June 4th, 2012

Netanyahu: Israel must bolster West Bank settlements and follow law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - June 3, 2012 - 12:00am Israel must bolster settlement activity in the West Bank while maintaining the rule of law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Sunday, in wake of a newly surfaced plan to relocate structures in the illegal outpost of Ulpana Hill so as to avoid their demolition. On Saturday, sources close to Netanyau told Haaretz that the prime minister is examining a two-par solution to the issue of the Ulpana Hill outpost that will avoid the need for legislation on the matter. » Read more

Israeli PM to remove West Bank outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ian Deitch - June 2, 2012 - 12:00am An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to remove a West Bank outpost ahead of a court deadline, and is mulling whether to demolish the buildings or relocate them. The official said Saturday that Netanyahu said in a meeting that if Ulpana is destroyed its five apartment buildings will be built tenfold elsewhere. Otherwise, the buildings will be moved to the nearby settlement of Beit El. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. » Read more

June 1st

Crisis of confidence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Saleh Al-Naami - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am Suddenly the sound of laughter broke the silence on a bus transporting dozens of students from the centre of the Gaza Strip to the district where university campuses are located in southern Al-Rimal in Gaza City. One student had mentioned that delegates from Hamas and Fatah were in Cairo again to finalise details about a consensus government as stipulated in the Doha Declaration. » Read more

Legislating the Refugee Problem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) May 24, 2012 - 12:00am You have to laugh, or it would make you cry. That is, if you are someone who genuinely cares about Israel and believes that the two-state solution is the only thing that can save Israel as a democracy and a Jewish state, and that can end the occupation and permit the Palestinians to live, finally, as a free people with dignity and self-determination. » Read more

Come Clean, Mr. Prime Minister ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Stephen Robert - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced this week that he favors unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank. But who will ultimately determine when and where—and if—the Palestinians are to be granted a state?  » Read more

Gaza Bustling Under Hamas Despite Economic Isolation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Calcalist by Danny Rubenstein - (Opinion) May 29, 2012 - 12:00am The isolation policy applied by Israel, separating the Gaza Strip from the West Bank both economically and socially, is designed to weaken and possibly even bring down the Hamas government. » Read more

Author of 'The Invention of the Jewish People' vents again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Dalia Karpel - (Opinion) May 24, 2012 - 12:00am The concept of homeland is one of the most amazing and also, perhaps, one of the most ruinous of the modern era, says Prof. Shlomo Sand. In his new book, “When and How Was the Land of Israel Invented?” ‏(Kineret, Zmora-Bitan Dvir, Hebrew‏), Sand examines the attitude of the Zionist movement toward that territory since its inception. More particularly, he is out to discover how Zionism adopted the idea...

Now that Netanyahu is surrounded by veteran unilateral withdrawers, is a surprise in store? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am For many long minutes on Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak stood at the podium at Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies. He spoke lucidly about everything - Iran, the Palestinians, Syria, the budget, the Tal Law, party primaries. His main message related to the Iranian threat. "You can't sleep quietly at night with a sword hanging over your neck," he declared.

Israeli gov't unimpressed by defense minister's unilateral withdrawal pitch ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday said that while it is important that Israel tries to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, should these attempts fail Israel might have to act on its own. "If it turns out not to be possible, we need to think about an interim agreement, or even unilateral steps. Israel does not have the luxury to remain in a stalemate," said Barak, according to The Jerusalem Post. » Read more

What You Need to Know About Unilateralism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) May 31, 2012 - 12:00am In a speech at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak floated the idea, as if it were a new one, that if two-state negotiations with the Palestinians fail, Israel “must consider an interim arrangement or even a unilateral move." » Read more