December 11th

Netanyahu wards off criticism: Israeli settlement plans won't prevent Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by DPA - December 10, 2012 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday dismissed international criticism of Israel's recently announced plans to build in an area near Jerusalem, saying it's "simply not true" that the settlements are an obstacle to Palestinian statehood. "I don't understand how this will prevent territorially the establishment of a Palestinian state," Netanyahu said, referring to Israeli construction in the area east of Jerusalem and west of Ma'aleh Adumim - the so-called E-1 area. » Read more

Israel's Netanyahu: World has double standards ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - December 10, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM —Israel's prime minister on Monday accused the international community of "deafening silence" in response to recent vows by the head of the Hamas militant group to fight on until the Jewish state is destroyed, and appeared unmoved by the gathering storm of global condemnation of his government's plans to continue settling the West Bank. » Read more

U.S. intel predicts: Palestinian state to exist by 2030, but not peace with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amir Oren - December 11, 2012 - 1:00am A U.S. intelligence report predicts growing conflicts between secular Israelis and the ultra-Orthodox and settlers, with the Palestinians getting a state based on the 1967 borders with land swaps by 2030. The state, however, won't necessarily be formally declared, and the issues of Jerusalem, refugees and the demilitarization of the West Bank might not be solved. The report predicts that with the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and eventually Afghanistan, support for Israel will remain the last cause for Muslim anti-U.S. sentiments. » Read more

December 10th

Hamas is failing its responsibility to Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am By the time Khaled Meshaal dropped to his knees and kissed the ground in Gaza on Friday morning, the damage had already been done. Declaring himself a martyr-in-waiting, Mr Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, confirmed what many already knew: violence is the group's only vision for the future. » Read more

Why Obama Will Ignore Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am The last week of November 2012 was a big one on the Israeli-Palestinian front. On the 65th anniversary of the partition resolution that created a Jewish state, the United Nations recognized a Palestinian one. Israel retaliated with the West Bank equivalent of sequestration: announcing it would move toward building settlements in an area east of Jerusalem called E1, which many observers believe would kill the two-state solution. » Read more

Meshal Goes Out of Bounds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest by Paul Pillar - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am What Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said at a mass rally in Gaza City on Saturday was contemptible. Taken at face value, his words eradicated any distinction between Israeli and Palestinian territory, and any possibility of Israelis and Palestinians living in peace. “Palestine, from the river to the sea, from north to south, is our land,” he said. » Read more

Israel must not dismiss outrage over settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by James Carroll - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am AFTER A STORM of criticism hit Israel for the plan it announced to expand settlements in the occupied territories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back. “Israel will continue to stand for its essential interests,” he declared, “even in the face of international pressure, and there will be no change in the decision it has taken.” » Read more

Israel’s List of Friends Keeps Getting Shorter ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am When I made an appointment to see Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard last week, I hoped we would spend most of our time discussing her new effort to better integrate her country into Asia. » Read more

1947's Zionists, Today's Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by David N. Myers - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am Sixty-five years ago, the Zionist movement scored the greatest success in its history—recognition on November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly, of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. U.N. General Assembly resolution 181 called for the creation of a Jewish state alongside an Arab State, with Jerusalem as an international protectorate. It was this diplomatic act that brought the State of Israel into existence. » Read more

Peace moving further away ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am There were times when the entire world would "hold its breath" before Egyptian rulers delivered their speeches, thinking they would make some earth-shattering remarks. In Israel, way before the Egyptian leaders spoke, IDF intelligence officers would hand their commanders reports containing the statements they expected the Egyptian leaders would make. The result, in most cases, was quite amusing. » Read more