May 19th

Mofaz: EU support for Palestinian state will lead to violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Attila Somfalvi - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am The chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Shaul Mofaz, met with ambassadors of the European Union in Israel and told them that the EU's function is "to break the freeze" and encourage direct negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians. Mofaz added that the EU should not back a Palestinian unilateral declaration of state as this would only engender "another round of violence"

'Non-violent resistance does not work with the Israelis' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) May 19, 2011 - 12:00am Protests commemorating Nakbeh in the Palestinian territories and the countries surrounding Israel demonstrated, once again, that the phony “status quo” is untenable. The “status quo” is false because Israel has long relied on its military superiority to impose stasis on the Arabs while it carries on with its drive to colonise territory slated for the Palestinian state and to ethnically cleanse Palestinians living there. » Read more

Missing the boat to Palestine peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am There is no doubt that US President Barack Obama and, certainly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have to date missed the boat launched during the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa with promises of more glorious days for the Arab world. How long will American and Israeli leaders continue to bury their heads in the sand without appreciating the golden opportunities roaring above, now that democracy and freedom are being slowly and hopefully firmly established in some of these Arab countries? » Read more

Egypt, Israel and the prospects of war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) May 19, 2011 - 12:00am Last week, Egyptian armed forces stopped demonstrators demanding the liberation of Jerusalem and trying to cross the Sinai desert from continuing their advance to the border with Israel, while also preventing the demonstrators from advancing toward the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. » Read more

What Would Ben-Gurion Do? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily by Elliot Jager - (Opinion) May 19, 2011 - 12:00am How would David Ben-Gurion handle himself if he were the one scheduled to meet Barack Obama on May 20 and address a joint session of the U.S. Congress a few days later? That hypothetical question has been aired frequently by Israelis in the run-up to Benjamin Netanyahu's pending appointments in Washington. It was exactly 50 years ago that Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), a founding father of Israel and its first prime minister, met with President John F. Kennedy. The encounter provides some useful background on the limits of personal charisma and the constraints on Israel's freedom of action. » Read more

Nakba day: we waited 63 years for this ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Karma Nabulsi - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am It was the moment for which we had all been holding our breath for decades – for 63 years to be precise. Palestinians everywhere watched the unfolding scene transfixed and awed. The camera followed the movements of a small group of people advancing from the mass of protesters. They were carefully making their way down a hill towards the high fence that closed off the mined field separating Syria from its own occupied territory of the Golan that borders historic Palestine, now Israel. » Read more

Washington Watch: Is Israel drifting out of focus? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) May 18, 2011 - 12:00am When AIPAC convenes what it boasts will be another record-setting gathering of the faithful next week at the Washington Convention Center, some of the lobby’s most valuable assets will be locked out. The usual sources will again proclaim the lobby’s power, but none so convincingly as its adversaries. The seemingly endless parade of AIPAC-haters who bloat the blogosphere are invaluable to enhancing the lobby’s aura – and stimulate AIPAC’s donors and delegates. » Read more

Rattling the Cage: Two cheers for Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) May 18, 2011 - 12:00am There’s a way out of this frogmarch to pariahhood. If Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to pick up the negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas where they left off under Ehud Olmert, the Palestinians wouldn’t have us on the run like they do now. If Netanyahu agreed to give up the equivalent of the land we colonized in 1967, the world would cheer, and the wind would go out of the sails of the Palestinian demand to return to the land we rightly fought for in 1948. » Read more

Don’t let the radicals win ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yariv Oppenheimer - (Opinion) May 19, 2011 - 12:00am In one sense, Israel’s leadership should be grateful to the hundreds of protestors who invaded the Golan and illustrated to all of us what Israel faces ahead of the Palestinian UN move in September. In the face of settler insistence to cling to the Greater Israel vision and Palestinian demands (endorsed by small parts of Israel’s Left) to turn the territories and Israel into one state, lacking a Jewish majority, the mainstream of Israel’s society must unite and earnestly promote the two-state vision. » Read more

PM's Office okays Har Homa debate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yair Altman - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am Settlers are planning to erect three new outposts in the West Bank on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before the US Congress, Ynet learned on Thursday. In addition, the Interior Ministry's planning and construction committee has approved a discussion on large-scale construction plans in Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood on the eve of Netanyahu's departure Hundreds of members of the Hilltop Youth have completed preparations for constructing the new outposts on the night between Monday and Tuesday, during Netanyahu's scheduled speech before AIPAC. » Read more