Hamas Still Not Ready for Prime Time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am In a wide-ranging interview with the Jewish Daily Forward, Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook again demonstrated the difficult position in which his organization finds itself. Due to the Arab uprisings, the region’s strategic landscape is now primarily defined by sectarian allegiances. As a result, Hamas's external leadership is trying to reintegrate the organization into the mainstream Sunni Arab fold, cultivating closer ties with states like Qatar, Jordan and Egypt, while distancing itself from Iran and abandoning Syria altogether. » Read more

Both sides will reject it ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Efraim Inbar - (Opinion) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am Having recently won the struggle for the Kadima party leadership, Shaul Mofaz now plans to position himself as a serious alternative to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. While the polls so far do not show any significant increase in Kadima's appeal to voters, Mofaz is a focused, hardworking politician who cannot easily be dismissed as a mere irritant to the Likud and Netanyahu, which seem to have a hold on the Israeli electorate. He has the necessary national security experience--as former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and minister of defense--to take on the prime ministerial quest. » Read more

Israeli Foreign Minister: I Worry More About Egypt Than Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Ben Caspit - (Analysis) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am Israel is worried that the Egyptian revolution may turn against Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sent a warning document to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recommending that three or four special divisions be designated to protect the southern border with Egypt. In his view, the situation in Egypt is worsening and may create pressure on the leadership to unite the nation around an external enemy — Israel. » Read more

Israel's strategy to seize Jerusalem on display for all to see ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Joseph Dana - (Opinion) April 25, 2012 - 12:00am By now, news of Palestinian being evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem is routine. Last week, two more Palestinian families were thrown into the street to make way for Jewish settlers in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina. The mechanism of land confiscation in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has become a near science for Israeli authorities, ensuring that the exact borders of Israel remain unclear and constantly shifting. » Read more

‘One state’ means no state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Zalman Shoval - (Opinion) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am The next round of Israeli-Palestinian talks is in the offing, but it will probably turn out to be as futile as the last one. At least as long as the Palestinian leadership persists in its unrealistic preconditions, i.e. Israel to accept a priori the 1967 armistice line as the border of the proposed Palestinian state, and stopping all construction beyond that line, including in Jerusalem. » Read more

Bill seeking to bypass Supreme Court aims to end democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) April 24, 2012 - 12:00am If you spent time as a child in a crowded chicken coop, you will have had difficulty forgetting the scene. When one of the hens is injured, her "sister" hens immediately begin forming a cloud overhead. The entire coop is engulfed in a whirlwind of dust. Within half a minute, all that is left of the injured hen is the dust of its bones. A few seconds later, it is business as usual in the coop. (In nature, where chickens are not locked up, there are no scenes like that.) » Read more

The sunshine over the horizon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am The unilateral Egyptian decision to cancel the gas deal with Israel is another sad benchmark in the deterioration of relations between Israel and its neighbors. This cancelation is a clear violation of the agreement between the two countries, which beyond its economic importance to both sides is a blow to status of the peace between Israel and Egypt. » Read more

Israel must keep gas dispute with Egypt apolitical ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 24, 2012 - 12:00am The suspension (or cancellation) of Egypt's natural gas agreement with Israel has prompted extensive fear about bilateral relations, to the point that some see it as the first step toward scrapping the Camp David Accords. » Read more

AP Interview: Palestinian doubts 2-state solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dan Perry - (Analysis) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am ABU DIS, West Bank — With gloom deepening over prospects for peace, a leading Palestinian is suggesting they might drop the "two-state solution" that has underpinned two decades of negotiations, aiming for Israel and a Palestinian state next to each other. Instead, Palestinians might seek a multi-ethnic state covering all of historic Palestine — including today's Israel, said former Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in an interview at his office in this West Bank town. » Read more

Peace Without Partners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ami Ayalon, Orni Petruschka, Gilead Sher - (Opinion) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am FOR three years, attempts at negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership have failed because of a lack of trust. It now seems highly unlikely that the two sides will return to negotiations — but that does not mean the status quo must be frozen in place. Israel doesn’t need to wait for a final-status deal with the Palestinians. What it needs is a radically new unilateral approach: It should set the conditions for a territorial compromise based on the principle of two states for two peoples, which is essential for Israel’s future as both a Jewish and a democratic state. » Read more