Israel Upholds Limits on Palestinian Spouses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's Supreme Court upheld late Wednesday a controversial law that bans most Palestinians who marry Israelis from living inside the Jewish state. In a 6-5 ruling, the court agreed that Palestinians who gain Israeli citizenship through marriage pose a security threat. The law is believed to have prevented thousands of Palestinians from living with their spouses. Parliament passed the law in 2003, at the height of the second Palestinian uprising, a time when militants from the West Bank frequently entered Israel to carry out deadly attacks.

»

Was Israel Behind Iran Nuclear Scientist’s Assassination?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Tel Aviv: Israel has emerged as a key suspect in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran yesterday, thought to be the latest strike in a covert war that has targeted technicians, military plants, and computer systems at the heart of Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment program.

»

Telling stand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is back to his old tricks, being a great spoiler of all efforts to restart peace talks between his government and the Palestinians. Lieberman is once again proposing the redrawing of Israel’s borders with the Palestinian territories, with a view to placing more Arab Israelis under Palestinian control in return for plans to annex parts of the West Bank. He also wants to strip as many Arab Israelis of Israeli citizenship as possible.

»

Bill: Citizens Who Didn't Complete Army Service Can't Be MKs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel News
by Moran Azulay - January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party has introduced a bill that aims to prevent citizens who did not complete their IDF service from running for the Knesset in the next elections. Ynet learned that Knesset Member Moshe Matalon submitted the proposal on Tuesday. According to the bill, Israelis who did not serve in the IDF or complete the National Service program will not be able to run for Knesset. If passed, the bill would essentially mean that the haredi and Arab parties would be dissolved. Yisrael Beiteinu realizes it will be difficult to pass the bill into law.

»

Israel Passes Draconian Law on Illegal Immigrants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel's parliament approved harsh new penalties on illegal immigrants yesterday in an effort to stop mainly sub-Saharan Africans seeking refuge from conflict and poverty. Although the law stopped short of enacting some of the most draconian penalties sought by the government, it has provoked widespread criticism from human rights groups. The law allows the state to imprison illegal migrants for life if they commit certain crimes and detain them and their children for three year terms simply for being caught entering Israel.

»

Israel’s Identity Crisis: Why it Could be as Detrimental as Palestinian Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Tel Aviv: When Tanya Rosenblit boarded the No. 451 bus to Jerusalem last month, she knew that the predominantly ultra-Orthodox passengers would keep their distance from her because of their adherence to strict rules of gender segregation. In the Ultra-Orthodox enclave of Bnei Brak, buses where passengers sit separated by gender are common. Last month the refusal of a secular woman to go to the rear of the bus touched off a national outcry about growing religious extremism. But when one of them demanded she move to the rear, Ms. Rosenblit held her ground.

»

Israeli bill would outlaw comparisons to Nazis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 10, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — A proposed bill would make it a crime in Israel to criticize people by comparing them to Nazis. The draft legislation would impose penalties of up to six months in jail and a $25,000 fine for using the word "Nazi" or Holocaust symbols for purposes other than teaching, documentation or research. The draft legislation passed its first hurdle Monday when Cabinet ministers approved it. It now goes to the full parliament for a vote.

»

Israel: Parliament suspends water-tossing lawmaker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 10, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — The ethics committee of Israel's parliament has suspended a lawmaker for dumping water on a colleague during a heated debate. During the outburst, Anastassia Michaeli threw water on colleague Raleb Majadale after he told her to shut up. Dripping wet, he chuckled and called her "crazy" as she stormed out of the room. The incident occurred during a debate over whether an Arab-Israeli school had the right to take its students to a Tel Aviv human rights march.

»

Israel's Arabs and seculars will return to the polls
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) January 10, 2012 - 1:00am

Sometimes, numbers say it all. In the 1999 elections, some 3.3 million citizens voted. A similar number voted in 2009. But in the meantime, about 1 million eligible voters had been added to the rolls. Had the 80 percent turnout rate that prevailed in Israel until 1999 been maintained, another 800,000 people would have voted; instead, they stayed away. Those absent voters are now about to shake up Israel.

»

Sexism and the state of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - (Analysis) January 10, 2012 - 1:00am

As dusk falls in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem's most pious neighbourhood, black-clad and hatted Jewish men hurry home along the narrow streets lined by medieval-style houses where lights burn dimly in darkened windows. Less than half a mile away, young Israelis mix in bustling bars in central Jerusalem, anathema to this religious ultraorthodox community that has tried its hardest to hide itself away from the temptations of secular life, and ensure a rigorous separation between men and women.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017