Israeli strike would only delay Iran's nuclear program by two years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - August 3, 2012 - 12:00am

An Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would delay its manufacture of nuclear weapons by no more than two years, according to the prevailing assessment. This assessment holds that Iran's nuclear program would technically be set back by only a year. But it would likely take Iran another year on top of that to overcome side effects of the strike that would cause additional delays.

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New NIF head Brian Lurie: 'The occupation is a cancer that is eating us'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) August 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Rabbi Brian Lurie, who recently replaced Naomi Chazan as president of the New Israel Fund, has spent most of his professional life at the heart of the American Jewish establishment. Nonetheless, he is a rebel, a nonconformist, a Jewish communal leader "on the cutting edge," as former Forward editor J.J. Goldberg puts it, especially in matters relating to the relations between Israel and the Diaspora.

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Syria crisis felt in Israel and occupied Golan Heights
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Yolande Knell - August 2, 2012 - 12:00am

The deepening crisis in Syria threatens to have a destabilising effect on all of its neighbours but Israel has a particular set of concerns. Technically, the two countries have been in a state of war since 1948. Israel also continues to occupy the Golan Heights, Syrian territory which it captured in 1967 and later annexed, in a move that is not internationally recognised. Yet under President Bashar al-Assad, there has been a long-standing truce and for the past 40 years the border between the two countries has been relatively calm.

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Investment in Settlements Skyrockets Under Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Calcalist
by Shaul Amsterdamski - August 2, 2012 - 12:00am

The governmental investment in Judea and Samaria skyrocketed under the Netanyahu cabinet by 38% from 2010 to 2011, reaching its high levels on the eve of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Over the period spanning from 2003 to the end 2011, the Israeli governments invested more than $2.5 billion (more than 10 billion shekels) in the Jewish settlements across the Green Line. This sum reflects the overall governmental investment, including economic support for the local authorities, investment across infrastructures and tax benefits entailing loss of state revenues.

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Israeli cabinet set to approve grants for building hotels in West Bank settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - August 1, 2012 - 12:00am

A special panel will propose that the government give grants for building hotels in West Bank settlements near Jerusalem to absorb some of the the high demand for hotel rooms in the capital. A new interministerial committee of experts convened this year to designate priority areas for the coming years; it is expected to hand its proposals to the cabinet soon. According to a separate study, Jerusalem could suffer a shortage of accommodations in the future.

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Decoding Bibi's West Bank agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ron Pundak - (Opinion) August 1, 2012 - 12:00am

The prime minister’s policy of de facto annexation of the West Bank will end badly for everyone, and there will be no way out. It took a while, but the prime minister’s political ideology seems to have been decoded. The designation of a university in the West Bank city of Ariel, Judge Edmond Levy's report that Israel is not an occupier, the construction of more than a thousand new buildings in the settlements and intensive Israeli activity in Area C in the West Bank, all indicate the fundamental political principles that guide Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Romney’s Visit Shows Israel as Rising Power
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by David Hazony - (Opinion) July 31, 2012 - 12:00am

For people used to presidential candidate visits to Israel, Mitt Romney’s was a short, strange trip. Missing were the carefully scripted visits to high-profile places like Yad Vashem and Sederot. And though he did get a photo-op at the Western Wall, it wasn’t planned in advance. Press coverage was strictly controlled and interviews were minimal. Compared with candidate Barack Obama’s visit in 2008, this was a low-key affair. What was going on?

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‘Talk Zionism’ — a string of empty phrases
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) July 30, 2012 - 12:00am

HE talks Zionism,” used to be a very derogatory comment when I was young. It meant that some elderly functionary had come to waste our time with a boring speech consisting largely of empty phrases. That was before the foundation of the State of Israel. Since then, the term Zionism has been elevated to the status of a state ideology, if not state religion. Everything the state does is justified by the use of this word. Some would say that Zionism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

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Israel's top court delays evacuation of settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
July 27, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel's Supreme Court on Friday delayed by at least three weeks the scheduled evacuation of an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost that has become a symbol of settler defiance. The court said it has scheduled another hearing for the state to argue its case against the evacuation on Aug. 21, after previously ordering the Migron outpost be dismantled by Aug. 1.

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A win-lose situation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) July 27, 2012 - 12:00am

There are situations – the best – win-win, where both sides get something they want out of a deal. Then there is the win-lose situation where you think you have won, but in fact are destined to pay a heavy price, sort of like winning second prize in a lottery that sends you a resort in Albania for a month.

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