January 18th

Could Israel Live With A Nuclear Iran? A Gaming Exercise Suggests Yes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - January 17, 2012 - 1:00am Three months before the recent upsurge in tension with Tehran over its nuclear program, an Israeli think tank simulated fallout from what many here consider the unthinkable: an Iranian nuclear explosive test. The results of the simulation, published this week, are not the Middle East doomsday that some here have warned of. Rather than use the weapon to attack the Jewish state – as many Israeli leaders fear – the experts playing Iran leveraged the newly unveiled military power as a bargaining chip with the US and Europe. Those representing Israel played down the new threat. » Read more

Israeli Strike Kills 2 in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - January 18, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces on Wednesday attacked a group of suspected Palestinian militants believed to have been planting a bomb along Gaza's border with the Jewish state, the Israeli military said. Palestinian officials said two people were killed and two wounded. Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the victims were all civilians and said it held Israel responsible, raising the prospect of a new exchange of attacks across the volatile border. » Read more

January 17th

Israel Still Occupies and Isolates Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Dimitris Bouris, Stuart Reigeluth - (Opinion) January 17, 2012 - 1:00am A kidnapped soldier has been returned for over a 1,000 Palestinians but Tel Aviv continues to fall back on the fact that Hamas is still in power. Three years ago, Israel was carrying out Operation Cast Lead that took the lives of over 1.500 Palestinians in Gaza. The official reason for the Israeli invasion was to recover a soldier; the intended purpose was to remove Hamas; the result was wanton destruction that "this time we went too far", according to Israeli columnist Gideon Levy. » Read more

Could corruption trial stop the rise of the black sheep of Israeli politics? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Catrina Stewart - January 17, 2012 - 1:00am Described once by an American magazine editor as a "neo-fascist" and a "certified gangster", Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is no stranger to controversy. It has not stopped him from building up a devoted following that has propelled his party to the forefront of Israeli politics. But as a more than decade-long corruption probe nears its conclusion, even this canny political survivor may find that this is one controversy he cannot so easily dodge. » Read more

Could corruption trial stop the rise of the black sheep of Israeli politics? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Catrina Stewart - January 17, 2012 - 1:00am Described once by an American magazine editor as a "neo-fascist" and a "certified gangster", Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is no stranger to controversy. It has not stopped him from building up a devoted following that has propelled his party to the forefront of Israeli politics. But as a more than decade-long corruption probe nears its conclusion, even this canny political survivor may find that this is one controversy he cannot so easily dodge. » Read more

Palestinians need Arab help urgently ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) January 17, 2012 - 1:00am The economic situation of the Palestinian Authority has grown so serious that it is affecting the basic needs of Palestinians. Help from the more prosperous Arab countries seems the most likely way to avert serious damage to the social structure of the already-stressed Occupied Territories. The PA raises little of its own revenue, and now Israel and foreign donors are strangling it, mainly through suspension of the remittance of US$100 million (Dh367mn) in taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the PA. » Read more

The Quieter Upheavals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) January 17, 2012 - 1:00am The narrative of last September from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide is strikingly similar. The high point in Israel came September 3, when nearly half a million people took to the streets in peaceful protest against an economic system that they argued betrayed the Zionist dream. A few weeks later, the Palestinian Authority president delivered his historic request for statehood to the United Nations. » Read more

Op-Ed: Why Jews should care about the rights of Israeli Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Sidney Schwarz - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- About a year and half ago, I participated in a fact-finding mission to Israel sponsored by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arabs (IATF). Established in 2006 as a consortium of some of the major organizations in American Jewish life -- including the Joint Distribution Committee, the Conference of Presidents, Jewish Federations of North America, the ADL and the American Jewish Committee -- the IATF is committed to raising awareness of the circumstances of the 20 percent of Israel’s citizens who are Arab. » Read more

Encountering Peace: Fayyad's dream ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) January 16, 2012 - 1:00am The victims of Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past 10 years were the victims of the absence of peace. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was interviewed in the UK-based Jewish Chronicle this week (“PA shares Israel’s nuclear Iran fears” by Stephen Pollard, January 12, 2012). “We are greatly harmed by [Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad projecting himself as a spokesman for the Palestinians,” said Fayyad. “He seeks the destruction of Israel. We do not. We are deeply troubled by Iran’s interventions and we suffer from them.” » Read more

Israeli Arabs have never been equal before the law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) January 17, 2012 - 1:00am Last week's decision by the High Court of Justice to uphold the amendment to the Citizenship Law that keeps Palestinians apart from their Israeli spouses has closed a chapter in the life of Israeli democracy. The Supreme Court no longer wants to protect Israel's Arab citizens. » Read more