Arab MK slams Holocaust denial, wins praise from Jewish colleagues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - January 27, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List - Ta'al), one of the most vocal critics of government policy in the Palestinian territories, evoked praise from his fellow lawmakers after delivering what Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin called "one of the best speeches he has ever heard in the plenum" about the Holocaust.

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Only an idiot would say Israel has frozen settlement activity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) January 26, 2010 - 1:00am

Monday morning, as George Mitchell was on the way home from another diplomatic mission short on breakthroughs, Saeb Erekat did not sound dismayed. On the contrary, the head of the Palestinian negotiation team vehemently argued that the American envoy's last visit actually moved up the moment of truth for the White House. The veteran adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's favorite move of throwing the ball into the Palestinians' court stopped working with the Americans.

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Israel plans to repatriate ‘lost Jewish tribe’ in India
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - January 26, 2010 - 1:00am

The Israeli government is reported to have quietly approved the fast-track immigration of 7,000 members of a supposedly “lost Jewish” tribe, known as the Bnei Menashe, currently living in a remote area of India. Under the plan, the “lost Jews” would be brought to Israel over the next two years by right-wing and religious organisations who, critics are concerned, will seek to place them in West Bank settlements in a bid to foil Israel’s partial agreement to a temporary freeze of settlement growth.

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The Liebarak of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) January 25, 2010 - 1:00am

The business is registered in the name of Benjamin Netanyahu. But the reality is different. Netanyahu has never been more than a slick patent medicine salesman. That is a type that appears frequently in American Westerns and sells an elixir that is good for everything: From the flu to lunacy. The main weapon of the vendor is his tongue: His stream of words builds castles in the air, blows up glistening bubbles and silences all doubts.

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Is Motorola quitting Arad?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ron Friedman - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

Confusion surrounds the future of the Motorola manufacturing plant in Arad. For the past week media reports have been warning of closure of the town's second largest employer, but on Wednesday the company said it would not be closing the factory and rather will be introducing new production lines to the plant.

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Israel withholding NGO employees' work permits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - January 20, 2010 - 1:00am

The Interior Ministry has stopped granting work permits to foreign nationals working in most international nongovernmental organizations operating in the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, Haaretz has learned. In an apparent overhaul of regulations that have been in place since 1967, the ministry is now granting the NGO employees tourist visas only, which bar them from working.

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The ugly face of israeli politics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) January 20, 2010 - 1:00am

In the world of Israel’s extreme politics, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman comes out as a true representative of a new breed of politicians, whose ideological bigotry is augmented by their blind faith in brutal military force. Lieberman is the ugly face of Israel; an evil man more often than not acting as thug than a politician, a mobster who threatens “enemies” with destruction and annihilation and continues to underline Israel’s impunity status.

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Issues Stand Before Israel in Joining Elite Group
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 19, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel, which has catapulted in the past two decades from a minor state-dominated economy to a market-driven technology hothouse, is in the final stages of accession to the exclusive club of advanced countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But its secretive weapons trade, patent-bending drug industry and occupation of Arab lands are raising last-minute questions.

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Israeli settlers arrested in mosque arson investigation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
January 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Police carried out a pre-dawn raid on the Yitzhar settlement, near the Palestinian town Yasuf, where the mosque was attacked last month. They are investigating whether there is a link between those arrested and the arson attack, police sources said. The floor of the mosque and a stand holding copies of the Quran were burned in the December attack. Of the 10 people arrested on suspicion of damaging Palestinian property four were minors and would be released soon, Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

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Encountering Peace: Israel - a leader among the community of nations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) January 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Humanitarian disasters around the world bring out the best in Israel and in Israelis. The horrific devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti and the scenes of unbearable human suffering brought about an immediate enlistment of both civilian and public efforts to come to the aid of the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

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