Palestinian Statehood Returns (Ho-Hum) ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Ben Lynfield - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am A second bid by the Palestinian Authority to have the United Nations recognize Palestinian statehood appears to be a case of “once more, but with less feeling.” » Read more

Intolerable behavior ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Jews were reportedly responsible for two attacks perpetrated against Palestinians in recent days. Last Thursday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a taxi carrying six Palestinians outside the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin. The ensuing explosion caused the taxi to flip over and resulted in the injury of several of the passengers. The assailants were aware that the victims were Palestinians since the attack took place during the day and the vehicle was yellow with green license plates, characteristic of Palestinian taxis. » Read more

Reality Check: Peres and the voice of reason ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am It’s a sad state of affairs when it takes an 89-year-old to provide the clearest perspective on Israel’s present-day reality. Admittedly, President Shimon Peres is no ordinary almost-nonagenarian, but he is to be applauded for both his courage in publicly demolishing the prime minister and defense minister’s arguments in favor of an Israeli strike on Iran and for his cogent analysis of the limits of Israel’s strength. » Read more

A proper Zionist live fire zone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) August 20, 2012 - 12:00am When police of the African National Congress are slaughtering platinum miners who demand that the mine owner (a private transnational company registered in London! ) pay them a wage that begins to befit the hardships of the job and value of the metal in operating rooms and on the fingers of plutocrats, there is no chance that one Palestinian tractor impounded by Israeli soldiers will attract the attention of a single foreign news editor anywhere on earth. » Read more

Israel Attack on Iran Runs Risk of Massive Missile Retaliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Barbara Slavin - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am If Israel attacks Iran, the Israeli heartland could face retaliation from more than 10,000 missiles based in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, according to Uzi Rubin, the founder and first director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization. » Read more

Bibi's Iran Plan Rests on Shaky Ground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s leading television news program, Channel 2 News, now informs us that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak are “on the brink” of approving an Israeli military attack on Iran. » Read more

Why Israel shrugs at retaliation after attack on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Avi Nave, Daniel Nisman - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am Last week Iran sent a high-level envoy, Saeed Jalili, on a particularly controversial public-relations tour to Lebanon and Syria, the most explosive corner of the region. After ruffling feathers during a Beirut stopover, Mr. » Read more

Zone of Insanity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by James Traub - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am It must drive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crazy that scarcely anybody outside his immediate circle of advisors -- oh, and Mitt Romney -- understands the imperative for war against Iran. Israel's retired security chiefs uniformly consider a war unnecessary right now. Israel's president, Shimon Peres, agrees. A poll released this week found the Israeli public opposed to war by a solid 46 percent to 32 percent. As for the United States, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta insists that "the window is still open to try to work toward a diplomatic solution." » Read more

Israeli threats about Iran -- crying wolf or laying groundwork? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Carol J. Williams - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am They're passing out gas masks in Jerusalem and testing a new text-messaging system for alerting Israelis to incoming rockets. The civil defense preparations follow a week of renewed warnings by Israeli officials that airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities may be imminent, despite U.S. misgivings, to thwart Tehran's alleged pursuit of nuclear bomb-making capability. » Read more

University heads ask court to overturn Ariel status ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post August 20, 2012 - 12:00am The heads of Israel's universities on Monday petitioned the High Court of Justice to overturn a decision granting Ariel University Center (AUC) official university status. The petition was filed against a number of organizations, including The Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria, the IDF OC Central Command, the Israeli government, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. » Read more