Amnesty: U.S., Europe shielding Israel over Gaza war crimes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Amnesty International complained in its annual report released Thursday that the U.S. and members of the European Union had obstructed international justice by using their positions on the UN Security Council to shield Israel from accountability for war crimes allegedly committed during last year's Gaza war. The rights group also accused Israel of continually violating human rights in the Gaza Strip. It cited Israel's ongoing economic blockade as violating international law, leaving Gaza residents without adequate food or water supplies

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'Ruling others erodes our global status'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel’s continued control over the Palestinians is eroding Israel’s global standing, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday. “We won’t give up anything connected to security, but it’s important to say that continuing to control another nation is very problematic,” he said at the Labor faction meeting. “We can reach an agreement to end this without sacrificing our security. “ Saying that ruling over the Palestinians “causes our erosion internationally,” Barak called for Israel to present a peace plan “on all diplomatic issues.”

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Gold stones, glass houses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Sasha Polakow-Suransky - (Opinion) May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli government has it in for Richard Goldstone. Ever since Goldstone, a Jewish South African judge, issued a report in September charging Israel (and Hamas) with war crimes during the January 2009 invasion of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attacked him -- and his report -- as a grave threat to Israel's legitimacy. On Thursday, leading Israeli government officials escalated their campaign against Goldstone, accusing him of sending 28 black South Africans to their deaths while serving as a judge during the apartheid years.

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Ayalon slams Goldstone on apartheid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Reports that international jurist Richard Goldstone sent 28 black South Africans to death during the apartheid regime prove he wasn't impartial when compiling the UN report on Operation Cast Lead, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Thursday. Speaking to Israel Radio, Ayalon said that, "after [Goldstone's] dubious background was revealed, there is no reason not to think" that the judge had ulterior motives in composing the UN report accusing the IDF of perpetrating war crimes in Gaza.

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New Mossad rep not welcome in London
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Itamar Eichner - May 4, 2010 - 12:00am

month-and-a-half after the United Kingdom expelled the Mossad representative in London over Israel's alleged forging of UK passports used in the assassination of Hamas man Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, Britain refuses to allow a new representative to enter the country, Yedioth Ahronoth has learned. The paper reported on Tuesday that London's refusal to accept a new Mossad rep comes despite prior understandings between the two countries, according to which the UK would allow a new representative to take the place of the one that was expelled.

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Israel's choice: Make peace or disappear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Tzvia Greenfield - (Opinion) April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The student senate at Berkeley University in California recently passed a resolution calling for divestment from Israel. Prof. Judith Butler, the feminist theoretician, expounded to the enthusiastic audience on her new "Jewish" vision, which calls for renouncing the State of Israel. In this way, the intellectual elites once again expressed their strong belief in the theological principle whose basis is opposition to Western culture.

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Divestment Bills Fail at Two Calif. Universities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The student government at the University of California, Berkeley fell a vote short in a bid to override a veto against a divestment bill. Meanwhile, a vote early Thursday morning by the Associated Students at the University of California, San Diego reportedly was unsuccessful in passing a similar measure. At Berkeley, 13 senators voted early Thursday morning to override the veto, with five voting to uphold it. Fourteen votes were necessary for the override. The vote at about 4 a.m. followed a meeting that began in the evening attended by about 200 people, according to reports.

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Sarkozy: Netanyahu's foot-dragging on peace process is unacceptable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres that he is disappointed with Benjamin Netanyahu and finds it hard to understand the prime minister's diplomatic plan. Sarkozy made his comments at the Elysee Palace two weeks ago. The latest criticism follows the diplomatic crisis between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama and the subsequent fallout between Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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Sharing a West Bank highway proves a tall order for Israel, Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

For eight years, Israeli commuters have whizzed between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Highway 443, a road whose West Bank portion is lined with barriers, off-limits to Palestinians who live along the way. Naji Suliman, mayor of the Palestinian community of Beit Ur al-Tahta, thought that would change after a decision by Israel's Supreme Court calling for the ban on Palestinians to be lifted by May. Then, after meeting with an Israeli military commander last week, Suliman concluded that Israel's actions came "just for public relations."

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Top Military Brass Concur: Mideast Conflict Affects All
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - April 21, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. Army general David Petraeus might have shocked some pro-Israel activists when he openly spelled out the difficulties caused to American military efforts by the lack of progress in the Middle East, but fellow generals were not taken by surprise. “CENTCOM commanders had always said this was the No. 1 issue that affects everything that goes on in the region,” said Anthony Zinni, who headed the U.S. Central Command, known as CENTCOM, a decade before Petraeus.

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