How Khaled Meshal's call for Israel's destruction played into Netanyahu's hands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Blog) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu’s most reliable ally is Hamas. That may sound like a strange proposition, but let me explain.     In the last weeks, Benjamin Netanyahu has pulled two of his more expectable stunts.

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Netanyahu between Abbas and Meshaal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

With the historical visit conducted by Hamas’s politburo chief to the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian file is entering a new stage which the Israeli right wing and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu are trying to exploit, in order to undermine Palestinian credibility towards the peace process, end the negotiations with the Palestinians, and eliminate the idea of the two states.

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PLO calls on EU to 'reconsider' relations with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
December 11, 2012 - 1:00am

The Palestine Liberation Organization called on the European Union on Tuesday to "reconsider" it's political and trade relations with Israel over what it called "provocations." The EU said on Monday that it was “deeply dismayed by and strongly opposes Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem, and in particular plans to develop the E1 area,” and said all of its agreements with Israel only applied to the pre-1967 lines.

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Talk about Reconciliation Following Meshaal’s Visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Elias Harfoush - (Opinion) December 11, 2012 - 1:00am

If this is the road to the Palestinian reconciliation, as promised by the head of Hamas’ politburo Khaled Meshaal, then this will most certainly be a difficult road ridden with conflicting positions and campaigns.

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Protesters shut down UNRWA offices after layoffs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 11, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Labor leaders at Palestinian refugee camps on Tuesday shut down all UNRWA sub-offices in the West Bank in protest of the dismissal of 130 employees and reductions of services. Munthir Amira, director of the youth center of Aida refugee camp, told Ma'an that "it is time that UNRWA's administration realize that the plight of Palestinian refugees can't be a political trade or an opportunity for Western employees to seek livelihood."

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Abbas and Netanyahu in Wonderland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Charles Freilich - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel faces dire, historic decisions in the coming year. With his electoral victory virtually assured it is time for the premier to get his strategic priorities right. This is true for Abbas and the Palestinians as well, but then, they always prefer to live in Wonderland. The Middle East has always marched to its own drumbeat, lived in its own special reality, but Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu are taking matters to a new level.

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The End Of Abbas's Game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Janine Zacharia - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

A few days before the November 6 American election, Mahmoud Abbas summoned roughly 15 Israelis, including former pro-peace politicians, ex-generals and ex-diplomats, to his presidential office in Ramallah for a chat about the future. Ophir Pines-Paz, the former Labor Knesset member—who, dismayed with the trajectory of his party, abruptly exited politics three years ago—was among those in attendance. According to Pines-Paz, the 77-year old Abbas told the group he would resign and dismantle the Palestinian Authority if there was no movement toward peace soon.

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Meshal Goes Out of Bounds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Paul Pillar - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am

What Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said at a mass rally in Gaza City on Saturday was contemptible. Taken at face value, his words eradicated any distinction between Israeli and Palestinian territory, and any possibility of Israelis and Palestinians living in peace. “Palestine, from the river to the sea, from north to south, is our land,” he said.

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Hamas is failing its responsibility to Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am

By the time Khaled Meshaal dropped to his knees and kissed the ground in Gaza on Friday morning, the damage had already been done. Declaring himself a martyr-in-waiting, Mr Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, confirmed what many already knew: violence is the group's only vision for the future.

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1947's Zionists, Today's Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by David N. Myers - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Sixty-five years ago, the Zionist movement scored the greatest success in its history—recognition on November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly, of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. U.N. General Assembly resolution 181 called for the creation of a Jewish state alongside an Arab State, with Jerusalem as an international protectorate. It was this diplomatic act that brought the State of Israel into existence.

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