Israel's leaders need to make smarter decisions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald by Frida Ghitis - (Opinion) December 11, 2012 - 1:00am You have seen the headlines from the Middle East. Now imagine listening to the same stories as you stand in Israel, just a few miles from Syria, Egypt, Gaza, the West Bank. Considering the range of unhappy outcomes the Israeli people may have to face, it is stunning to see their political leaders create unnecessary problems for their country. » Read more

Keeping the Flame Alive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Frank Jacobs - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am Recent developments have ruined one of Golda Meir's favorite jokes. The former Israeli prime minister was known to quip: "Know why Jews don't like Moses? For 40 years he leads them through the desert, and then he brings them to the only place in the Middle East without oil!" » Read more

The End Of Abbas's Game ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Janine Zacharia - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am A few days before the November 6 American election, Mahmoud Abbas summoned roughly 15 Israelis, including former pro-peace politicians, ex-generals and ex-diplomats, to his presidential office in Ramallah for a chat about the future. Ophir Pines-Paz, the former Labor Knesset member—who, dismayed with the trajectory of his party, abruptly exited politics three years ago—was among those in attendance. According to Pines-Paz, the 77-year old Abbas told the group he would resign and dismantle the Palestinian Authority if there was no movement toward peace soon. » Read more

Mesha’al oils Israel’s propaganda machine with his statement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Linda Heard - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am The first ever visit of Khalid Mesha’al, Chairman of Hamas’ Political Bureau, to Gaza was a historic moment eliciting high emotion not only for the man himself, but also for the hundreds of thousands who flooded into Gaza City’s Katiba Square to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hamas. This was their chance to see up-close-and-personal a person of stature who represents their interests on the world stage — his latest coup being the brokering of a ceasefire with Israel that was poised to launch a ground invasion. » Read more

Abbas and Netanyahu in Wonderland ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Charles Freilich - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am Israel faces dire, historic decisions in the coming year. With his electoral victory virtually assured it is time for the premier to get his strategic priorities right. This is true for Abbas and the Palestinians as well, but then, they always prefer to live in Wonderland. The Middle East has always marched to its own drumbeat, lived in its own special reality, but Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu are taking matters to a new level. » Read more

The UN's best decision in 65 years ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Reuven Pedatzur - (Opinion) December 11, 2012 - 1:00am Had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu treated the UN General Assembly resolution rationally and coolly instead of waging a fruitless battle against it, he would have rushed to adopt it. After all, it was the organization's most positive resolution in 65 years. » Read more

No Palestinian state has been created ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Alan Baker - (Opinion) December 11, 2012 - 1:00am Even as the United Nations has returned to its routine, unproductive agenda, an atmosphere of expectation prevails following the General Assembly resolution granting the Palestinians the status of nonmember observer state. Some even anticipate charges in the International Criminal Court against Israeli leaders and military officers in the expectation that the ICC will accept "Palestine" as a state with the right to present claims. » Read more

Mishal likely to remain Hamas leader ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Kifah Zaboun - December 10, 2012 - 1:00am Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat - It could only be a matter of time before Khalid Mishal retracts his decision to step down as leader of the Hamas political bureau, according to Palestinian sources affiliated with Mishal. According to the sources, Mishal’s retraction is being called for both inside Hamas and from Arab and regional states. » Read more

Unusual jobs highlight restricted choices of Gaza youth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Tim Whewell - December 10, 2012 - 1:00am Newsnight's Tim Whewell talks to two young people's whose jobs highlight the peculiarities of life in the Gaza Strip - Muhammad, who works in the smuggling tunnels into Egypt, and Madeline, who is the only woman in a fishing fleet restricted to trawling the waters inside the Israeli blockade. It is not even dawn in Rafah, at the southern extremity of the Gaza Strip, when Busaina Ismail leans over her sleeping son Muhammad and tries, with difficulty, to rouse him. » Read more

'PA police who attack IDF 'shouldn't remain alive'' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post December 11, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian policeman who strike IDF soldiers "should not remain alive," Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman told Israel Radio on Tuesday. "I will not accept a situation in which an IDF soldier in Hebron gets punched by a Palestinian policeman and that policeman remains alive," Liberman said. "I don't accept that." » Read more