What's the point of Israel's psychological warfare against Iran?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Full disclosure: Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, hasn’t spoken to me recently. Actually, he has never spoken to me at all. Nor has Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, or any other defense establishment officials in Tehran.

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How the Arab Spring might help Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald
by Frida Ghitis - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

A few months ago, as I was speaking to a non-profit group about how developments in the Arab world would affect Israel, I noticed the faces in the crowd looking back at me with deep skepticism. I understood the reason. I was arguing that there is a possibility — not a certainty — that Israel will eventually emerge safer than before as a result of the Arab revolutions, also known as the Arab Spring. I have not changed my mind.

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Gazans hope Egypt will ease clampdown on smuggling tunnels
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) August 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week's terror attack in Sinai, which claimed the lives of 16 Egyptian soldiers, prompted the authorities in Cairo to clamp down on the smuggling tunnels connecting Egyptian Rafah and the Gaza Strip. Dozens of bulldozers arrived at the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi Route and began demolishing tunnels. On the other side, Hamas closed the tunnel entrances, at least for the time being. For around 70,000 Palestinians whose livelihoods depend on the tunnels, it is a severe blow.

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Enlisting From Afar for the Love of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Three days into Josh Warhit’s first-ever visit to Israel, as a 16-year-old on a summer tour, war broke out in Lebanon, which transformed the group’s itinerary — and his life plan. On Tuesday, with talk rampant about the possibility of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran, Mr. Warhit became a citizen of Israel to enlist in its army.

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Ambassador Oren: Israel's clock on Iran 'ticking faster' than Obama's
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am

While White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday that the Obama Administration still believes that there is "time and space" for a diplomatic track, coupled with sanctions, to succeed in convincing Iranian leadership to stop the nuclear program, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren stressed in an interview to MSNBC that the Israeli clock "is ticking faster."

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Ex-Obama Official Warns: Take Israel Iran Threat 'Very Seriously'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Laura Rozen - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl traveled to Israel 13 times during his tenure as the Obama administration’s top Pentagon Middle East civilian policy advisor from 2009 to the end of 2011. Kahl, now a Georgetown University professor, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign, told Al-Monitor in an interview Tuesday that he takes the signs that Israeli leaders are contemplating a fall strike on Iran “very seriously.”

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Morsy to resume Hamas-Fatah unity efforts in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has decided to resume efforts to end the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian sources said Tuesday. The sources said that Morsy has invited representatives of the two rival parties to meetings in Cairo after the holiday of Id al-Fitr, which begins next week. Morsy’s decision to resume efforts to end the Fatah-Hamas dispute comes amid growing tensions between the two sides, especially in the wake of last week’s terror attack in Sinai, in which 16 Egyptian border guards were killed by unidentified terrorists.

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South Africa: SA Not Boycotting Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from South African Government News Agency
August 14, 2012 - 12:00am

South Africa has no policy aimed at boycotting Israel, International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said on Tuesday. But Pretoria did discourage people from visiting Israel because of the latter's continued occupation of Palestinian land, Ebrahim told reporters in Pretoria. "We have no policy that says boycott Israel but we believe that Israel is an occupying power and that we should discourage people from visiting that country," he said.

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Gaza families visit relatives in Israeli jails
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 13, 2012 - 12:00am

Relatives of Palestinians jailed in Israel left the Gaza Strip on Monday to visit detainees, a prisoners group said, in the fifth such visit since 2007. As part of a deal to end mass hunger strikes in Israeli jails in May, Israeli authorities agreed to ease a ban on Gaza families visiting prisons. Fifty-seven people left Gaza on Monday to visit 42 imprisoned relatives in Israel, Gaza-based prisoners group Husam said.

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Egypt: Hamas likely knew about Kerem Shalom attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - August 13, 2012 - 12:00am

Senior Egyptian officials expressed skepticism Sunday about Hamas claims that the Islamist group would shut down the tunnels connecting Gaza and Sinai if Egypt permanently reopens the Rafah crossing to people and goods.

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