February 6th, 2013

Obama's Israel visit may mark rebirth of 'centrality' of the Palestinian conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) February 6, 2013 - 1:00am As George Mallory famously said about Mount Everest, President Obamais going to visit Israel, first and foremost, “because it’s there.” After the heaps of criticism and mounds of condemnation hurled at him for avoiding Israel after his Cairo speech and throughout his first term, there was no way that Obama was going to let Air Force 1 enter Middle East air space wit » Read more

Argentine foreign minister accuses Israel of giving 'ammunition to anti-Semites,' sources say ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 6, 2013 - 1:00am Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman accused Israel of giving "ammunition to anti-Semites who accuse Jews of dual loyalty" as part of an exceptionally harsh dressing down of Israel's ambassador Dorit Shavit, sources say. The incident was sparked by Israel's efforts to obtain explanations about an agreement Argentina and Iran signed around two weeks ago. » Read more

Burden of proof ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) February 6, 2013 - 1:00am Tuesday’s news, that Bulgaria is investigating Hezbollah’s possible responsibility for a deadly bombing there last year comes at a critically important time for the party. » Read more

Israel boosts defences along Syria, Lebanon borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ari Rabinovitch - February 6, 2013 - 1:00am Israel has deployed a third Iron Dome missile defence system near its northern borders with Syria and Lebanon, security sources said on Tuesday. The Iron Dome systems have been deployed alongside a U.S.-supplied Patriot battery, which has been stationed in the north for years, as Israel is on the alert for weapons leaking out of the Syrian civil war that could be turned on the Jewish state. Two Iron Dome batteries, which use radar-guided interceptor missiles to shoot down short-ranged rockets, had already been deployed there. » Read more

February 5th

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