Israel’s silent war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) January 29, 2010 - 1:00am

If you ask Middle Easterners, and many others in the world, about Israel’s contribution to the region, the answer will automatically be: war, violence, dispossession and destruction.

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Netanyahu sees Israel image boost in Haiti relief
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - January 28, 2010 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday an Israeli army field hospital that treated earthquake victims in Haiti had given Israel an image boost, after allegations of war crimes in the Gaza conflict. "Especially at a time when there are those plotting against us, distorting facts and slandering us, you showed the real face of the Israel Defence Forces," Netanyahu said at an airport ceremony welcoming home the military medical team.

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Holocaust remembrance is a boon for Israeli propaganda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) January 28, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's bigwigs attacked at dawn on a wide front. The president in Germany, the prime minister with a giant entourage in Poland, the foreign minister in Hungary, his deputy in Slovakia, the culture minister in France, the information minister at the United Nations, and even the Likud party's Druze Knesset member, Ayoob Kara, in Italy. They were all out there to make florid speeches about the Holocaust.

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Israel Signals Tougher Line on West Bank Protests
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 28, 2010 - 1:00am

For more than a year, this village has been a focus of weekly protests against the Israeli security barrier, which cuts through its lands. Now, the village appears to be at the center of an intensifying Israeli arrest campaign. Apparently concerned that the protests could spread, the Israeli Army and security forces have recently begun clamping down, arresting scores of local organizers and activists here and conducting nighttime raids on the homes of others.

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In Haiti’s misery, a lesson for Gaza: history does not wait
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Alan Philps - (Opinion) January 22, 2010 - 1:00am

Since the earthquake struck Haiti 10 days ago, an arresting satellite picture has flitted across television screens. It shows the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which is divided between Haiti, the western third, and the Dominican Republic, to the east, the bigger part of the island. From space, Haiti is grey-brown, all of its forests having been cut down for timber or fuel. But the Dominican Republic is lush and green, visibly flourishing. The two parts of the island seem to come from separate continents, though all that actually divides them is their frontier.

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Israel needs to look itself in the mirror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

The row that took place recently between Israel and Turkey when the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon undiplomatically "rebuked" the Turkish ambassador to Israel during a humiliating encounter over a Turkish television programme critical of Israel reminds me of the saying, "The [black Israeli] pot calls the [shiny Turkish] kettle black." The Turkish ambassador, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, was led to a low-level seat in the minister's office while the Israeli deputy foreign minister and a colleague sat on higher chairs.

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Forum seeks ways of bringing Gaza Strip back to life
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by David Lepeska - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

More than a year after Israel’s extensive bombing campaign, life inside the Gaza Strip is growing increasingly desperate. Four out of five Gazans depend on some form of foreign aid. Lorries carrying medical supplies are often refused entry by Israeli officials, who enforce a three-year-old blockade of the Strip. Sick and dying patients face weeks-long delays for permission to leave for necessary treatment. Education is lagging, as nearly half of Gaza’s schools remain damaged, and unemployment stands at 40 per cent, according to a December report from the United Nations.

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For Israelis, Mixed Feelings on Aid Effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — The editorial cartoon in Thursday’s mass-circulation Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot showed American soldiers digging among the ruins of Haiti. From within the rubble, a voice calls out, “Would you mind checking to see if the Israelis are available?”

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Mideast peacemakers mull aid to Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Slobodan Lekic - January 12, 2010 - 1:00am

BRUSSELS -- U.S. envoy George Mitchell urged European and other international donors on Tuesday to help the Palestinian Authority finance its institution-building program as it prepares to set up a Palestinian state. After meeting with America's partners in the quest for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Mitchell said President Barack Obama was committed to achieving peace in the Middle East. "Central to the effort is resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of two states," Mitchell told reporters.

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Hundreds Demonstrate on Border With Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - December 31, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on both sides of the Israeli-Gazan border on Thursday to mark a year since Israel’s three-week war in Gaza, and to call for an end to the blockade of the area imposed by Israel and Egypt. About 85 of the several hundred demonstrators inside Gaza were foreigners, part of a group of more than 1,000 who arrived in Cairo in hopes of entering the territory but who were stopped by the Egyptian authorities. After days of negotiation, Egypt permitted a small delegation to cross the normally closed border at the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

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