Can Tahrir Square Come to Tel Aviv? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am “The Corner of Rothschild and Tahrir,” reads one of the posters at the site where Israel’s summer of social protests began—on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, which has become the movement’s tent-city HQ. Few of the protest leaders would flinch at acknowledging the inspiration they drew from the Arab Awakening, but it is a new, challenging and often uncomfortable feeling for many Jewish Israelis to consider the surrounding Arab world as providing a spark worth emulating. » Read more

Right of return revisited ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Salman Masalha - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am A political tsunami is expected in September, the politicians keep warning us. Obviously the recognition of Palestinian statehood, if adopted, is expected to yank the rug from under the feet of the refugees who were raised on the dream of returning to the fig tree, the spring and the village that no longer exist. » Read more

On a Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Broning - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am Israelis and Palestinians are preparing for a showdown at the United Nations in September, when the Palestinian leadership will ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the borders that existed before the Six Day War in 1967 (when Israel seized control of Jordanian-occupied territory). The details of the bid remain unclear, and the effort entails serious risks. But a sober assessment of what might follow a UN endorsement of Palestine’s borders allows for some cautious optimism. » Read more

A Politician who sees only what he wants to see ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Bilal Hassen - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am Benjamin Netanyahu is an example of a politician who sees only what he wants to see. Indeed, this has been a characteristic of many Israeli leaders, including Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barack. Those two conducted negotiations with the Palestinians and never imagined a situation other than the Palestinian official [sitting in front of them] agreeing to their views and the Israeli plan. » Read more

Terror Attacks Reveal Danger and Opportunity of Arab Revolution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am The terrorist attack launched from Egyptian Sinai, just north of Eilat, on August 18, brought Israel into a headlong collision with the problematic fruits of the Egyptian revolution. » Read more

Rattling the Cage: Earthquake weather ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am There’s a feeling of instability in the atmosphere, of built-up pressure hanging motionless. The air is hazy, the sky is pale and miasmic. Earthquake weather, it’s called. That’s the atmosphere in this country, geopolitically speaking. And while no one can predict an earthquake, I don’t know of any aware, realistic person who would predict that the relative calm we’ve known for nearly three years, since Operation Cast Lead, is going to last very much longer. A few months, maybe a year. More than that is hard to imagine. » Read more

Despite some Israel-Libya contacts, warm ties are not on the horizon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Melman - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am The chances that Israel will establish even low-level relations with a new regime that takes shape in Tripoli are not great. This assessment is based on a Haaretz interview this week with Ahmad Shabani, a Libyan opposition leader. Since the rebel government formed about six months ago in Benghazi, envoys have been trying to figure out if there are hopes of establishing a diplomatic relationship with Israel. » Read more

The extreme Israeli right's alliance with lunatics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am Against the backdrop of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his spokesmen call the "delegitimization" of Israel, a "support event" was held in Jerusalem yesterday evening led by American preacher-broadcaster Glenn Beck. Beck was accompanied by personages identified with the Republican Party's extreme right and a group of Christian Zionist evangelical leaders. » Read more

Palestine and Statehood: An historical overview ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Opinion) August 23, 2011 - 12:00am Until 1923, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. In December 1917, British troops entered Jerusalem and ended 400 years of Ottoman rule. In 1922, the League of Nations issued the Mandate of Palestine which authorized the United Kingdom to become the Mandatory Power in Palestine. The Mandate Document, however, included several paradoxical stipulations contrary to the Mandate System as set forth in Article 22 of the League's Charter. Major stipulations » Read more

Ramadan discounts lure customers back to West Bank's ghost town ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am An unlikely noise can be heard in the Old City of Hebron in the southern West Bank - the sound of Ramadan bargain hunters dipping in and out of shops and buying cut-price goods. The crowds milling in the ancient streets are a change of pace for vendors here, who for years have suffered the consequences of Israeli-imposed security restrictions that brought business to a near standstill. Israel says the restrictions are necessary to protect 600 hardline Jewish settlers who live in the heart of the city among a Palestinian population of about 6,000. » Read more