December 14th

I want more than a hug ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Donniel Hartman - (Opinion) December 14, 2011 - 1:00am Newt Gingrich, a true friend of Israel, attempted to prove his friendship by denying the existence of a Palestinian people. This and other similarly “friendly” statements by Republican presidential candidates over the last few weeks is evidence of a perception not merely of friendship but of what these candidates believe the Jewish people want to hear. » Read more

Mideast can accept Israel if Netanyahu will let it ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) December 14, 2011 - 1:00am I have spent two days in Doha, Qatar at the United Nations Alliance of Civilization conference. The real value of such forums is in the informal meetings behind the scenes. You meet people you would never get a chance to talk to otherwise. The great challenge is to open up sufficiently to allow prejudices and preconceptions about nations, ideologies and other groups to be challenged by empirical experience. » Read more

Newt Gingrich may be able to occupy Palestine, but Israel can't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) December 14, 2011 - 1:00am Speaker Gingrich, if you're serious about becoming president, it's time that you got to know us a bit better. Let's start with the Occupation, our 44-year-long experiment in re-inventing the Palestinian people. This is what you need to know before you bet your political farm on it: We don't have it in us. We can't pull it off. » Read more

Israel must enforce law on West Bank settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) December 14, 2011 - 1:00am What happened on Monday night merely proves what has long since been obvious: In the West Bank, there is neither law nor judge as far as the settlers are concerned. They can run riot to their heart's content. » Read more

Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) December 13, 2011 - 1:00am I have a simple motto when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I love both Israelis and Palestinians, but God save me from some of their American friends — those who want to love them to death, literally. That thought came to mind last week when Newt Gingrich took the Republican competition to grovel for Jewish votes — by outloving Israel — to a new low by suggesting that the Palestinians are an “invented” people and not a real nation entitled to a state. » Read more

December 13th

A death that could have been avoided ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jessica Montell - (Opinion) December 13, 2011 - 1:00am Every death is a tragedy for the family and friends of the deceased. Yet a death you can see coming from miles away, a needless death that could have been prevented, is a tragedy about which hard lessons must be learned. Such is the case of Mustafa Tamimi, the 28-year-old Palestinian man killed in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh last Friday. Tamimi was shot at close range with a tear gas canister. The canister hit him in the face, causing massive bleeding, and he died the following day. » Read more

A courageous Palestinian has died, shrouded in stones ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Pollack - (Opinion) December 13, 2011 - 1:00am Mustafa Tamimi threw stones. Unapologetically and sometimes fearlessly. Not on that day alone, but nearly every Friday. He also concealed his face. Not for fear of the prison cell, which he had already come to know intimately, but in order to preserve his freedom, so he could continue to throw stones and resist the theft of his land. He continued to do this until the moment of his death. » Read more

Israeli law is powerless in the settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) December 13, 2011 - 1:00am As the situation currently stands between the Israel Defense Forces and the widening margins of the extreme settler right, the only "red line" that has yet to be crossed is a scenario in which an Israeli citizen would open fire on IDF soldiers. There are those in Israel's security forces who fear that that day is not so distant. Before we hurry to call Tuesday's attack on an IDF brigade commander and his deputy an "escalation" in IDF-settler ties, it is important to emphasize that this is not a new situation. » Read more

How Not to Deal With Protesters: A Death in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Karl Vick - (Blog) December 12, 2011 - 1:00am The weekend offered a hard lesson in the nature of what passes for calm between Israel and the Palestinians living in the territory its army watches over. It was a lesson in two parts, one exploding in the sandy soil of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military exchanged fire with militants in the kind of clash that militaries are made for. » Read more

David Remnick to Haaretz: Gingrich statement on 'invented' Palestinians is 'alarming' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Interview) December 13, 2011 - 1:00am Republican candidate Newt Gingrich’s characterization of the Palestinians as an “invented” people is an “alarming attempt to diminish the Palestinian people and to diminish Palestinian history,” according to David Remnick, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the prestigious New Yorker magazine. » Read more