Palestinian Authority Faces Crisis Over Salaries ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Omar Shaban - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am The financial crisis facing the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has left it unable to pay its employees, has had negative consequences for Palestinian society. The crisis has affected the PA’s popularity and the stability of Palestinian society, and it has increased anger and tension between the PA and the people. » Read more

Hamas Pushes Islamization of Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Abeer Ayyoub - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am When Muhammad, who refused to give his family name out of security concerns, asked the DJ at his brother’s wedding in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, to play music for slow dancing, the DJ refused on the grounds that he would be punished by the authorities. Bemused, Muhammad warned the DJ that the family wouldn't continue the wedding if he didn’t play the song. The DJ shrugged off the threat and stood by his refusal. “We were really angry, because we were never informed that the slow dance wasn’t allowed,” Muhammad said. » Read more

Encountering Peace: Opportunities for US peace initiative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am Is there a renewed opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking after the Israeli elections? That is exactly what US Secretary of State John Kerry will be seeking to determine on his first swing through the Middle East over the next couple of weeks. » Read more

Enforce the UNHRC settlements report to push Israel out of its state of denial ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Saeb Erakat - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am It is time for Israel to relinquish its current state of denial and confront reality. It is clear to everyone, including Micronesia and the Marshall Islands (two of the few countries who voted against Palestine’s recognition as a state by the UN General Assembly), that Israeli settlements are illegal and that Israel should withdraw to the 1967 border. » Read more

Israel, Palestine and the mapping of power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Tristram Hunt - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am 'It's almost comical. The idea of maps is to represent reality; here it represents fantasy." So Professor Bruce Wexler of Yale University comments on how the vast majority of maps in Palestinian and Israeli schoolbooks omit the existence of the other entity. » Read more

Need for textbook examples of peace in Israeli-Palestinian conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor (Editorial) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am When two peoples are in conflict, one path to peace is to write textbooks that don’t further hate of the other. For today’s school-age Palestinians and Israeli Jews, there’s now some hope of that becoming true. On Monday, a group of scholars released a three-year analysis of 94 Palestinian and 74 Israeli textbooks that found few characterizations that demonize or dehumanize the other side. And most of the schoolbooks were factually accurate. This is encouraging. » Read more

A free-speech controversy grows in Brooklyn ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Michael McGough - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am “That’s a nice college you’ve got there. » Read more

‘The Gatekeepers’ is a harsh portrayal of life outside the ghetto of self-denial ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Film Review) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am The Gatekeepers is a very Israeli film. It is a film by Israelis, for Israelis and about Israelis. Even if it wins an Oscar. Even if you read the English subtitles. Even if you’ve heard that it mainly deals with the occupation, which it does, it is still essentially and exclusively Israeli. » Read more

Litmus Tests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) February 5, 2013 - 1:00am One dispiriting lesson from Chuck Hagel’s nomination for defense secretary is the extent to which the political space for discussing Israel forthrightly is shrinking. Republicans focused on Israel more than anything during his confirmation hearing, but they weren’t seeking to understand his views. All they cared about was bullying him into a rigid position on Israel policy. » Read more

Israel’s ‘Gatekeepers’ break their silence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Richard Cohen - (Film Review) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am Imagine six former directors of the CIA talking with a distinguished filmmaker and confessing to the murder of two terrorism suspects, ordering the assassination of others, alleging a lack of real leadership by the president and stating to the camera and the entire world that the war in Afghanistan is an unconscionable botch — a bloody, daily slog without end or justification. This, of course, could never happen in the United States. It did, though, in Israel. » Read more