The moment to move
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 24, 2011 - 12:00am

With Greece in turmoil, the Spanish economy collapsing and the French political system in a state of upheaval, the leaders of the European Union are nonetheless putting time and energy into getting the ball rolling again on the Israeli-Palestinian front. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, followed by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, last week visited the offices of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Both returned to Brussels as confused as ever.

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Interview: Alice Walker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Robert Zeliger - (Interview) June 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker will join the flotilla of ships next week that will try to break Israel's maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip. She says the goal is to bring supplies and raise awareness of the situation there. Last May, during a similar attempt by activists, Israel raided six ships. On one, clashes broke out and Israeli commandos killed nine people. Foreign Policy reached the author of The Color Purple in Greece, where she is preparing for her departure. Foreign Policy: Why are you taking part in the flotilla mission?

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Brzezinski to Al-Hayat: U.S. Position Deteriorating in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Joyce Karam - (Interview) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am

As the political turmoil sweeps across the Middle East, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski laments the declining American influence in the region . He tells Al-Hayat about a sense of disappointment among Washington's allies from its shy performance especially on the peace process.

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Jordan remains stabilizing factor, Israel committed to helping monarchy survive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Asaf Romirowsky - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am

President John F. Kennedy once said that those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable. As a case in point, the so-called “Arab Spring” in the Middle East has now spread to the traditionally stable country of Jordan, a historical ally of the United States and Israel.

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ICRC demands Hamas provide proof Shalit is alive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
June 23, 2011 - 12:00am

The International Red Cross called on Hamas on Thursday to provide proof that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive nearly five years after his capture by Palestinian militants. In an unusual public appeal, the independent aid agency said Shalit's family had a right under international humanitarian law to be in contact with their 24-year-old son, held incommunicado since his capture on June 25, 2006.

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Fayyad Denounces Media Allegations Denying Saudi Support of Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from WAFA
June 22, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, June 22, 2011 (WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a statement Wednesday condemned the media allegations published Tuesday that denied Saudi Arabia’s support to the Palestinians. Fayyad considered these allegations an attempt to harm the Saudi brotherly relations with Palestinians.

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Hezbollah may fight Israel to relieve Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Analysis) June 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group is preparing for a possible war with Israel to relieve perceived Western pressure to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its guardian ally, sources close to the movement say. The radical Shi'ite group, which has a powerful militia armed by Damascus and Iran, is watching the unrest in neighboring Syria with alarm and is determined to prevent the West from exploiting popular protests to bring down Assad.

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Israel and Turkey holding secret direct talks to mend diplomatic rift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli and Turkish officials have been holding secret direct talks to try to solve the diplomatic crisis between the two countries, a senior official in Jerusalem said. The negotiations are receiving the Americans' support. A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry and a U.S. official confirmed that talks are being held, though in Israel the prime minister and foreign minister's aides declined to comment.

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Did a Jerusalem court really sentence a dog to death by stoning?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Eoin O'Carroll - (Analysis) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Have you heard the one about the dog who walked into a rabbinical court? Here's how the BBC reported it: A pooch made its way into a beth din in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim. One of the judges, believing the dog to be the reincarnation of a now-deceased lawyer whom the court had cursed some two decades earlier, sentenced the dog to death by stoning, and ordered that the sentence be carried out by children. The dog escaped before the sentence could be carried out. Dog-lovers have filed a complaint against the court.

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For Gaza, but not against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Sun-Times
by Esther Cepeda - (Opinion) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

In a few days, slightly more than a year since a flotilla of ships attempted to breech Israel’s naval blockade to call attention to the plight of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 50 passengers, including three from the Chicago area, will sail to the Gaza Strip on a boat named “The Audacity of Hope.” As part of the second international “freedom flotilla,” they’ll attempt the same feat to deliver humanitarian aid in the form of letters of support and friendship.

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