarkozy and Obama hate Netanyahu? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) November 8, 2011 - 1:00am Binyamin Netanyahu seems to have been the target of some ugly — if off the record — barbs from President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Speaking privately (they thought) following a news conference in Cannes last week, Sarkozy said “I cannot bear” Netanyahu, adding that he was “a liar.” » Read more

Sarkozy, Obama Anti-Netanyahu? Not So Simple ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Fox News by Judith Miller - (Opinion) November 8, 2011 - 1:00am Open mic. Open mouth. Insert foot. It seems that politicians never learn: wearing a microphone is like carrying a loaded weapon. You can never be sure when it will go off, or in this case, go live. The French government is deeply “chagrined” – now we know why it’s a French word – about the latest diplomatic “faux pas” that is turning into a major “scandale”: the all-too-candid conversation between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and President Obama about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the G-20 Summit in Cannes. » Read more

Empty shops point to dire times for Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - November 9, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM // One of the world's most celebrated - and surely its most contentious - cities attracts about three million tourists each year. But you would not know it from the cash register in Ahmad Rizeq's grocery. Each day, Mr Rizeq is lucky if a single tourist in Jerusalem's bustling Old City crosses the threshold of his shop, even though it is only metres from the Haram Al Sharif, Islam's third-holiest site. "We're in a sorry state of affairs here," lamented Mr Rizeq, 62, whose shop on a street known as the Khalidiya Ascent has been in the family for 36 years. » Read more

Hacking Palestine: A digital occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English by Helga Tawil-Souri - (Opinion) November 9, 2011 - 1:00am In the aftermath of the near-total shutdown of the internet and telephone network in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last week, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is attempting to figure out how, why and by whom Palestine was hacked. Whether the PA ever comes to a conclusive finding is arguable, even if it manages to mobilise the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to conduct an investigation. The Palestinian Minister of Communications has been hinting that a state may be behind the concerted attack - by which he means Israel. » Read more

Israel’s Netanyahu: hero at home, pariah abroad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya November 9, 2011 - 1:00am Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu may be feted at home for his role in freeing captive soldier Gilad Shalit, but abroad, world leaders are barely managing to hide their disdain for the media-savvy prime minister. Just how much Netanyahu is failing to win the respect of his global peers emerged on Tuesday after a French website published remarks by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who described him as a “liar” during a private conversation with US President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in Cannes last week. » Read more

How to Save Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) November 9, 2011 - 1:00am I write from an Israel with a divided soul. It is not only defined by its contradictions; it is at risk of being torn apart by them. It is a country with uncertain borders and a government that ignores its own laws. Its democratic ideals, much as they have helped shape its history, or on the verge of being remembered among the false political promises of 20th-century ideologies. » Read more