Archaic Israeli convictions and bad faith
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

One of the fundamental tenets of political Zionism has been the so-called redemption of the land for the purpose of founding a Jewish state where all the Jews of the world are supposed to gather and find a safe haven from persecution. The early Zionist leaders recognised the difficulty they faced: the land to be redeemed was Palestine and it was inhabited by another people who could not be expected to peacefully acquiesce to the transformation of their country into a Jewish state.

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Israeli left flies flag to urge end to occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

A weekend rally in Jerusalem by Israelis demanding an end to their country's settlement and occupation of the West Bank was hailed by its left-wing sponsors as the start of a major push that could help U.S. peace efforts. But the turnout of just a couple of thousand people drew scorn from settlers, who count on the rightist-led government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resist President Barack Obama's drive for a deal to establish a Palestinian state.

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Incitement Day in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

For a long time now, Jerusalem Day has served as an excuse for the far right to excoriate Arab residents of the city's eastern part and violently demonstrate their presence in their neighborhoods. But this year, the baton of incitement has passed from the delusional fringes to the very heart of the political arena - the government.

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Thus spoke the dairy farmer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Many years ago, the incumbent chief of staff spoke at a prestigious club that used to host a prominent government figure every Friday. Mostly, reporters were also invited, and if there were no scoops to be had, at least they got a nice free lunch. I was present at that luncheon, and the CoS spoke such a lot of nonsense that I wrote a critical piece about his speech. Astonishingly, the military censor blue-penciled the whole article.

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Hypocrisy Now!: The Pro-Israel Crowd's Sins of Omission
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Sasha Polakow-Suransky - (Opinion) May 12, 2010 - 12:00am

I have always admired Jeffrey Goldberg and Jonathan Chait for their generally thoughtful commentary on the Middle East and their refusal to follow in the footsteps of more knee-jerk pro-Israel commentators. Until now. On Friday and over the weekend, Goldberg and Chait responded to a Yediot Ahronoth story claiming to have unearthed evidence of Richard Goldstone's past as an apartheid-era judge, digesting it almost completely uncritically.

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Desperately smearing Goldstone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - May 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Inside the Israeli echo chamber, it’s now “case closed” on the war in Gaza. The country’s biggest newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, has “exposed” Judge Richard Goldstone as an apartheid-era hanging judge. This proves he’s a huge hypocrite whose word means nothing, which proves his report on the war in Gaza means nothing, which proves Operation Cast Lead was every bit the shining example of restraint and purity of arms Israel says it was.

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Israel seeks to silence dissent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ben White - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

Last Thursday, in the early hours of the morning, a Palestinian community leader's home was raided by Israeli security forces. In front of his family, the wanted man was hauled off to detention without access to a lawyer, while his home and offices were ransacked and property confiscated. While this sounds like an all-too typical occurrence in West Bank villages such as Bil'in and Beit Omar, in fact, the target in question this time was Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and head of internationally renowned NGO network Ittijah.

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ISRAEL: Netanyahu's government reaches out in Arabic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau is upgrading its public diplomacy efforts with the appointment of an Arabic-language spokesman. Ofir Gendelman, formerly the Arabic media spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign affairs, will from now on be entrusted with getting Israel's message out in Arabic too. A news release from the prime minister's office last week said the appointment was important in order to deal with "recent media developments in the Arab world and especially in light of global developments regarding Arabic language television stations."

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Israeli opposition makes coalition overtures as peace talks begin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am

United States special envoy George Mitchell is expected to begin his shuttle diplomacy between the Israelis and the Palestinians from next week. This follows Sunday' s announcement by the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat that the indirect talks with Israel has begun. Mitchell met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday before leaving the Middle East for a week of consultations in Washington. He will be back in the region by the middle of next week to begin the proximity process repeatedly travelling the short distance between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

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Court orders state to explain why Amona outpost not demolished
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - May 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction requiring the state to explain why it has not followed through with evacuating every illegal outpost built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. The court made its ruling particularly with regard to the Amona outpost, where settlers began to build in 1995 and have continued to do so despite an official evacuation as recently as 2006.

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