The threat of the weak
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ehud Eiran - (Opinion) January 23, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel’s traditional threat perception was created in response to strong states. In the 1950s, Israeli operational planning was directed against a potential invasion by all its neighbors. In 1956, Israel launched a pre-emptive war against a rising Egypt, armed with new Soviet weapons. In the 1970s, Israel advanced a massive build-up of its military in order to protect against Syria and Egypt. In the last decade or so Israeli concerns coalesced around Iran’s nuclear program.

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Israeli settlers reject Netanyahu's request to evacuate largest outpost in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson, Barak Ravid - January 23, 2012 - 1:00am

The ongoing controversy about the evacuation of the Migron outpost hit a new high Sunday, as settlers angrily rejected a compromise proposal offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Why Israel needs blockbusters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) January 23, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel has no foreign policy, only a domestic policy,” Henry Kissinger once remarked. This has probably been more or less true of every country since the advent of democracy. Yet in Israel, this seems even truer. In order to understand our foreign policy, we have to look in the mirror. Who are we? What is our society like? In every immigrant country, from the United States to Australia, every new wave of immigrants is greeted by the scorn, contempt and even open hostility of those who came before them.

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Israeli Police Arrest 2 Palestinian Legislators in East Jerusalem Protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 23, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel arrested two Palestinian legislators affiliated with Hamas as they staged a protest in the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in East Jerusalem on Monday, an act criticized by the Palestinian leadership as a blow to the first direct meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian sides in more than a year now under way in Jordan.

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PM, settlers reach compromise on Migron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yair Altman - January 23, 2012 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a compromise with Migron residents over the removal of the illegal West Bank outpost, a source close to the talks told Ynet on Monday. The agreement would require Migron residents to vacate the outpost and move into buildings that will be constructed nearby. Meanwhile, the outpost's structures will be converted into a farm instead of being razed. The settlers' new homes are to be built approximately two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the outpost, on Israeli land.

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Toddling to talks about talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Analysis) January 21, 2012 - 1:00am

NO ONE disagreed with the cautious assessment of King Abdullah of Jordan that “little baby steps” had been taken when Israelis and Palestinians met several times in Amman, the king’s capital, in early January to see if there were grounds to resume full-scale peace talks that might one day lead to the peaceful coexistence of two states. Even this tentative diplomatic toe-dipping was fraught. Big grown-up strides still seem a long way off.

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Falling in Love With Dusty Treaties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Analysis) January 20, 2012 - 1:00am

One of the more surprising twists in recent Middle East punditry is a sudden surge of interest among pro-Israel hard-liners in the fine points of international law. The topic isn’t usually popular with hawks; they tend to see it as an infringement on national sovereignty, employed mainly as a club for bludgeoning Israel. Seeing it raised in Israel’s defense is a novelty. It could be a good sign, if it gets Israel’s defenders and critics talking the same language for a change. But maybe I’m being too optimistic.

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Likudnik Paranoia
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time Magazine
by Joe Klein - (Opinion) January 20, 2012 - 1:00am

Uh-oh, there’s another wave of attacks–both here and in Israel–on those of us who support Israel, but not in the mindless, aggressive way that neoconservatives do and not at the expense of America’s national interests. Over there, Bibi Netanyahu has proclaimed the New York Times and Haaretz the “biggest” enemies of Israel.

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Netanyahu denies saying Israel’s biggest enemies are N.Y. Times, Haaretz
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
January 19, 2012 - 1:00am

(JTA) – The Israeli Prime Minister's Office denied that Benjamin Netanyahu told the editor of The Jerusalem Post that Israel’s two greatest enemies are The New York Times and Haaretz. On Wednesday, the editor, Steve Linde, addressing a conference in Tel Aviv of the Women's International Zionist Organization, said that Netanyahu made the remark to him about the newspapers at a private meeting "a couple of weeks ago" at the prime minister’s office in Tel Aviv. The Prime Minister's Office told JTA on Thursday morning that Netanyahu "did not make the remarks attributed to him."

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Israel's Putin is grotesque and shameful
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) January 19, 2012 - 1:00am

Our Putin is different from their Putin. Their Putin is a prime minister who wants to be president, while our Putin is a foreign minister who wants to be prime minister. Their Putin is an aggressive and arrogant statesman who serves Russia's interests; our Putin is aggressive and cynical and harms the interests of Israel.

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