Washington Asks: What to Do About Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Some topics are so inflammatory that they are never discussed without first inserting a number of caveats. And so, when Anthony Cordesman, a foreign policy dignitary in this town’s think tank circuit, dropped an article on Wednesday headlined “Israel as a Strategic Liability,” he made sure to open with a plethora of qualifications.

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ATFP Senior Fellow on All Things Considered: Israeli Raid Presents Opportunity For Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Hussein Ibish - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Full transcript below: GUY RAZ, host:Now, the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, is proud of its reputation as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington, D.C.

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Israel and Outremer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ross Douthat - June 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Watching the Israeli government’s botched, bloody attempt to enforce its blockade of Gaza, I kept thinking about Outremer. That’s the name — French for “beyond the sea” — given to the states that the Crusaders established in the Holy Land during the High Middle Ages: the principality of Antioch, the counties of Edessa and Tripoli, and the kingdom of Jerusalem.

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ATFP Senior Fellow Debates Israel's Console General on Gaza Flotilla Attack
Interview with Hussein Ibish - - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

KCPP AirTalk with Larry Mantle June 1, 2010 Israel is facing international criticism after its raid on a flotilla in international waters left at least nine dead. The United Nations Security Council and others have urged an immediate impartial review of the raid on a vessel carrying humanitarian aid and passengers. Was Israel fairly enforcing its blockade on Gaza? Or was the raid tantamount to piracy? Were the protesters victims or aggressors? And, should the blockade on Gaza be lifted?

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New Israeli Tack Needed on Gaza, U.S. Officials Say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration considers Israel’s blockade of Gaza to be untenable and plans to press for another approach to ensure Israel’s security while allowing more supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area, senior American officials said Wednesday. The officials say that Israel’s deadly attack on a flotilla trying to break the siege and the resulting international condemnation create a new opportunity to push for increased engagement with the Palestinian Authority and a less harsh policy toward Gaza.

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Fatalities on Gaza Flotilla Said to Include U.S. Citizen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Michael Slackman, Sabrina Tavernise - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

One of the nine people killed in an Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of ships heading for Gaza this week was a United States citizen of Turkish descent, according to officials in Turkey and Washington. The development added a new diplomatic complexity as Israel struggled to defuse rising international anger over its raid on six ships seeking to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip, where officials from the Hamas movement were reported on Thursday to be resisting Israeli efforts to deliver truckloads of goods seized from the flotilla.

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Netanyahu ignores calls for investigation of raid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a vigorous, unapologetic defense Wednesday of his government's deadly raid of a protest flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, ignoring international calls for an independent probe into the incident. Netanyahu's televised comments, his first to Israelis since the high-seas military operation killed nine activists on a Turkish-flagged vessel early Monday, did little to appease critics who say Israel used excessive force.

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Israeli academic says flotilla crisis could have been prevented
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Calls for an international probe into Israel's deadly raid of a Gaza-bound protest flotilla have put the nation's military on the defense amid allegations of excessive use of force.

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Saving Israel From Itself
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nicholas D. Kristof - (Opinion) June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

When reports first circulated on Twitter of a deadly attack by Israeli commandos on the Gaza flotilla, I didn’t forward them because they seemed implausible. I thought: Israel wouldn’t be so obtuse as to use lethal force on self-described peace activists in international waters with scores of reporters watching. Ah, but it turned out that Israel could be so obtuse after all. It shot itself in the foot, blasting American toes as well, and undermined all of its longer-term strategic objectives.

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Israel and the Blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) June 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The supporters of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla had more than humanitarian intentions. The Gaza Freedom March made its motives clear in a statement before Monday’s deadly confrontation: “A violent response from Israel will breathe new life into the Palestine solidarity movement, drawing attention to the blockade.” There can be no excuse for the way that Israel completely mishandled the incident. A commando raid on the lead, Turkish-flagged ship left nine activists dead and has opened Israel to a torrent of criticism.

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