September 6th, 2011

Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally: Jeffrey Goldberg ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am It was an extraordinary scene: President Barack Obama, sitting impassively in the Oval Office in May as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lectured him, at considerable length and at times condescendingly, on Jewish history, Arab perfidy and the existential challenges facing his country. What was extraordinary wasn’t the message -- it was not an untypical Netanyahu sermon. What was notable was that Netanyahu was lecturing the president live on television, during a photo opportunity staged so that the two leaders could issue platitudes about the enduring bonds between their nations. » Read more

Opinion: Why the United States should vote 'Yes' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Nidal Foqaha - (Opinion) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinians are demanding that the world and the United Nations recognize the State of Palestine within the June 4, 1967 borders. The purpose of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel - which has been in place for 18 years - was to end the conflict between the two parties and to establish an independent Palestinian state living in peace side by side with Israel, within the borders of 1967. » Read more

Israel Isolates Itself ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am LONDON — Here’s what the United Nations report on Israel’s raid last year on the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara had to say about the killing of a 19-year-old U.S. citizen on board: “At least one of those killed, Furkan Dogan, was shot at extremely close range. Mr. Dogan sustained wounds to the face, back of the skull, back and left leg. That suggests he may already have been lying wounded when the fatal shot was delivered, as suggested by witness accounts to that effect.” » Read more

Israeli Arab couple wins legal battle to build home in northern Jewish town ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jack Khoury - (Analysis) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am An Arab couple will finally be permitted to take possession of a plot of land and build a house in the Jewish community of Rakefet in the Misgav region of the Galilee, the Israel Lands Administration decided last week. The decision came after a long legal battle, still ongoing, against the ILA and the community's Admissions Committee. The couple, Ahmed and Fatina Zabeidat, residents of Sahknin, petitioned the High Court of Justice over their rejection by Rakefet's Admissions Committee five years ago - a story made public in a 2007 Haaretz expose. » Read more

Fischer warns of damage to Israeli-Turkish trade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Lilach Weissman - (Analysis) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer warned Monday that the deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations could be harmful to Israel in the future. "Turkey is an important trading partner for Israel, and the consequences of damage to trade with it will be severe for us," Fischer told the regional cooperation conference, chaired by Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom, in Tel Aviv today. » Read more

News Analysis: Would Turkish-Israeli differences serve the Palestinians? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Emad Drimly, Osama Radi - (Analysis) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian observers and analysts see the current differences between Israel and Turkey an opportunity for the Palestinian people and their just cause due to the significant role of Turkey in the region. However, they disagreed over evaluating the advantages the Palestinians would harvest. One question is that whether Ankara would show clear and practical position, and the other is whether the current crisis between the two countries is just a summer cloud since they are two old allies. » Read more

Erdogan: Turkey suspends all defense ties with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey was "totally suspending" defense ties with Israel, after downgrading diplomatic relations with the country. While it was initially reported that Erdogan had also suspended all trade ties between the two nations, this was later clarified to refer to defense-related trade only. "Trade ties, military ties, defense industry ties - we are completely suspending them. This process will be followed by different measures," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara. » Read more

Palestinian PM says Israel hold 'full responsibility' for mosque arson ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Agence France Press (AFP) - (Analysis) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am QUSRA, Palestinian Territories // The Israeli government bore "full responsibility" for an arson attack on a mosque in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority prime minister said yesterday, pointing to what he alleged was a lack of police action in the past, . "The Israeli government bears full responsibility for these attacks against our people, property and sacred places," Salam Fayyad said in a statement issued several hours after burning tyres were rolled into the ground floor of a mosque in Qusra village, some 15 kilometres south-east of Nablus. » Read more

W.Bank mosque hit after partial outpost demolition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Tom Perry, Abed Omar Qusini, Ari Rabinovitch - (Analysis) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am QUSRA, West Bank, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank on Monday, Palestinians said, in a likely reprisal for Israel's dismantling of three buildings in an unauthorised settlement outpost hours earlier. Abdel Azeem Wadi, a member of the village council in Qusra near the Palestinian city of Nablus, said settlers threw burning tyres into the mosque, damaging the entire first floor. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the attack as an act of terrorism. » Read more

INTERVIEW-Palestinians keeping options open on U.N. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Tom Perry - (Analysis) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Palestinians have yet to decide how they will press their statehood agenda at the United Nations this month, a Palestinian official said, indicating less certainty than had previously been signalled on details of the plan. Hanan Ashrawi, a leading member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the U.N. initiative was a step towards "breaking Israel's power hold over us and the American monopoly over peacemaking". » Read more