Israeli ultra-Orthodox party's ministers boycott final cabinet meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 10, 2013 - 1:00am

The outgoing Israeli government held its final cabinet meeting on Sunday without the presence of four Haredi lawmakers. The four, members of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, did not show up at the meeting apparently in protest of their being excluded from incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming coalition. Netanyahu is about to reach a deadline of forming a new government following the results of the Jan. 22 elections.

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An Ode to Joy: President Obama has no peace plan!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am

The news that President Obama has no intention of presenting a new peace plan on his upcoming visit to Israel was greeted by a collective sigh of relief that was so pronounced that it sounded like a giant roar of approval. Hallelujah, Israel is saved. Just in time for Passover, as usual.

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Progress or explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Emanuel Rosen - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am

The International Monetary Fund published a report last week in praise of the Steinitz-Fayyad agreement, which, according to the IMF's experts, is the most efficient way to reinforce the economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, for the benefit of both sides.

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Senate bill would exempt Israel from visa waiver requirements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 10, 2013 - 1:00am

 The Senate version of a bill that would enhance the U.S.-Israel relationship exempts Israel from some requirements in order to allow it to join a visa waiver program.   The bill, introduced in time for last week's American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference, mandates the inclusion of Israel in a program that allows citizens of designated countries to enter the United States without a prearranged visa.

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On Questioning the Jewish State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Joseph Levine - (Opinion) March 9, 2013 - 1:00am

I was raised in a religious Jewish environment, and though we were not strongly Zionist, I always took it to be self-evident that “Israel has a right to exist.” Now anyone who has debated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have encountered this phrase often. Defenders of Israeli policies routinely accuse Israel’s critics of denying her right to exist, while the critics (outside of a small group on the left, where I now find myself) bend over backward to insist that, despite their criticisms, of course they affirm it.

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Their blood has been let
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Bambi Sheleg - (Opinion) March 9, 2013 - 1:00am

In March of last year a group of Beitar Jerusalem fans attacked Arab janitors in the Malcha Mall. It happened after a soccer game in the nearby Teddy Stadium. Last summer a group of teenagers nearly lynched an Arab youngster in Jerusalem's Zion Square. Since then we have witnessed a series of incidents in which young Jews brutally assaulted Arabs in a manner that is characteristic of societies in the process of dissolution.

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Lapid likely to be Israel's next finance minister, Bennett to take trade portfolio, sources say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am

Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid will likely take the finance portfolio, sources said Friday, while Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett will be Israel's next Labor, Trade and Industry minister. According to the officials, Israel's new coalition will be presented at the start of the coming week.

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Attacks and anti-Arab bigotry 'more acceptable' in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
March 8, 2013 - 1:00am

A spate of epithet-laced attacks by young Israeli Jews against Arabs indicates anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry is becoming more acceptable in many sectors of Israeli society, according to rights workers. Police have arrested four people, including two minors, over the bludgeoning on Saturday of an Arab Israeli citizen on holiday with his wife in the Israeli city of Tiberius, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported this week.

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Who is an Israeli?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ranan Hartman - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am

Legendary US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said that "the task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” These days, while the uproar of an equal share of the national burden is bubbling again as the main issue in the coalition negotiations for the establishment of a new government, the Israeli public is waiting for leaders to get

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Obama: No 'grand peace plan' during Israel trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Julie Pace - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am

President Barack Obama is playing down expectations for a Mideast peace breakthrough during his upcoming trip to Israel, telling American Jewish leaders that he won't be carrying a "grand peace plan" when he arrives in the region later this month.

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