April 5th

Gaza: the stain remains on Israel's war record ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Kenneth Roth - (Opinion) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Netanyahu government is doing everything it can to interpret a recent Washington Post op-ed article by Justice Richard Goldstone as vindication of Israel's conduct in the 2008-09 Gaza conflict. It is nothing of the sort. Israel's reluctance to confront that reality finds a parallel in its refusal to date to conduct credible investigations into the serious violations of the laws of war that it committed in Gaza. The Goldstone article does not relieve it of the obligation to pursue those investigations. » Read more

What's behind Goldstone's flip-flop? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times (Editorial) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am Few recent events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been as wildly controversial and polarizing as the release of the Goldstone report, a United Nations-sponsored study prepared in the aftermath of Israel's devastating, 3-week-long assault on the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-09. » Read more

The Goldstone Report and Israel’s moral standing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Richard Goldstone - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am It came as (almost) no surprise to me that Japanese utility workers remained at their crippled and highly toxic nuclear plant even at the risk of death. It came as (almost) no surprise either that in the chaos of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, there were no reported incidents of widespread looting. Japan is one vast community, mostly a single ethnic group, and societal pressures are intense. A nation, like an individual, has a culture. » Read more

Ross: Turmoil sharpens Israeli needs for security guarantees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Mohamed Ahbdellah - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am The recent Middle East turmoil has sharpened Israeli needs for tangible security guarantees in exchange for concessions to the Palestinians, Dennis Ross said. Ross, President Obama’s top Middle East adviser, told the Anti-Defamation League’s annual leadership conference in Washington on Monday that security guarantees sought by Israel toward a peace deal with the Palestinians were critical, “particularly during a time of change.” The Palestinians, in turn, “need to see that they can have an independent state that is viable and contiguous” as well as “signs the occupation is receding.” » Read more

Israeli actor slain in Jenin refu­gee camp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am A prominent Israeli actor and director who mentored young Palestinians at a youth theater that he founded in the West Bank town of Jenin was fatally shot Monday in the community’s refugee camp. Juliano Mer Khamis, 52, born to a Jewish mother and a Christian Arab father, personified the complexities of the conflict dividing his country. He served in Israel’s army as a paratrooper and portrayed Israeli Jews in film and on stage, but he cast his lot with the Palestinians. » Read more

How to Break the Mideast Deadlock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab-Israeli peace process is frozen solid. A breakthrough would require something far bolder and more imaginative than the president articulating another set of sterile American policy positions. But a bolder proposal — outlined below — has a high risk of failure and may be well beyond the will or capacity of the United States to achieve. Given the current turbulence in the Arab world, the smart money on such a risky venture — or on any peace initiative — would be to wait at least until after U.S. elections in November 2012. » Read more

J Street Lauds Goldstone for Retracting War Crimes Claims ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am The dovish Jewish-American lobby J Street on Monday lauded South African Judge Richard Goldstone’s op-ed in The Washington Post I which he voiced regret about blaming Israel for the intentional targeting of civilians in the report he authored on the Gaza war. » Read more

Returning to our references ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinians look at the approaching September deadline as a very critical and decisive crossroads. It is the end of the one-year time-frame for the bilateral negotiations that started upon the initiative of the United States last September. It is also the end of the two-year plan of the Palestinian government for achieving national readiness for statehood. » Read more

Returning to our references ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinians look at the approaching September deadline as a very critical and decisive crossroads. It is the end of the one-year time-frame for the bilateral negotiations that started upon the initiative of the United States last September. It is also the end of the two-year plan of the Palestinian government for achieving national readiness for statehood. » Read more

Israel Indicts Gaza Man on Terror-Linked Counts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Israel on Monday handed down an indictment against Dirar Abu Sisi, the Gaza engineer who vanished from a train in Ukraine in mid-February, then surfaced in an Israeli prison. He stands accused of developing rockets and missiles on behalf of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, for use against Israeli civilians and soldiers. In a rare public appearance in court last week, Mr. Sisi, 42, told reporters that he had been kidnapped “for no reason.” His relatives, who said they believed that he had been snatched by Mossad agents, insisted that his arrest was a mistake. » Read more