January 6th

A Third Way to Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs by Robert Danin - (Opinion) January 1, 2011 - 1:00am This past September, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down in Washington to dine with U.S. President Barack Obama, a barely noticed event took place in Ramallah. With little fanfare, the 13th Palestinian Authority (PA) government, headed by Salam Fayyad, issued its one-year countdown to independence. This brief and understated document is likely to prove far more significant for the future of Palestine than the White House dinner and reflects nothing short of a revolutionary new approach to Palestinian statehood. » Read more

Arab states work to finalize anti-settlement draft ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post January 6, 2011 - 1:00am A group of Arab states launched negotiations on a resolution against Israeli building in West Bank settlements and aimed to finish a final draft in the near future, chief Palestinian UN delegate, Riyad Mansour was quoted as saying by Reuters on Wednesday. "We are beginning the process of text negotiations, and we hope that we can finish this exercise as soon as possible ... to pave the way for action by the Security Council," Mansour said. » Read more

Knesset approves investigation of Israeli human rights groups ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am The funding of Israeli human and civil rights groups is to be investigated amid claims they are acting against the country's interests, members of the Israeli parliament decided today – a move described by opponents as "McCarthyite". A bill brought by members of the rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose leader is the controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, proposed a parliamentary commission of inquiry into groups monitoring the activities of the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank. » Read more

Protest Death Spurs Scrutiny of Israeli Tactics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Danielle Cheslow - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am The Israeli army’s alleged killing of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, the unarmed woman who reportedly died from tear gas inhalation during a protest of Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, is putting the army’s tactics at such demonstrations under greater scrutiny, along with its moral credibility. At the same time, the army is attacking the protesters’ credibility. It is challenging accounts from Abu Rahmah’s family members and other protesters, from medical personnel at the scene and from contemporaneous press and Twitter accounts all reporting on Abu Rahmah’s fatal encounter. » Read more

Wanted: Adult Supervision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) January 5, 2011 - 1:00am Call me a foreign-policy geezer, a traditionalist from back in the day. But when it comes to conducting the affairs of the country abroad, particularly toward the seemingly endless, seemingly intractable Arab-Israeli peace process, one historically proven bureaucratic model trumps all others: the willful president empowering the strong secretary of state who, in turn, runs everything. » Read more

Israel’s Top Military Brass Is Marching Away From the Prime Minister ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am A year after Israel’s military brass was briefly jolted by scenes of banner-waving recruits protesting against settlement evacuation, there’s another round of political murmuring emerging from the ranks. This rebellion couldn’t be more different from the last one, though. These soldiers aren’t speaking out against compromise with Israel’s Arab neighbors — they’re endorsing it. And they aren’t new recruits, but some of Israel’s most renowned military leaders. » Read more

Only a canny America can force a Middle East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Michael Young - (Opinion) January 6, 2011 - 1:00am The Obama administration's inability to bring about a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians has prompted a search for new ideas. The latest was voiced most confidently this week by The Economist, the British news magazine. » Read more

Is Israel a democracy? Five actions in 2010 that fueled the debate. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ariel Zirulnick - January 6, 2011 - 1:00am Rabbis' wives: Don't date Arab men A group of rabbis' wives penned a letter Dec. 29 urging Jewish women "not to date Arab men, not to work in places where Arabs are employed and not to volunteer for national service with them," the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. » Read more

Chile warms to a Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Matthew Chung - January 6, 2011 - 1:00am When the latest round of direct negotiations with Israel stalled, the Palestinian Authority turned its attention to securing help some 10,000km away from the Middle East. In the past month a wave of support has emerged across Latin America as its heavyweight Brazil, along with Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Uruguay, have proclaimed they formally recognise an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. They join about 100 countries that already recognise a Palestinian state. » Read more

Israeli army investigating Jawaher Abu Rahma tear-gas incident in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am The Israeli army, which had questioned reports by Palestinian witnesses and doctors that tear gas led to the death of a woman after a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank on Friday, said Wednesday that it is still conducting its own inquiry into the death and will make an announcement after its completion. » Read more