Is Israel united in obstruction? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am The new coalition government suddenly formed last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the new leader of the Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, remains something of a mystery. It is essentially a deal between two men, not two parties. Only Netanyahu and Mofaz really know the terms under which they joined forces.  » Read more

Israel's Image Revisted ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am Writing in the Wall Street Journal this week on the occasion of Israeli Independence Day, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren penned a powerful op-ed on the erosion of Israel's image. His conclusion: Israel's image has deteriorated in large part because of a "systematic delegitimization of the Jewish state." » Read more

Ice cream in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Egypt Independent by Amr Ezzat - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am In 2008, stifled by an Israeli blockade exacerbated by a weak Egyptian position, Gazans barged through Egypt’s borders to get needed supplies of food and other products. At the time, some Egyptians sympathized with our brothers in Gaza, while others condemned their act, saying their break-in violated Egypt's sovereignty. In response I published an article in my blog titled “Crossing the lines,” in which I mocked those who were more angered by the Palestinians’ transgression of the borders than they were by their suffering and suppression.  » Read more

Prisoners and the wounded, crossing borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Jamal Muqbel - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am About four years ago, a friend of mine told me about a meeting between Israelis and Palestinians near the Dead Sea. I really did not want to get involved at all, but my friend said to me, "Just come with me and you do not have to talk or participate." » Read more

Israel Must Recognize Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Israeli judiciary today reaffirmed that Israel is the only country on earth that does not recognize itself.  » Read more

Time for a new deal for administrative detainees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jessica Montell - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Back in 1997, not long after I joined the B’Tselem staff, one of the first projects I was assigned was to research the issue of administrative detention. I collected hundreds of individual detention orders and pored over hundreds of transcripts from administrative detention appeal hearings. What struck me most about Israel’s use of administrative detention was the sense that the system functioned like an assembly line, issuing cookie-cutter detention orders. » Read more

Inside Out: Nakba lessons ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians and their supporters commemorated Nakba Day on Tuesday, marking the 64th anniversary of what they refer to as the “catastrophe” of the fall of Palestine and the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. In the course of the War of Independence in 1948-9 hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes and livelihoods, and subsequently found themselves unable to go home. Many of the refugees and their descendants still live in squalid refugee camps across the Middle East, clinging to a dream of a personal return and national restoration. » Read more

Chilling effect of the Nakba Law on Israel's human rights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Roni Schocken - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am By rejecting the petition calling for the repeal of the Nakba Law in January of this year, the High Court of Justice ignored the violation of human rights inherent in the danger that institutions may now preemptively refuse to fund activities that involve the exercise of free speech, for fear of financial sanctions. » Read more

Israel has to change the way it views Palestinian prisoners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian society, like every society waging a struggle for national liberation, feels a special responsibility toward those of its sons and daughters who have sacrificed their lives or their freedom for the collective. Palestinians consider the people we call "terrorists" or "murderers" as "freedom fighters" and "national heroes." In many cases, as in South Africa and Northern Ireland, it was prisoner leaders who effected reconciliation. » Read more

The Palestinian tragedy mustn't be used to spark a Jewish one ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Not a day goes by when I don't think about their tragedy. How can I not? When I walk around the beautiful Jerusalem neighborhood I've lived in half my life, their houses gaze at me. When I stroll through Jaffa's alleyways, their absence strikes me. When I hike in the Judean Hills, the ruins of their villages won't let go of me. The vanishing fig trees, the wilting prickly pear cactuses, the debris. The Palestinians were here and the Palestinians are no longer here, and their tragedy is an inseparable part of me. The Nakba is flesh of my country's flesh. » Read more