July 5th

Six years on, lessons of Gaza withdrawal resonate for West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Linda Gradstein - (Opinion) July 4, 2011 - 12:00am SHILOH, West Bank (JTA) -- Yisrael Medad remembers when just eight families lived in the red-roofed homes in this Jewish settlement deep in the hills of the West Bank. Now some 2,500 Israelis live here, and Shiloh has playgrounds, schools and a yeshiva. The red-roofed homes sprawl over several hills, and new homes continue to be built. At the bottom of the hill is the archaeological excavation of the biblical Shiloh, where the tabernacle is believed to have been built. » Read more

If... then... ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian media are reporting that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has responded to President Barack Obama’s request for an answer on whether or not Israel agrees to the president’s parameters for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. According to the reports, Netanyahu demanded a letter of commitment from the US, patterned on the letter from former president George W. » Read more

The U.S. may be heading toward talks with Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) July 3, 2011 - 12:00am How would Israel respond if a "senior American official" were to declare that the United States was prepared to speak with Hamas leadership? » Read more

The blockade is the problem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) July 4, 2011 - 12:00am All signs indicate that the government of Israel has taken steps to receive the present Gaza flotilla in a manner much more systematic than last year's actions. Instead of relying entirely on the use of force, diplomatic measures were taken this time, and friendly states, first and foremost Greece, mobilized to help Israel and hampered the flotilla's departure. This diplomatic action proved that there are alternatives less violent than Israel's predilection for discharging armed soldiers to suppress civilian protests. » Read more

Siege of Gaza has become a moral blockade of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is indeed connected to the centers of power in the world. The predictions of a tsunami at present seem to be exaggerated, but nevertheless, before the victory ball, it is worth remembering - the Israeli occupation is the longest military occupation of modern times. » Read more

Fatah 'tiptoeing round accord with Hamas' in run-up to statehood bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am After signing a reconciliation accord two months ago but agreeing on little since, the widely hailed rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah now resembles little more than a shaky truce. The festering differences between the two Palestinian political factions have been manifested publicly in bickering over whether to appoint Salaam Fayyad as prime minister in the yet-to-be-formed interim government of technocrats. » Read more

Will the One-State Solution Become the Only Solution? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Eric Alterman - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am Tony Judt’s deliberately provocative 2003 New York Review of Books essay, “Israel: the Alternative,” is a lesson in the limits of American Jewry’s allowable discourse when it comes to Israel. Writing explicitly in the tradition of thought experiment, rather than policy proposal, about what he called an “alternative future,” Judt suggests that Jews and Arabs alike might be better off as citizens of a secular democratic state that encompassed both Israel and Palestine, in which all citizens had equal rights regardless of religion or national origin. » Read more

Israel Determined to Keep Pressure on Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am As it maintains its isolation of the Hamas rulers, Israel has been working to boost the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Gaza Strip by gradually supporting its projects there. “I believe our current policy to work with international organizations and support the Palestinian Authority’s projects in Gaza, plus our efforts to weaken Hamas, are the way to bring about the real change in Gaza,” said Maj.-Gen. Eitan Dangot, Israel’s government coordinator for activities in the West Bank and Gaza. But, he stressed: We have no desire to ever return to the Gaza Strip.” » Read more

US envoy in Israel to Rivlin: Obama will visit Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post July 5, 2011 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama will visit Israel, US ambassador to Israel James B. Cunningham told Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday. "The president wants to visit and he will do so," Cunningham told Rivlin. Though he did not specify a date for the visit, Cunningham said it was on Obama's agenda. Rivlin told Cunningham that "Israelis sense that the atmosphere in the White House has changed for the worse. The feeling is that Obama views Israel as a burden more than as a strategic asset." » Read more

2 killed in IDF strike on terror cell ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hanan Greenberg - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Israel Air Force targeted a terror cell in Gaza Tuesday, after it was identified as attempting to fire projectiles at Israel. The pilots reported hitting their mark. A Palestinian medical source said two people were killed and one wounded in the strike, which took place east of the Maghazi refugee camp. The sources said the three were hit while approaching the security fence in central Gaza; adding that the bodies were taken to the Gaza hospital. It is still unclear which militant organization the three were associated with. » Read more