April 18th

Palestinian Filmmakers Embrace Complexities for the Big Screen ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Stephen Dalton - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am The moveable feast that is Palestinian cinema returns to Britain next week for the latest London Palestine Film Festival. Launched in 1998, the festival hub will once again be the towering concrete battlements of the Barbican Arts Centre, with satellite events scattered across the capital's cinemas and colleges. The 2012 programme features more than 50 works including dramas, documentaries, shorts, video art installations and rare gems from the archives - plus a topical new strand called "Beyond Palestine" focusing on Syria and the western Sahara. » Read more

Being a Jew in Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Beth Miller - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am The first people I told were Safa and Imad. Good friends, they lived near me in the Aida Refugee Camp and invited me for lunch every Friday. I knew they were religious Muslims. Imad had told me that Israeli soldiers had killed his brother during the second intifada. But the topic of religion and politics was on the table, and now seemed like a good time. » Read more

Israel Fighting the Wrong War, Overreacts to Activist 'Flightilla' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Nahman Shay - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am At the end of the day, it was clear that a mountain had been made out of a molehill. Of the 1,200 activists who were supposed to land in Israel, only several dozen arrived. A few were arrested and a couple released, and the event came to a close. A sigh of relief by government officials — including those within the police and the Interior Ministry, which dealt with the affair — silently brought an end to what had seemed to be a major attack on Israel’s air space and entry point. But to what end? » Read more

Romney’s Triumph Smooths Sharp Edges of GOP Middle East Policy Rhetoric ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - April 17, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Republican primaries are effectively over, and gone with them is the sharp-edged rhetoric and departures from past U.S. policy on the Middle East. Gone is Rick Santorum’s pledge to strike Iran and his suggestion that West Bank Palestinians should be referred to as Israelis. Gone is Newt Gingrich’s suggestion that the United States is engaged in a “long struggle with radical Islamists” and reference to the Palestinians as an “invented” people. » Read more

Arab Family Evicted in Jerusalem, Jews Move in ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Melanie Lidman - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am An Arab family was evicted from their home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina on Wednesday morning, and 10 Jewish activists with the right-wing Israel Land Fund moved into the house, prompting left-wing activists to dub the issue "the new Sheikh Jarrah." The eviction is first step toward creating a new Jewish complex of 50 apartments in the predominantly Arab neighborhood. According to Israel Land Fund director Aryeh King, a Jewish buyer 35 years ago purchased two buildings, each with two apartments. The properties also belonged to Jewish residents prior to 1948, he said. » Read more

World nations should issue a travel warning to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am The skilled attack by Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner on a blond Danish peace activist in a kaffiyeh was spectacular. The senior officer's two agitated arms grasped the M-16 rifle as if it was an indivisible part of his body, and with an instinctive movement that might be expected from someone whose life was being threatened, landed it in the face of the person who dared to look him in the eye. » Read more

Settlers, Palestinians Clash in Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians threw stones at two Israeli teenage girls who were walking towards Givat Ha'avot neighborhood in the West Bank city of Hebron. One of the teens suffered a fracture to her hand and was treated at a local medical center. According to Palestinian sources, shortly after the incident, which took place on Tuesday night, a group of settlers arrived at several Palestinian homes in Hebron, called their owners out and confronted them about the incident. » Read more

Restoring IDF freedom of action ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Shlomo Brom - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am Operation Defensive Shield began on March 29 and ended on April 10, 2002. It was the first large-scale operation initiated by Israel since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000 that engaged a large part of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority. It was a turning point in Israel's struggle to stop the bloodshed caused by this intifada. » Read more

Iraqi Kurds Cool Ties to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am Washington — A decades-long relationship between Israel and Iraq’s Kurds, maintained mainly in the shadows, faces new challenges as the two sides are split over the growing nuclear threat posed by Iran. Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish Region Government, visited Washington recently. Notably, he did not meet with Jewish officials, nor did he touch on issues relating to Israel. Ties between the Iraqi Kurds and Israel have cooled as Israel pushes for support in its fight against Iran over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. » Read more

Netanyahu must stop hiding behind Holocaust warnings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked beginning this evening by official ceremonies and speeches. As time passes, and despite the dwindling number of survivors, the Holocaust appears to be occupying a more and more prominent place in the life of the State of Israel. » Read more