April 12th

Middle East mediators seek to revive peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Arshad Mohammed - April 12, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - Middle East peace mediators on Wednesday criticized Israeli settlement building and called on donors to meet aid pledges to the Palestinians as they sought to revive moribund peace talks. The so-called Quartet - the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States - said they stood behind their Sept. 23, 2011, call for the parties to reach a peace deal by the end of 2012, an objective that seems increasingly remote. » Read more

April 11th

Republicans have ‘a real Jewish problem’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Republicans found some encouragement in the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) 2012 Jewish Values survey released last week and quickly declared it evidence that Barack Obama’s Jewish support is falling. It is not an entirely invalid conclusion since he got 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008 and this survey shows 62% of Jewish voters say they would like to see him reelected and 30% prefer an unnamed Republican candidate. » Read more

Gaza Executions: Hamas Condemned Over ‘Inhuman Punishment’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Human rights groups have condemned the execution by the Hamas government in Gaza of three prisoners at the weekend, and are demanding that the death sentence of a fourth be commuted. The three men, identified only by their initials, were hanged on Saturday at a Hamas security base in Gaza City. The cases were unrelated: WJ, 27, had been convicted of treason by collaborating with Israel; MB, 49, had been convicted of murder; and MA, 20, had been convicted of abducting, raping and killing a child. » Read more

Israel should refrain from public calls to free Jonathan Pollard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am On Monday, under pressure from Jonathan Pollard's wife and activists campaigning for his release, President Shimon Peres asked U.S. President Barack Obama to free the convicted spy, who is serving a life term for spying against the United States on Israel's behalf. » Read more

Quartet to Meet in DC, but Expectations are Low ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am Senior Quartet representatives will meet in Washington on Wednesday amid little expectation that they will have more luck this time kick-starting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and Quartet envoy Tony Blair will meet on the sidelines of the G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process. » Read more

Israeli democracy without the High Court and B'Tselem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am This is how a democracy should look: If the people's elected representatives pass laws that contradict the country's constitution or its Basic Laws that they themselves legislated, the court has the authority to invalidate them. This is a power that the lawmakers themselves granted the High Court of Justice here, in order to protect citizens - in case the legislature fails to carry out its task properly, and decides to grab more power for itself than the public agreed to grant it. » Read more

West Bank: Teens Erect Outpost, Clash with Security Forces ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Itamar Fleishman - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Several dozen Jewish teenagers on Tuesday took advantage of the Passover holiday to erect a new outpost near the Hashmonaim community in the West Bank. The teens, who called the outpost "Or Hadash (new light)," clashed with security forces at the scene. The security forces confiscated tools that were used to build the outpost. Two teenage girls who tried to snatch the tools back were held for questioning but released a short while later after agreeing to identify themselves. » Read more

Israel’s Grass fiasco ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Daniel Bettini - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Interior Minister Eli Yishai’s decision to declare Guenter Grass a persona non grata appeared cynical and populist from the get-go. It was clear that not much time would elapse before the overwhelming support for Israel in the German and global media, and the criticism over Grass’ despicable poem, would turn around as result of our interior minister’s statement. » Read more

Daniel Pipes' attack on Israeli Arabs is baseless and inflammatory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carl Perkal - (Opinion) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am Middle East expert Daniel Pipes was in Israel recently and subsequently published an article entitled “Israel’s Arabs, living a paradox” in the Washington Times. I don’t know Dr. Pipes personally, but I feel compelled to call him to task for his baseless and inflammatory attack on the Arab citizens of Israel. Pipes has written an aggressive and confused jumble of half-truths and misunderstandings about the Arabs citizens of Israel. » Read more

IDF Closes Off Central Palestinian Town to Vehicles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oz Rosenberg - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am The Israel Defense Forces is not allowing vehicles in or out of A-Ram, a Palestinian city of 60,000 northeast of Jerusalem, because of a recent increase in stone and firebomb throwing at army patrols by local youth, the army said. Late Sunday night, soldiers placed large boulders across all four lanes of the road at the city's main entrance to block incoming and outgoing vehicular traffic. Pedestrians are not restricted, the IDF said. The entrance to A-Ram northeast of Jerusalem, which has been blocked by the military. » Read more