Israel is shooting itself in the foot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jay Bushinsky - (Opinion) February 7, 2010 - 1:00am

No country could possibly be more obsessed about its image abroad than is Israel. Understandably, Israelis want to be liked and where appropriate, admired. But in recent years, especially since Operation Cast Lead – the poorly-planned and badly-executed assault on the Gaza Strip that began December 27, 2008 – they have been the butt of international criticism, much of it unwarranted.

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Palestinians, Israelis propose plan for mixed Jerusalem neighborhood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

For the first time since Jerusalem's unification after the Six-Day War, a plan has been proposed to create a fully integrated Jewish-Arab neighborhood in the city. The residential area is planned at Tantur, between Bethlehem and the south Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. It would feature 800 housing units and a hotel district. The project is being promoted by a group of Palestinian and Israeli public figures who hired architect Eli Reches to plan the neighborhood. The plans have been presented to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

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Israel may charge cop over death of Palestinian boy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

The central district attorney is set to serve an indictment, pending a hearing, against Omri Abo, who was then in the Border Police, on charges of negligent manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Ahmad Musa in the village of Naalin 18 months ago. The incident took place on Tuesday, July 29, 2008, around 6 P.M. during a demonstration against the construction of the separation fence. Some 100 people, half of them children and teenagers under 19, marched toward the building site. The working day had ended by that time, and there were no workers or security forces at the site.

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Oron: We'll probe right-wing funding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

The controversy surrounding a report released this week by the Zionist student group Im Tirtzu, which blames the New Israel Fund for much of the Goldstone Report on last winter’s Operation Cast Lead, continued to build on Thursday, as additional Knesset members weighed in on the now-embattled NGO.

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Israel's dual reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's image problem abroad is down to one issue: the stark and growing difference between how Israelis view their country, and how it is seen from outside. This explains the anger and insult that Israelis feel when they watch themselves on the BBC or CNN. It can't possibly be us, they protest, the networks must be biased and pro-Arab.

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Gaza atrocities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Shells containing phosphorus, which when exposed to air burns through anything with which it comes into contact, are OK in international law provided that they are not fired at civilians. During its bombardment of the Gaza ghetto, Israel repeatedly denied that it had used shells containing this horrific chemical. In the wake of the incontrovertible UN findings that phosphorus shells were deployed against Gaza’s heavily built up areas, the Israelis changed their tune.

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Raze Illegal Buildings - Unless They Are Jewish
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Some of the homes are well-faced with stone; the naked concrete of others gives off something of a temporary air. One block of flats stands out for its unusual seven-storey height in an area of the city where two or three storied buildings are the norm. And then there is the giant, blue-and-white Israeli national flag draped demonstratively over the front of the building, from the roof down to the ground.

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Fear of peace will be the death of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

As the grandson of anarchists, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for fanatics. Expressions of extremism, and passionately reasoned, exquisitely twisted world views make me feel, how shall I put this, at home. So it was with a certain relish that I approached the cover story of a recent issue of Commentary, "The Deadly Price of Pursuing Peace," written as it was by a talented colleague and friend, Evelyn Gordon.

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Barak: make peace with Palestinians or face apartheid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory McCarthy - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, last night delivered an unusually blunt ­warning to his country that a failure to make peace with the Palestinians would leave either a state with no Jewish ­majority or an "apartheid" regime. His stark language and the South African analogy might have been unthinkable for a senior Israeli figure only a few years ago and is a rare admission of the gravity of the deadlocked peace process.

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Israel satire show sees no end of material
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - (Interview) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

The camera zooms in on the face of an actor portraying a captive Israeli soldier as he reads a prepared statement. "My captors are treating me well," says the anxious young man, who is meant to remind viewers of Gilad Shalit, a soldier held by Islamist militants for more than three years. "They are letting me drink and giving me food." A rifle barrel slowly peeks into the picture frame, and he quickly adds, "Kosher food."

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