Is peace a “vital” American interest? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am “Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a vital national security interest,” the voice of the American foreign policy consensus has intoned, with its trademark gravitas, for the past decade. “But,” it continues sagely, “We cannot want peace more than the parties themselves.” Around Washington wise heads have nodded grimly at the self-evidence of this hegemonic dictum.  » Read more

Why Shimon Peres Still Matters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Shai Feldman - (Opinion) September 3, 2012 - 12:00am Some three weeks ago, on the occasion of his 89th birthday, Israeli President Shimon Peres gave loud and clear public expression to his opposition to a possible Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear installations. This followed two years during which Peres is said to have counseled Israel’s leaders in closed quarters against the ramifications of such an attack. Giving a number of separate interviews on Aug. 16, Peres did not oppose such a strike under all circumstances. Rather, he warned against an attack that would not receive a green light from Washington.  » Read more

Gaza's children in an 'unliveable' siege cannot wait for 2020 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Julia C Hurley - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Last week, the United Nations released a report questioning whether or not Gaza will be liveable by 2020, with the conclusion that if the siege continues, then living there will become literally impossible. Gaza's development has been thrown off track, and "de-development" has set in, leaving the UN saying that "even if the political situation were to improve dramatically over the next years, the issues identified in this study would still need to be addressed as a matter of urgency". » Read more

Occupation Corrupts Soul of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) September 3, 2012 - 12:00am It is tempting to impute retroactive intentionality to yesterday’s events. As Gershom Gorenberg felicitously puts it, we mistakenly assume “that if things turned out a certain way, someone planned it that way.” Looking back now, it may seem a foregone conclusion that Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank (and in Golan, too) was from the beginning an evil design, intended to encroach on Palestinian rights rather than to solve immediate problems. But the effort to draw a straight line of intentionality from then to now obscures more than it clarifies. » Read more

It's the elections, stupid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - (Opinion) September 3, 2012 - 12:00am Here is why all the talk about Iran has the mind reeling: Yediot Aharonot led its front page Monday with a story claiming the United States sent secret messages – through the Europeans – to the Iranians saying that it would not stand behind Israel if Jerusalem attacks. » Read more

A not so happy new year ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Nahum Barnea - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am t is customary for Jews to wish each other a happy new year from the beginning of the month of Elul. It is a nice tradition, and I embrace it every year, including this one. But this year I was confronted with a serious credibility problem: I wish a happy new year, but people refuse to believe me. » Read more

Palestinian Zionism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Representatives of American-Jewish businessman Irving Moskowitz on Monday took over a room in the home of the Hamdallah family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud. As in previous cases, the emissaries of Moskowitz, whose foundation raises funds for Jewish housing projects in Arab neighborhoods, enjoy a privilege that East Jerusalem's Palestinians don't have: to get back property that was abandoned during the 1948 War of Independence. » Read more

The Arabs are no longer the same Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oudeh Basharat - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am At the time of writing these lines, the sun continues to shine and even though the Muslim Brotherhood is in power in Egypt, the country has not been cloaked in darkness. It was not out of excessive love of secularism that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi declared in Tehran that Egypt is a modern, constitutional democracy. Egypt has not adapted itself to the Brotherhood, it is the Brotherhood that has adapted itself to Egypt, which is known as "Umm al-Dunya," the mother of the world. » Read more

Egypt's holy war against Sinai jihadists leaves many questions unanswered ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am In contrast to the sloppy-looking Egyptian soldiers we saw here three weeks ago, the troops we encountered on Monday of last week at a fortified position close to the Kerem Shalom crossing seemed to be from a different unit. They wore helmets and protective vests and held their Kalashnikov rifles at the ready. They bore no resemblance to the Egyptian border police who were here until a few days after the August 5 attack on an Egyptian outpost which left 17 of their troops dead. » Read more

When It Pays to Talk to Terrorists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Paul Thomas Chamberlin - (Opinion) September 3, 2012 - 12:00am Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich massacre in which Palestinian militants killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. For many Westerners, the incident was the most chilling example of international terrorism before 9/11. » Read more