Are Israelis truly a peace-seeking people?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ravit Hecht - (Interview) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am

The yearning for peace, purportedly one of the fundamental components of Israeli society and culture, takes several forms: prayer (“May He who makes peace in the supernal regions bestow peace upon us and upon all Israel”), Zionist statements (the Scroll of Independence), songs and more.

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Muffling the drums of war with Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) October 1, 2012 - 12:00am

  If you want to read a cautionary tale about whether Israel will attack Iran, I suggest Kurt Eichenwald’s “500 Days,” which is not about that question at all. It describes how a determined George W. Bush took the United States to war in Iraq. “This confrontation is willed by God, who wants us to use this conflict to erase His people’s enemies before a new age begins,” Bush told a bewildered French President Jacques Chirac. For some reason, Chirac thought Bush sounded fanatical.

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Israelis see no Iran war this year after Netanyahu's speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - September 28, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's U.N. speech about Iranian nuclear advances has dampened speculation in Israel that he could order a war this year. Analysing Thursday's address in which Netanyahu literally drew a "red line" on a cartoon bomb to show how close Iran was to building nuclear weaponry, commentators saw his deadline for any military action falling in early or mid-2013, well after U.S. elections in November and a possible snap Israeli poll.

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Half of Israelis 'fear for the state's existence' if war breaks out with Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Verter - September 27, 2012 - 12:00am

The Jewish New Year that began last week doesn't seem to hold much optimism for Israeli citizens: A majority rates the chance of a war breaking out with Iran in the coming year as "high" or "medium," according to a new Haaretz-Dialog survey. And half of Israelis say they either "fear" or "greatly fear" for the state's continued existence if such a war breaks out.

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The Entebbe Option
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Mark Perry - (Opinion) September 27, 2012 - 12:00am

While no one in the Barack Obama administration knows whether Israel will strike Iran's nuclear program, America's war planners are preparing for a wide array of potential Israeli military options -- while also trying to limit the chances of the United States being drawn into a potentially bloody conflict in the Persian Gulf. 

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Israeli forces detain 2 Palestinians 'attacked by settler mob'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 26, 2012 - 12:00am

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Wednesday detained two Palestinians who were attacked by a mob of settlers south of Nablus, locals said. Iyad Rashdan and Muhammad Allan were picking olives in fields of Einabus village when a group of settlers attacked them. Israeli forces arrived and detained the two Palestinians, locals told Ma'an. An Israeli military spokeswoman was not familiar with the incident.

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Abbas adopts 'Dershowitz Formula' for resuming talks with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chemi Shalev - September 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Harvard jurist and well-known Israel advocate Professor Alan Dershowitz has secured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ agreement to a settlement freeze formula that he hopes will break the diplomatic stalemate and lead to a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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Israelis shrug at Netanyahu's urgent warnings on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - September 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presses the United States for “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear development and Iran ramps up its rhetoric, Israelis don’t seem to be expecting a war with Iran anytime soon – and are not frantically preparing for one.

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Israeli defense chief proposes West Bank pullout
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - September 24, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister called for a unilateral pullout from much of the West Bank in published comments Monday, saying Israel must take "practical steps" if peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled.

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There is a way out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) September 24, 2012 - 12:00am

I am sitting in a workshop at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non- Proliferation. The meeting is taking place a few days after the after the annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the room are some of the people who negotiated arms control and disarmament treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union. There are several Arab ambassadors who represent their governments to the IAEA and were present at the annual meeting in which Shaul Horev, the Israeli head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Authority, spoke.

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