A New Season of Palestinian Protests Challenges Both Israel and Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) March 29, 2012 - 12:00am

The Arab League is talking about Syria; Israel and the U.S. are talking about Iran. Nobody in the corridors of power, these days, is talking about the Palestinians. In part, that reflects the shifting geopolitical sands and the effectiveness of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in changing the subject — when he came to Washington to meet with newly elected President Barack Obama in 2009, Netanyahu wanted to talk about Iran, but Obama insisted he talk about settlements and the Palestinians; when Netanyahu met Obama in Washington three weeks ago, Iran dominated the agenda.

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One state – one vote: Rethinking an Israeli Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) March 28, 2012 - 12:00am

A beleaguered Democratic president, beset by an unpopular war overseas and raging polarization at home, clamps heavy pressure on Israel to make a dramatic gesture over the future of the West Bank. Israel's cabinet convenes to discuss the White House initiative. A minister-without-portfolio, less than three months in his first cabinet post, asks for the floor. He has a proposal regarding the Palestinians of the West Bank: Offer them citizenship and the right to vote.

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Israel’s New Kadima Leader Faces Challenges of Rescuing Party
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 28, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — While gliding to a surprisingly easy victory over Kadima party Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, Israel's newly elected opposition leader, Shaul Mofaz, faces an uphill battle in keeping the once-dominant centrist political party from splintering. The Iranian-born Mofaz, 64, comfortably defeated Livni in Tuesday's primary, garnering nearly 62% of the vote in the party election. Speaking Wednesday, he wasted no time in setting his sights on Israel's next national election, which is not scheduled until the end of 2013 but which many believe may be called as early as this fall.

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Kadima Is in Death Throes And On Way to Irrelevance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Omri Meniv - (Opinion) March 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima, and congratulations on the impressive victory — notwithstanding your party bieng in its death-throes and irrelevant, a party that should never have risen at all, a party that must die as soon as possible and maybe will do so after the coming national elections.

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Israel: Ties to U.N. Rights Council Cut
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel suspended its working relations with the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday and will prevent a United Nations team from entering Israel or the West Bank for a planned investigation of Jewish settlements, the Foreign Ministry said. Israel accuses the council of having an anti-Israel bias. Israeli leaders were angered by the council’s adoption of a resolution last week that condemned settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and by its plans for a fact-finding mission to investigate the settlements.


2 Israeli Leaders Make Iran Issue of Their Own
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have turned into the odd couple of Israeli politics in whose hands sits the prospect of an attack on Iran. From opposite political traditions with distinct experiences and worldviews, the two have forged a tight bond, often excluding the rest of the Israeli leadership.

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Kadima Party in Israel Replaces Livni as Leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Tzipi Livni, who not long ago was a popular and leading force in Israeli politics, lost the leadership of her centrist Kadima Party on Tuesday by a large margin to an archrival, according to results of the primary election. Mr. Mofaz will replace Tzipi Livni, center. The vote left Ms. Livni’s political future in doubt.

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Absentee Ballots Considered For Israelis Living Abroad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM--It's easy to vote in Israel. No prior registration. No other paperwork. If you're a citizen, just show up at the polls and be at least 18 years old. At the same time, it's almost impossible for Israelis abroad to cast election ballots. Unlike many nations including the U.S., Israel does not allow expatriates to cast absentee ballots. Only those abroad on official business such as diplomatic service are allowed to participate in elections for parliament and prime minister without returning home to vote. In the last election, this amounted to 5,600 voters.

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Netanyahu is our man
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

We need Netanyahu. Not because a Netanyahu government will more effectively rebuild the Israeli left. Not because I believe that for it to get better it has to get a lot worse, though both may be true. But because there is no one, absolutely no one in the Israeli political arena who has the capability of delivering a peace deal that the Israeli mainstream (meaning both the peace skeptics like Kadima voters and the religious and right of center people who together compose the vast majority of Israeli society) would support.

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Rewriting 'Hatikvah' as Anthem for All
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Philologos - (Opinion) March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

Back in 1998, I wrote a column about “Hatikvah.” It was occasioned by a European Cup soccer game between Israel and Austria, before which, as usual on such occasions, the national anthems of both countries were played. When the band struck up the Israeli anthem, the whole Israeli team joined in singing it except for a talented young Arab player named Walid Badir, who stood in silence.

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