January 9th

Fayyad: Govt raises tax, cutting costs to plug deficit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 9, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is cutting spending and raising taxes in an attempt to plug the $1.1 billion deficit in the public budget, he told reporters in Ramallah on Sunday evening. Fayyad's government aims to knock $350 million off the budget deficit through new measures to cut costs and increase revenues, including an income tax increase now in effect, the premier said. The global financial crisis and a failure of donor countries to honor their aid pledges has caused a sharp increase in the budget shortfall in 2011. » Read more

January 6th

PostScript: Time to get smart ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am Israel’s legitimacy, over the past few years, has become the battle cry of Israel and its supporters. With no wars, suffering, mass immigration and other heart-wrenching situations to flesh donor dollars out of ever-tightening wallets, saving Israel from those who seek to delegitimize it has become the new cause; the new war. » Read more

I miss Ariel Sharon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Tzipi Livni - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am Arik Sharon sank into a coma six years ago. All of us followed it and prayed with hope as the ambulance disappeared into the hospital. When today I try to think about the essence of the public longing for Sharon, six years later, it appears that the longing for Arik has turned into longing for a prime minister who does not fear domestic politics and who sees the welfare of the nation of Israel before him when making decisions. » Read more

Israel should remember: Obama is down, not out ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am While we are toying with the notion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will bring forward the elections here in order to gain a decisive majority, we are simultaneously entering the real thing: the U.S. elections. This is not only the matter of President Barack Obama's potential second term, it's also election year for the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. Although we don't vote in America, we are keeping very close tabs on the elections' progress. » Read more

The gap between resistance and governance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Mahmoud Abu Rahma - (Opinion) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am Once again, the media have begun to focus their attention on Palestinian reconciliation talks, which seem at last to be headed in a positive direction. These talks will include the particularly difficult process of social reconciliation for the period between 2004 and 2007 when inter-communal violence led to the terrorizing, wounding, and killing of scores of people as well as the widespread destruction of property. » Read more

Marwan Barghouti Speaks, Through Wife ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jane Eisner - (Editorial) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am He is the Palestinians’ most famous prisoner and most popular politician. Now Marwan Barghouti is speaking to the American public, through the voice of his wife. Every 15 days, Fadwa Barghouti is allowed to visit her husband in an Israeli prison, where he has served 10 years of five consecutive life sentences for helping to arrange and fund terrorist attacks that killed five Israelis. Marwan Barghouti insisted that his trial was politicized and unfair, and even some Israelis have spoken out for his release. » Read more

Jimmy Carter Interview: Real Story Behind Egypt Israeli Peace Deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Paul Brandeis Raushenbush - (Interview) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am Jimmy Carter is the 39th president of the United States, founder of the Carter Center and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He has authored many books, the most recent being "Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President." In this wide-ranging interview, HuffPost's Senior Religion Editor spoke to President Carter by phone about the role faith played in the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, the time of his greatest alienation from God, faith in the White House and his personal daily devotional practice. » Read more

When 'Anti-Semitism' Is Abused ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Sarah Wildman - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am We were raised to be vigilant. We were taught to fight oppression, admonished to be New Jews — strong, muscular, defiant. We were told to look for the signs, the slogans and the double-speak. We learned at the knee of those with tattooed forearms; knelt at the feet of those who lost brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, lovers, spouses, children. We have cried, we have wailed, we have lit thousands upon thousands of memorial candles. And we have sworn, again and again, that we would never forget. » Read more

Danon Sets Agenda for Rising Right Wing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - January 5, 2012 - 1:00am Tel Aviv — Lawmaker Danny Danon pauses during an interview to scribble an important note to himself. A question about a derogatory portrayal of him in the left-leaning daily newspaper Haaretz gave him an idea: “I must remember to use this article in my campaign.” » Read more

Starting the new year with failed old diplomacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am The good news about the Jordanian-hosted Palestinian-Israeli-Quartet meeting in Amman to explore possibilities for resuming Palestinian-Israeli direct negotiations is that former US Mideast specialist Dennis Ross is not there to guarantee failure with the pro-Israel tilt of the US delegation. The bad news is that the meeting is likely to fail because the Ross approach to guaranteeing diplomatic failure with the pro-Israel tilt of the US delegation still prevails. » Read more