February 13th

Jerusalem in the Here and Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Robert Blecher - (Opinion) February 12, 2013 - 1:00am The brouhaha over Israel's recent settlement announcements faded as suddenly as it emerged. After the United Nations General Assembly vote on November 29, 2012 that granted Palestine non-member observer status, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized an aggressive push in and around East Jerusalem. » Read more

It's How Badly She Said It ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) February 12, 2013 - 1:00am So what did Judith Butler actually say? » Read more

Toward a New Palestinian Strategy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam by Atef Abu Saif - February 11, 2013 - 1:00am The deadlock in the Palestinian political scene is not a historical coincidence or the result of a single factor, but of many. » Read more

State of the Union 2013: Obama's Israel expectations game ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Josh Gerstein - February 12, 2013 - 1:00am President Barack Obama’s domestic audience isn’t much interested in foreign policy Tuesday night - and if they are, it’s more about Iran and now North Korea than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But his global audience is eager for him to dive back in to an issue that Europeans and many moderate Arab leaders see as a rallying cry for extremism and anti-American sentiment. Their biggest worry: they see any hope for peace slipping away. » Read more

Palestinian president welcomes Obama's visit to Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 13, 2013 - 1:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Tuesday a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Middle East region slated for next month. "We welcome this important visit for Obama, and also the U.S. efforts to break the ice in the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel," Abbas said following a meeting held here with U.S. Consul General Michael Ratney in Jerusalem. » Read more

PA official: Israel continues to withhold tax revenue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 13, 2013 - 1:00am Israel is still withholding Palestinian tax revenue breaching the 2004 Paris agreement, an official in the Palestinian Ministry of Finance said Tuesday. Spokesman Rami Mahdawi told Ma'an that the ongoing breach "confirms that Israel is going on with its piracy on Palestinian money." » Read more

How a liberal Zionist watches Five Broken Cameras ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) January 31, 2013 - 1:00am   J.J. Goldberg intriguingly writes that of the two documentary films from Israel and Palestine currently nominated for an Academy Award - The Gatekeepers and Five Broken Cameras - both are “painful to watch” but The Gatekeepers is “much harder.” » Read more

'No place in Israel for Palestine,' says Naftali Bennett in maiden Knesset speech ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - February 13, 2013 - 1:00am In his first address to the Knesset, Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett on Tuesday rejected any possibility of an agreement that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "There's no place in our small and stunning piece of God's country for another state," he said. "It won't happen. But friends, before any debate about territory, it must be said: The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. Now let's argue." Bennett also referred to his commitment to making the defense burden more equitable. » Read more

Why Can’t Jewish Settlements Remain in a Palestinian State? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Hillel Halkin - (Opinion) February 13, 2013 - 1:00am   “There’s no greater cliché,” I wrote in this column a month ago, “than the one that keeps insisting that the settlements are an obstacle to peace. They may have been that once, when they were few and sparsely populated enough to be removed. Now that they’ve long passed that point, any peace agreement will have to make room for their existence.” » Read more

Struggling Caribbean islands selling citizenship ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by David McFadden - February 12, 2013 - 1:00am Hadi Mezawi has never set foot on the Caribbean island of Dominica, has never seen its rainforests or black-sand beaches. But he's one of its newest citizens. Without leaving his home in the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian man recently received a brand new Dominican passport after sending a roughly $100,000 contribution to the tropical nation half a world away. » Read more