Survey: 'The whole world is against us'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yoni Cohen - August 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Fifty-six percent of Jewish Israelis believe that "the whole world is against us," according to a recent Peace Index survey published on Thursday. The Peace Index project is conducted under the auspices of the Evens Program for Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Democracy Institute. Many Israeli Jews believe that the world will continue to be critical of Israel with 77% saying that it does not make difference what Israel does and how far it will go on the Palestinian issue.

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UN official: Israel should extend freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jordana Horn - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am

In a briefing to the Security Council at its meeting Tuesday morning on the Middle East, a senior United Nations official called on Israel to continue the partial moratorium on settlement construction beyond September 26 and to extend it to all settlement activity, as well as to construction in east Jerusalem. “We are nearing a turning point in the efforts to promote direct negotiations,” Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez- Taranco told the Security Council, in his briefing on the situation in the Middle East.

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Mavi Marmara inquiry: Denying the obvious
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Gwynne Dyer - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The pro-Palestinian activists who said that the flotilla of ships that tried to breach the Israeli blockade and bring aid to the Gaza Strip had purely humanitarian goals were lying, and so are the Israeli officials who blandly insist that the blockade is solely to stop offensive weapons from reaching the Hamas-ruled enclave. But only the Israeli commandos who seized the ships and killed nine people had guns.

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Israel wasn't ready for flotilla resistance -general
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Israeli troops were not ready for the violent resistance they met when they boarded a Gaza-bound aid ship and ended up killing nine pro-Palestinian activists, the country's top military officer said on Wednesday. Speaking to an inquiry, Israeli Defence Forces Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi gave the most detailed explanation so far of what went wrong with the military plan in the May 31 raid, which sparked a world outcry.

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Israel, the bomb, and openness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Micah Zenko - (Opinion) August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

It's time for Israel to come out of the closet. After five decades of maintaining a nuclear weapons program without acknowledging its existence, Israel should proactively announce and provide information about its nuclear weapons status. Though Israel's bombs have long been an open secret, unprecedented international scrutiny in coming years will make this "nuclear opacity" increasingly untenable.

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Turkey and Israel Do a Brisk Business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dan Bilefsky - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli business executives here like to point out that most of the angry Turks who protested Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish-led flotilla to Gaza this past spring do not know that their cellphones, personal computers and plasma televisions were made using parts and technology from Tel Aviv. For Manashe Carmon, chairman of the Israel Turkish Business Council, such ignorance is a blessing for Israelis and Turks.

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Israeli army orders officers to protect civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli military says it will assign officers to protect civilians in combat zones during wartime. The move appears to be a response to international criticism of Israel for high civilian death tolls in recent wars in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The military says an officer in each battalion will be responsible for planning and marking evacuation corridors for civilians in combat areas. Lt. Col. Shuki Shine says the officer will specify where soldiers cannot shoot and will also ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.

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UN rights body tells Israel to end Gaza blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jonathan Lynn - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a United Nations rights body said on Friday. The U.N. Human Rights Committee also told Israel to ensure that Palestinians in the occupied territories can enjoy the human rights that Israel had pledged to uphold in the main international human rights treaty.

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Editorial: ‘A prison camp’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) July 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The new British Premier David Cameron appears unafraid to speak his mind. Visiting his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday, he described Gaza as “a prison camp” and urged the illegal Israeli blockade be lifted.

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‘Cultural intifada’ as Costello, Meg Ryan and others cancel Israel plans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Marcy Oster - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Actress Meg Ryan's decision to cancel her appearance at this week’s Jerusalem Film Festival didn’t garner the same attention in Israel as British rocker Elvis Costello when he nixed his Israel concert this spring. Both, however, were a reminder to Israelis that in the eyes of much of the world, Israel’s politics and culture are inseparable.

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