Why Shimon Peres Still Matters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Shai Feldman - (Opinion) September 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Some three weeks ago, on the occasion of his 89th birthday, Israeli President Shimon Peres gave loud and clear public expression to his opposition to a possible Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear installations. This followed two years during which Peres is said to have counseled Israel’s leaders in closed quarters against the ramifications of such an attack. Giving a number of separate interviews on Aug. 16, Peres did not oppose such a strike under all circumstances. Rather, he warned against an attack that would not receive a green light from Washington. 

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Israeli official: Government to round up Sudanese
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A senior official says Israel will start rounding up thousands of unauthorized Sudanese migrants and put them in a detention center if they don't leave the country voluntarily. Interior Minister Eli Yishai says the detentions will begin in mid-October. Yishai told Army Radio on Thursday that once migrants can't work, "they will get sick of being here and will want to leave voluntarily."

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Religious Israeli government party wary of war with Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Aug 30 (Reuters) - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party in Israel's coalition government is wary of plans for possible military strikes on Iran, political sources said on Thursday. Reservations by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the top spiritual authority for the Shas party, could be an obstacle to any attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get security cabinet approval for hitting Iran's nuclear sites.

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Realities about racism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

One adult and eight minors were indicted on Tuesday for their alleged role in the brutal attack two weeks ago on a 17- year-old Palestinian boy in downtown Jerusalem. That attack, which came on the heels of the firebombing of a Palestinian taxi in the southern West Bank the week before, which had injured six people, produced a debate in the Israeli media, public and political arena. To their credit, politicians from across the spectrum all but uniformly decried the attacks and called for the perpetrators to be prosecuted and punished.

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Former Israeli commandos dominate politics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - August 29, 2012 - 12:00am

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to fill a sensitive Cabinet post recently, he turned to an old army buddy from his days in an elite commando unit. His choice for minister of civil defense, Avi Dichter, replaced another graduate of the legendary Sayeret Matkal unit. Netanyahu's defense minister and vice premier, as well as Israel's opposition leader, also served there.

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Corrie verdict exposes Israel's false narrative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) August 29, 2012 - 12:00am

After nine years of injustice, the Israeli court's decision did not come as much of a surprise. For the parents of the 23-year-old American activist crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to stop it from demolishing a Palestinian home, there will be no justice from an Israeli court. But today, perhaps more than at any time since her death, Rachel Corrie continues to fight the injustice that Palestinians face under occupation.

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Court Rules Israel Wasn’t at Fault in U.S. Activist’s Death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren, Danielle Ziri - August 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Rachel Corrie, the young American woman who was run over by a military bulldozer in 2003 as she protested housing demolitions in the Gaza Strip. The lengthy verdict in the civil case, read to a courtroom packed with supporters of Ms. Corrie’s family here, called the death an accident that occurred during “a military activity meant to prevent terrorist activity.”

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Diplomat: FM's letter aimed to block Abbas’s UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - August 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s letter to the Quartet last week calling for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ouster is part of a campaign to get leading democracies to oppose the PA’s UN bid, a senior diplomatic official said Monday. The idea behind the letter, the official said, was primarily to preempt Abbas’s move at the UN by putting on the public agenda his record of rejecting Israeli gestures and refusing to negotiate, while trying to diplomatically isolate Israel.

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Bibi's own "tree limb"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Over the past few years it was frequently alleged, not least by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the Palestinian leadership had climbed out onto various political “tree limbs.” The implication was that on issues such as the settlement freeze, Palestinian leaders adopted rhetorical positions that were not in keeping with their real strategic options and hadn't allowed themselves sufficient room to climb down. As a consequence, it was suggested, they were stuck with unworkable policies. 

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Rachel Corrie verdict exposes Israeli military mindset
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris McGreal - (Opinion) August 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Reporters covering Israel are routinely confronted with the question: why not call Hamas a terrorist organisation? It's a fair point. How else to describe blowing up families on buses but terrorism?

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