May 4th

Likud official: Early Israeli elections to be announced Sunday, Sept. 4 likely date ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 3, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — An official with Israel’s governing Likud Party says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce Sunday that national elections will be moved up. The official said Thursday that Sept. 4 was shaping up as the likely date, speaking on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement. The vote was originally scheduled for October 2013. But Netanyahu signaled in December that he might move them up when he called a snap Likud leadership race that he handily won. » Read more

Palestinian journalists shun press freedom reception by U.S. consulate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 3, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian journalists on Thursday boycotted a reception by the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, protesting against the lack of U.S. pressure on Israel to respond to demands of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners. » Read more

New foot and mouth strain spreads to Gaza Strip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 2, 2012 - 12:00am ROME, May 2 (Reuters) - A new strain of foot and mouth disease (FMD) has reached the Gaza Strip and threatens to spread further after first being detected in Egypt and Libya in February, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday. FAO said sick animals had been detected on April 19 in Rafah, a town that lies on the border between the coastal Palestinian territory and Egypt. » Read more

Hamas says it's holding talks with 5 EU countries ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Karin Laub - May 2, 2012 - 12:00am BEIRUT — Hamas has been holding secret political talks with five European Union member states in recent months, a senior official in the Islamic militant group told The Associated Press on Wednesday. If confirmed, such talks would be a sign that the isolation of the Gaza-based Palestinian movement is easing in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings that have brought Islamists to power in parts of the Middle East. The EU and the U.S consider Hamas a terror group and refuse to deal with it unless it renounces violence and recognizes Israel. » Read more

Methodists Vote Against Ending Investments Tied to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Laurie Goodstein - May 2, 2012 - 12:00am The United Methodist Church, the nation’s largest mainline Protestant denomination, voted against two proposals on Wednesday to divest from companies that provide equipment used by Israel to enforce its control in the occupied territories. » Read more

Israel in disarray ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) May 3, 2012 - 12:00am Since the criticism, last Friday, by a key secret service official of the right-wing Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his wishy washy Labourite defence minister, Ehud Barak, the Israeli establishment appears to be in a serious state of disarray. » Read more

The road to Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) May 3, 2012 - 12:00am I, like many who sympathise with the Palestinians during these particularly hard times, was extremely disappointed and saddened by the Islamists’ condemnation of the visit to Al Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem by the grand mufti of Egypt a couple of weeks ago. This condemnation is yet another evidence of Islamists’ shortsightedness and negative vision. » Read more

Changing course in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) May 4, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing an unprecedented challenge. As Israel’s longest serving prime minister, who has been in office for more than three years, he had come to seem immovable. » Read more

Explosive Dust-Up Over Iran Policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am On a sunny Sunday afternoon in late April, Israel put its raucous, divided political culture on full exhibition in New York for a day — and New York did not like what it saw. » Read more

A federated state for Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jay Bushinsky - (Opinion) May 3, 2012 - 12:00am If anyone gains from the national election likely to take place in early September, it probably will be incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. At least one major public opinion poll gives his right-wing Likud party a two-to-one edge over its closest rival, the Labor party. A reaffirmation of Netanyahu’s leadership for up to four more years will enable him to change the partisan and personal make-up of his next coalition government. In that case, the losers might include the Yisrael Beytenu party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. » Read more