April 4th

The infernal U.S.-Iran-Israel triangle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am Why does most of the world continue to lose respect for the United States and its conduct of foreign policy? Two developments in the past week shed some light on this, and – not surprisingly – they both relate to Washington’s relations with Iran and Israel, an arena in which American rationality, fairness, consistency and integrity go out the window, and hysteria takes over the controls. » Read more

Crisis in Zion Square: Can Peter Beinart Shake Up American Zionism? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am Israel, settlements, and boycotts, have been attracting something of a wave of attention recently. A small co-op in Brooklyn's Park Slope has voted against implementing a ban on stocking any Israeli products. The ban would have had miniscule economic significance, but it hit the national mainstream press nonetheless. Meanwhile, Peter Beinart called for a boycott on any good produced in Israeli settlements, to be matched by re-investing in "Israel proper." His column stirred up an even more intense debate, some of it quite vitriolic. » Read more

Netanyahu Wants Deal to Prevent ‘Binational State’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dan Perry - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Tuesday that he still hopes to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, because the alternative would be absorbing them into Israel and destroying the Jewish character of the state. "I want to solve the conflict with the Palestinians because I don't want a binational state," Netanyahu told a rare news conference. "For as long as it depends on me, we will ensure the Jewish and democratic character of Israel." » Read more

April 3rd

Safer Side by Side: Why Israel Needs Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) April 2, 2012 - 12:00am Benny Begin, a member of Prime Minister Netanuyahu's inner cabinet, recently dismissed the idea of the creation of a viable Palestinian state, claiming it would be an unbearable security threat to Israel. He added that Netanuyahu's 2009 Bar-Ilan speech, which seemingly endorsed the two-state goal, was aimed exclusively at foreign audiences but that Palestinian statehood "was not brought up for discussion in the government, nor will it be discussed." "This is not the government's position," he stated bluntly. All the evidence suggests he's correct. » Read more

Israel's Most Unlikely Dove ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Aviad Kleinberg - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am "If, God forbid, a war with Iran breaks out, it will be a nightmare. And we will all be in it, including the Persian Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. No one will remain unscathed. We have to do everything we can to urge the international community to assume responsibility and take action to stop the Iranians … The State of Israel keeps all options open. » Read more

Real Life, not “Counterlife” ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) April 2, 2012 - 12:00am In 1985, I published a book called The Tragedy of Zionism. It argued that the Zionist movement had been a good, largely secular and cultural revolution that had run its course, that is, with the founding of Israel and the consolidation of the national Hebrew culture; but that the residual institutions and theories of that revolution—rashly kept alive by Israel’s leaders, who feared the fight with the orthodox Jewish parties over a constitution—had grown to be a burden on, even a threat to, Israel’s democratic life. » Read more

Hunger strikers score a victory for Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am From Israel's Ramla prison south of Tel Aviv, Hana Shalabi moved on Sunday to the relative freedom of Gaza. Her negotiated release came, not by coincidence, after a 44-day hunger strike. The case provides a new example of how effectively Palestinians can use the moral high ground. » Read more

Putting peace before liberalism is crucial ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Alick Isaacs - (Opinion) April 2, 2012 - 12:00am My interest in peace work began to grow after I returned from the war in Southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006. I was drafted as a military reservist in the IDF and was, at the grand age of 38, one of the older people to participate in the combat. » Read more

Palestinian responsibility ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am The hypocrisy was mind-boggling. The same week that the Palestinian Authority announced the introduction of a new award to honor press freedom, it launched a crackdown on Palestinian journalists to intimidate them and stifle their voices. » Read more

Israelis can't resist following the the occupation's pied piper ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am In Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's documentary film "The Law in These Parts," former Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar is presented as the person who removed, with one decision, the legal obstacle to settlement on Jordanian lands. In doing so, Shamgar created a situation in which no peaceful solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is visible on the horizon. Shamgar does not come out of it looking good. Moreover, he doesn't quite remember the crucial decision. » Read more