Fewer Israelis Immigrate to U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - April 19, 2012 - 12:00am The various laws of return seem to be working. Fewer Israelis are moving to the United States while a growing number of American Jews are immigrating to the Jewish state and more Israelis living abroad are making their way back home, new immigration statistics show. The numbers seem to herald a victory for Israel, which has taken bold steps to keep its citizens from moving away. But the immigration data may be more indicative of America’s economic woes than of Israel’s growing attractiveness. » Read more

Danish Protester: ‘No One Would Care if a Palestinian was hit with a Rifle’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - April 20, 2012 - 12:00am Without the video, all Andreas Ias would have to show for his weekend bicycle ride in the Jordan valley would be two stitches and a slightly swollen lower lip – plus a hardening anger about the treatment by Israeli soldiers of Palestinians. But a few seconds of footage uploaded to YouTube catapulted the 20-year-old Danish activist into the media spotlight, drew statements from the Israeli prime minister, president and chief of staff, led to the disciplining of an Israeli army officer, and prompted debate over the use of video cameras as a weapon of modern warfare. » Read more

Postscript: A shroud of shame ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) April 19, 2012 - 12:00am Lt.-Col. Shalom Eisner, a senior officer in the Central Command, takes his rifle butt and bashes it into the face of a young Danish pro-Palestinian protester on a bicycle near Jericho. Instead of flatly condemning the officer, this paper, among others, has tried to justify his actions both editorially and by publishing op-ed pieces and letters in his defense. » Read more

Israel fights anarchy on all fronts, except in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 20, 2012 - 12:00am The prime minister, several cabinet members and senior IDF officers boasted this week of their victory over "anarchists" who wanted to disrupt law and order in the territories. Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner's proponents argued that the deputy commander of the Jordan Valley brigade, who smashed his rifle in the face of a Danish peace activist, was protecting his soldiers from a group of anarchists. » Read more

Abbas Seeks Support for Non-Member Palestinian State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua April 19, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' recent tour in Asia aimed to lobby for support for giving the Palestinians the status of non-member state in the United Nations, a Palestinian official said Thursday. "Abbas sought international support for the Palestinian position as peace talks with Israel are crippled," said Palestinian foreign minister Riad Al-Maliki, he also sought support "for going to the UN General Assembly" to ask for upgrading the Palestinian statue to a non-member state. » Read more

Israel's diminishing power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) April 20, 2012 - 12:00am Although it is too early to make a judgement, it looks as if Israel's Iran policy has back-fired and may result in a very different outcome from the one Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long sought. Israel's thinking these past three years has been that punitive sanctions, cyber warfare and the assassination of Iran's nuclear scientists must eventually force a crippled Islamic Republic to agree to ‘zero enrichment' of uranium — that is to say to dismantle its entire nuclear programme. » Read more

An occasional Palestinian Christian encounter of Israeli intolerance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Baha Hilo - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Israeli ambassador to the US appears to really believe that Palestinian Christians suffer significantly from Palestinian Muslims, and just occasionally from Israeli intolerance. Palestinian Christians' reality is the complete opposite. The ambassador's latest missives in the American press have provoked Palestinian Christian leaders to remind him and his readers that Israel really isn't all that friendly to its Christians. » Read more

The Return of East Jerusalem's Most Luxurious Hotel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Yossi Eli - (Opinion) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am From the 1960s until the eruption of the Second Intifada in 2000, the Saint George Hotel was the most luxurious and famous hotel in East Jerusalem. Last week, a decade after its closure, the hotel on Salah a-Din Street was re-opened, due to surprising economic cooperation between a Palestinian contractor and Jordanian investors. » Read more

Grilling of Top Palestinian Militant Exposes Arafat’s Link to Terror Attacks on Israelis, papers Show ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - April 20, 2012 - 12:00am On April 15, 2002, 10 years ago this week, Marwan Barghouti, the secretary general of Fatah's Tanzim militia, was arrested by members of the undercover Duvdevan unit of the Israel Defense Forces in Ramallah. His capture was preceded by two weeks of cat-and-mouse games with the IDF and the Shin Bet security service, during which the Israelis also disseminated threatening hints about an intention to assassinate him. » Read more

An occasional Palestinian Christian encounter of Israeli intolerance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Baha Hilo - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Israeli ambassador to the US appears to really believe that Palestinian Christians suffer significantly from Palestinian Muslims, and just occasionally from Israeli intolerance. Palestinian Christians' reality is the complete opposite. The ambassador's latest missives in the American press have provoked Palestinian Christian leaders to remind him and his readers that Israel really isn't all that friendly to its Christians. » Read more