Israeli army to track anti-Israel groups in Palestinian territories, abroad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli army's Military Intelligence (MI) Directorate, or Aman, has begun an effort to collect data on left-wing organizations operating in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and abroad. The decision to increase resources and personnel for monitoring and battling attempts by pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli groups to delegitimize Israel, according to military sources, comes as a "result of the rising complexity and intensity of this threat."

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Israeli civil society, democracy and political change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Naomi Chazan - (Opinion) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

At precisely the same time that civil society has emerged as the catalyst in democratically-driven upheavals in the Arab world, Israel's civil society is increasingly threatened. There is a direct correlation between the rising centrality of civil society as the locus of opposition to government policies and the intensified efforts of neo-nationalist groups to curtail its activities.

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Netanyahu's schemes won't work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took the right step in condemning in strong terms the massacre of a five-member Israeli family, including two children and an infant, living in an illegal Israeli colony in the West Bank. No one in his right mind would not abhor this callous event, whose perpetrators are still unknown. "A human being is not capable of something like that," Abbas told Israel Radio. "Scenes like these — the murder of infants and children and a woman slaughtered — cause any person endowed with humanity to hurt and to cry."

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Report: East Jerusalem residents exempted from municipal taxes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Jerusalem city officials have notified East Jerusalem residents living beyond the separation fence that they are no longer required to pay municipal taxes, the official Palestinian news agency reported on Thursday. Citing a report by the rights group Center for Social and Economic Rights, the Wafa Palestinian news agency said that the city of Jerusalem were notified residents of these areas that they do not have to pay municipal taxes, known as arnona tax, after years of paying it.

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A funeral for the State of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Blog) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

All this week I've resisted putting something terrible into words. All this week I've been wondering why the Jerusalem burial ceremony for Ruth and Udi Fogel, their infant daughter Hadas and their two small sons Yoav and Elad, seemed so much like a funeral for the State of Israel itself.

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Barak must join opposition to save Israel from disaster
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is a brave man, not only in his operations from the days of the reconnaissance unit, or in his proposal at Camp David to divide Jerusalem. He is also brave in his willingness to stand apart from the choir and say unpopular things on days of terror attacks and mourning. A few hours after the funerals of the Fogel family from Itamar, on Sunday, Barak gave a lecture at the Institute for National Security Studies.

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'Jenin, Jenin' gets Hebrew U. campus screening despite ban
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Asaf Shtull-Trauring - March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Organizers of students' Hadash party branch at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem screened the controversial film "Jenin, Jenin" at a Hadash-sponsored event on the university's Mount Scopus campus last night, although the university had prohibited the screening. However, 10 minutes before the end of the film, university security personnel cut the electricity to the hall.

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Washington Watch: Two can play the incitement game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

You’ve got to hand it to Binyamin Netanyahu, who somehow managed to turn international outrage over the brutal massacre of a young Jewish family as they slept in their beds on Shabbat into widespread criticism of his aggressive settlement policy. The most frequent question I get in speaking to Jewish groups around the country is “why doesn’t Israel get better PR advice.” The answer is simple: The problem isn’t PR, it’s policy and the way it’s announced to the world.

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Israel comes to standstill to remember soldier captured by Palestinian militants 5 years ago
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Traffic has come to a standstill on major roads across Israel as activists hold a nationwide five-minute protest to draw attention to the plight of a captured Israeli soldier still held by Palestinian militants. Sgt. Gilad Schalit was captured nearly five years ago in a cross-border raid by Gaza militants, and successive Israeli governments have been unable to bring him home. Gaza's Hamas rulers want the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many convicted of murdering Israelis, in exchange for Schalit.

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Netanyahu's exploitation of the murders at Itamar
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Opinion) March 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The horrific murders in Itamar were a crime against humanity. Entering a home in that manner and slaughtering five people in their sleep is a base, cowardly act, and it makes no difference whether the victim is an adult or an infant. Murder is murder is murder. Motti Fogel, brother of Udi Fogel, said at the Har Hamenuhot cemetery on Sunday that the funeral should have been a private affair. "A person is born for himself, to his parents and siblings, and dies for himself, he is not a symbol or a national event, and death must not be allowed to become an instrument of something."

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