March 23rd

Settlement Boycott Call Likely To Fall Flat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) March 22, 2012 - 12:00am Washington — By most standards, SodaStream is a great Israeli success story. The company’s product, a home carbonating device for soft drinks, is sold by all major retailers in the United States. The company’s stock is traded in Nasdaq. But if a call to boycott products from Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank gains traction, SodaStream, with its manufacturing center in the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, could become a target of protest. » Read more

Settlement Boycotts Work ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) March 22, 2012 - 12:00am My call for Zionist BDS (which, by the way, is not just a settlement boycott; it’s also reinvestment in democratic Israel) has elicited several critiques. » Read more

Is archliberal Peter Beinart good for the Jews? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) March 22, 2012 - 12:00am NEW YORK CITY ? “If Israel does not survive as a Jewish democratic state, I want to be able to tell my children that I did what little I’m capable of. I’m a writer, so what I can do is to try to sound an alarm. I just want to be able to say that to them.” » Read more

Awaiting Further Escalation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Saleh Al-Naami - March 23, 2012 - 12:00am Fatma El-Belimi, 58, was overjoyed to see her eldest son Sami, 28, crossing the road towards his family home in the rural region east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. Sami had spent one week at his sister Iman's house in the town of Deir Al-Balah because of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. His parents and wife insisted he do so. Sami eventually was able to leave the house in an area known as the "contact zone" close to the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, where Israeli special units were active during escalation operations. » Read more

What To Do? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) March 23, 2012 - 12:00am If well-meaning American Jews who love Israel believe that the occupation of Palestinian land and people is detrimental and wrong, what are those Jews to do? How can they express those beliefs and take actions that protect Israel, support their fellow Jews, and also hold Palestinians appropriately accountable for their own actions? » Read more

Palestinian Refugee Schoolgirls Study Hard for an Uncertain Future ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Liz Ford - March 23, 2012 - 12:00am There has been a girls' school at Irbid refugee camp in northern Jordan since 1952. No one could tell me how many girls attended the school at that time, but now it operates a shift system to cope with demand. About 850 girls attend the imaginatively-titled Irbid camp girls' school number 1 five days a week, meeting for classes between 7am and 11.30am. The same number attend Irbid camp girls' school number 2, which runs on the same days from 11.30am to 4pm. Although in the same building, each school has its own teaching staff. » Read more

Marketing the Iron Dome: Why Israel Attacked Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat (Opinion) March 13, 2012 - 12:00am Through a quick review of the days preceding the assassination of Zuhair al-Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), and his companion, liberated prisoner Mahmoud Al-Hannani, and in view of Israeli statements before the bombing, it is clear that Israel had three reasons to step up security measures on its Southern border. The first reason was that Israel had been preparing for the strike against Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak revealed the second reason, while Israeli Army Chief of Staff Benny Gantz shed light on the third. » Read more

Pieces on the board ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) March 23, 2012 - 12:00am At the AIPAC conference in Washington earlier this month, US President Barack Obama said that it was time to become more tight-lipped on the Iranian nuclear issue and the military options surrounding it. » Read more

Hamas Optimistic On Fiscal Condition in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 23, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A senior Hamas official told Xinhua on Thursday that the 2012 budget for the Palestinian territory of Gaza is 769 million U.S. dollars and expressed his optimism over the enclave's fiscal condition. Hamas Economic Minister Alla al-Deen al-Rafati told Xinhua in an interview that the budget would soon be submitted to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), where it will likely get passed. » Read more

National security or national disaster? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) March 22, 2012 - 12:00am Security considerations have been used often by Israeli leaders throughout our existence as the ultimate justification for a policy decision or indecision. Our “security syndrome” stems for objective and subjective considerations – our history as the Jewish people, wherein we withstood every possible onslaught on our very existence and identity – from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, to the Spanish, the tzars, the Nazis and the Arab nations. This is the backdrop to our national ethos – “never again” and “we can only trust ourselves.” » Read more