Turkish and Israeli Officials Meet Secretly on Raid Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dina Kraft - July 1, 2010 - 12:00am

The Turkish foreign minister and an Israeli cabinet member met secretly in Europe on Wednesday to try to defuse the crisis that erupted after Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish aid boat bound for Gaza. According to Israeli news reports, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer of Israel met in Zurich.

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Israel’s Stealth F.M.: Barak, Not Lieberman, Tasked With Weighty Issues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - June 30, 2010 - 12:00am

On June 8, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman made a trip to the United States. He met leaders of the Jewish community, attended the opening ceremony of a community center in New York, briefed Israeli diplomats and returned to Jerusalem without making a stop in Washington. During his two-day trip, Lieberman did not meet any American administration officials.

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A Special Place in Hell / Tea Party Jews: Betraying U.S. and Israel at the same time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Blog) June 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Ever wonder what a future America might look like if the Tea Party took over? Try today's Israel. That distinctive brew of left-baiting, Obama-hating, poorly veiled racism, clergy-driven jingoism, clergy-fanned derision of the Supreme Court, the Luddite insertion of anti-government bile where an ideology should go, a majority which feels victimized and discriminated against and threatened by minorities of indeterminate legal status – it's all here. It just speaks Hebrew.

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Narrow Israeli agendas trump peace prospects
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Opinion) June 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Likud wants its West Bank settlements: that was the message that Israel’s ruling party sent to their leader Benjamin Netanyahu when its central committee voted last week to resume settlement construction in September. Now, only the most wild-eyed optimist can hope for a breakthrough in the peace process.

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Regional order alarms Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

With growing insistence, some influential Israelis are beginning to press the Netanyahu government to seek to make peace with Syria — even if the price tag is the return of the entire Golan to Syrian sovereignty. The latest example of this campaign is an interview which Major-General (retired) Uri Saguy, 66, gave on June 11 to the Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot, in which he declared that, "I believe that a political agreement between Syria and Israel is a military national interest of the highest order".

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The four stages of Israeli policy: crisis, pressure, cave-in and agreement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

When the security cabinet decided to ease the civilian blockade on the Gaza Strip this week, the process followed the precise modus operandi Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken with regard to leading Israel's foreign and defense policy this term. Each such incident has had four stages: crisis, pressure, cave-in and agreement.

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Yes, Kahane lives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

On July 29, 1986, extreme right-wing MK Meir Kahane submitted another no-confidence proposal: "The government's refusal to discuss the disintegration of Zionist ideology, which endangers the existence of the Jewish state." According to Kahane: "Since the beginning of political Zionism, the movement's thinkers have ignored and avoided the terrible and frightening truth of the basic contradiction between Zionism and enlightened Western democracy, to which all the Zionist leaders were indentured servants.

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The public is dumb and therefore the public pays
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

At least one Israeli - other than Shalom Hanoch whose signature is affixed to the title of this article (taken from his song "Waiting for the Messiah" ) - has reached the conclusion that Israeli public opinion is dumb. That person is the prime minister, and he is correct.

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The debate within the Jewish state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Antony Lerman - June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel may show all the signs of being a typical westernised, post-ideological society. But in response to growing international pressure over recent years and with the country's centre of political gravity drifting to the far right, Zionist ideology appears to be playing an increasingly important role in decision-making and in determining the face that Israel presents to the world. But does this represent an irreversible trend?

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Adviser to Israel's Netanyahu questions Mideast peace effort, new Iran sanctions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - June 23, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's national security adviser said Tuesday that the push for Palestinian statehood has weakened Israel's standing in the world, and he suggested that the outlook is bleak for U.S.-mediated negotiations in the region. Uzi Arad, central in the crafting of Israel's stance on the Palestinians and on Iran's nuclear program, also argued that new U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran are inadequate to thwart its nuclear progress. A preemptive military strike might eventually be necessary, he said.

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