Israel 1967 Borders Are Central in Mideast Talks Restart Effort
Media Mention of ATFP In Bloomberg - July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama’s proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by starting with the 1967 borders will likely be adopted by the international group trying to find a peace agreement. The meeting today in Washington by the “Quartet” -- the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia -- has taken on added urgency as Palestinians plan to ask the UN to recognize their state in a September vote. Israel and the U.S. oppose the move, which would raise political and legal questions.

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No quick reconciliation for Turkey-Israel ties, but Turkey rethinking rift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

The Turkey-Israel relationship is not out of the woods just yet. After some positive signs in recent weeks that the once close allies were moving to repair the rift that ripped wide open last year after nine Turks were killed by Israeli forces in a confrontation on a Gaza-bound flotilla of ships, Turkey’s prime minister renewed his hard line on Israel.

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The “Syrian Spring” an Israeli Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Mostafa Zein - (Opinion) July 9, 2011 - 12:00am

The band of the Likud and its philosophers were the stars of the carnival staged by part of the Syrian opposition in Paris. Calling for the festivities was Bernard-Henri Lévy, who is – for those who do not know him – one of those who used to be called the “New Philosophers” in France, a group that also include his colleague André Glucksmann. Both abandoned philosophy a long time ago.

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The pro-Palestinian 'fly-in' poses no danger to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) July 8, 2011 - 12:00am

After left-wing activists' hopes for a well-publicized clash with the Israel Defense Forces aboard the flotilla to the Gaza Strip were dashed, both sides are now working on Plan B: a fly-in. So far, sensible Israeli conduct has prevented a violent confrontation with the flotilla activists. But the way things looked last night, the Israeli authorities' hysterical and disproportionate response to the airlift of pro-Palestinian activists may result in a different sort of clash, albeit a less violent one, at Ben-Gurion Airport.

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Israel Blocks Air Travelers to Palestinian Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - July 8, 2011 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Israel prevented a gathering of foreigners here on Friday by blocking, deterring or deporting hundreds of air travelers who had been invited by Palestinian activists to fly into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport and then travel to the West Bank for a week of “fellowship and actions.”

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Top official slams UN report backing Israel on flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS — A UN rapporteur Thursday slammed a highly anticipated UN report said to back a 2010 Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla aiming to break the Gaza blockade which left nine people dead. "The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof. Olivier De Schutter, has received a draft of this report and he firmly opposes its conclusions," De Schutter's office said in an email. He was preparing "a statement where he denounces the conclusions" of the report by a UN commission which the UN chief is expected to release on Friday, it said.

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Gaza fly-in gains momentum
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

Security forces gear for potential disruptions at BG Airport after relatively quiet morning. Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists arrive in Israel despite foreign airlines' efforts to follow passenger blacklist; more than 30 detained by police Security forces were on high alert at Ben Gurion International Airport Friday afternoon, ahead of the potentially volatile second wave of Gaza fly-in arrivals.

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Time for a different conversation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Douglas Noll - (Opinion) July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The recent Middle East events in Washington, starting with the resignation of George Mitchell as President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East and ending with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's address to the US Congress, have created a moment in which a different conversation about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict might be useful.

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The Conditions of Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

There are two Arab regimes that failed to convince their people to maintain the same method of governance throughout decades with the pretexts they presented, despite the voluntary or obligatory change that affected their role in the face of Israel, after this role marked the way they presented themselves domestically and abroad.

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Israel’s message: Hate thy pro-Palestinian activist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

This weekend in synagogues the world over, Jews will be reading the story of Balak. In Israel, this will also be Shabbat Mashat, the Sabbath of the Pro-Palestinian Flightilla. As luck would have it, both stories are about occupation. And about hatred. The Biblical narrative (Numbers 22:2 – 25:9) begins just after the Children of Israel, en route to the Promised Land from Egypt, have won sweeping military victories and occupied the towns and territories of kingdom after kingdom.

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