In Israel, small steps toward peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald
by Frida Ghitis - (Opinion) April 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Little more than a week from now, after the Jewish holiday of Passover ends, an interesting interaction will unfold between Israelis and Palestinians — at least that’s what the two sides are planning at this moment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will host Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Netanyahu’s Jerusalem office. Fayyad will hand the Israeli leader a letter from PA President Mahmoud Abbas in which he will blame Israel for the lack of peace negotiations and spell out four Palestinian conditions to restart talks.

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The real radical left
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) April 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Even a dead body can sometimes twitch reflexively. Here we go again: The settlers have occupied another building. Their lawyer isn't ashamed to boast about the deceptive way the property was acquired. The ministers make their pilgrimages. The defense minister pulls a surprise eviction. The right is furious, the remnants of the left utter praise, and even Europe and America seem satisfied - look, another settler real estate grab has been thwarted.

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Giving up Jerusalem would mean end of Zionism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ronen Shoval - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said a few days ago: "It breaks my heart to initiate relinquishing sovereignty over the Temple Mount but there is no other choice." However, conceding the Temple Mount means opting for a one-way road that leads straight to the annihilation of Zionism. And the heart that will be broken will not be that of Olmert but rather that of the Jewish people. There is only one meaning to giving up the Temple Mount: the end of the State of Israel.

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Just like Iran, Israel has a supreme leader: Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am

The horizon has a familiar optical quality. The closer you think you're getting, the more it recedes. To avoid disappointments, the best thing is to stay where you are so that the horizon always seems at arm's length, or at least not further away. For decades now, the term "political horizon" has been an inseparable part of the Palestinian dictionary. Without a political horizon, they will start an intifada, without a political and economic horizon, they will remain our enemies.

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‘Battle of Letters’ Shaping up Between PM, Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - April 4, 2012 - 12:00am

With Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expected to deliver a sharply-worded letter to Israel in the coming days, blaming it for the impasse in the diplomatic process, Jerusalem is preparing a letter of its own to present to the PA, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Though the final draft of the letter has not yet been completed, it is expected to contain the following points: • Israel is prepared for peace talks with the Palestinians where all the core issues will be on the agenda. • Israel places no preconditions whatsoever on entering the talks.

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The "Sort of" Leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Yehudah Mirsky - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week Tzipi Livni proved of one of my pet theories of Middle Eastern politics— the more attractive and familiar a public figure is to foreign elites, the thinner their support back home. One of Newsweek's 150 most powerful women in the world was just trounced in Kadima's primaries by Shaul Mofaz, a gray, inarticulate, lifelong soldier (whose media advisors are now working to reshape him into a smiling crusader for social justice). Now it's his turn to try and snag the crucial centrist bloc, one quarter of the Israeli electorate, that wanders from one party to another, looking for a home.

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How Amr Moussa Became Israel's Dream Candidate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth
by Smadar Peri - (Analysis) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

When it comes to dictators, it’s always best to keep your eye on Number Two. The ruler is at the front, all wrapped up in honorifics and princely manners, careful to maintain sycophancy in his inner circle — people who tell him what he wants to hear. He never takes his eyes off of his deputy, the one who does the dirty work far away from the limelight. That is what is happening now in Egypt as it teeters between the (temporary?) military council and the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls most of the seats in parliament.

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Israelis can't resist following the the occupation's pied piper
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

In Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's documentary film "The Law in These Parts," former Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar is presented as the person who removed, with one decision, the legal obstacle to settlement on Jordanian lands. In doing so, Shamgar created a situation in which no peaceful solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is visible on the horizon. Shamgar does not come out of it looking good. Moreover, he doesn't quite remember the crucial decision.

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Netanyahu Wants Deal to Prevent ‘Binational State’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dan Perry - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Tuesday that he still hopes to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, because the alternative would be absorbing them into Israel and destroying the Jewish character of the state. "I want to solve the conflict with the Palestinians because I don't want a binational state," Netanyahu told a rare news conference. "For as long as it depends on me, we will ensure the Jewish and democratic character of Israel."

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Crisis in Zion Square: Can Peter Beinart Shake Up American Zionism?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel, settlements, and boycotts, have been attracting something of a wave of attention recently. A small co-op in Brooklyn's Park Slope has voted against implementing a ban on stocking any Israeli products. The ban would have had miniscule economic significance, but it hit the national mainstream press nonetheless. Meanwhile, Peter Beinart called for a boycott on any good produced in Israeli settlements, to be matched by re-investing in "Israel proper." His column stirred up an even more intense debate, some of it quite vitriolic.

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