Have Netanyahu and Obama agreed on the outcome of negotiations with Iran?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) April 8, 2012 - 12:00am

In two of his Pesach interviews, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined in unprecedented detail the diplomatic outcome with Iran that Israel could live with. Maariv's interviewers asked him specifically what would satisfy him in next week's P5+1 talks with the Iranians to which he answered –

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Iran has saved Bashar Assad (for now)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - (Blog) April 6, 2012 - 12:00am

The ongoing debate for and against international intervention in Syria has been rendered obsolete by the mounting evidence that at least one nation has already very much intervened. The details emerging over the last few days can leave little doubt that the active campaign of support by the Iranian regime has ensured that President Bashar Assad will remain the absolute ruler of Syria for the foreseeable future.

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Israeli Army Warns Against Attacks on Israeli, Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 6, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz on Thursday revealed a new deterrence policy towards attacks on Israelis or Jews worldwide, which specifically warned Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran. Gantz announced the army's new policy during a conference at an army base near Tel Aviv, the IDF Spokesman's office told Xinhua Thursday evening.

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Gaza Militants Say They Will Adhere to Cease-Fire, As Wary Israel Seals Borders or Holiday
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 5, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian militant leader said Friday that his group is adhering to a cease-fire that stopped a barrage of rockets and air strikes between Israel and the Gaza Strip last month. Sheik Nafez Azzam of Islamic Jihad said Israeli reports that he had called for an ongoing struggle against Israel, despite a cease-fire, were mistaken. “We in the Islamic Jihad are committed to the cease-fire,” Azzam told The Associated Press. He said a firebrand speech calling for ongoing resistance was a general political statement.

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Egypt: No Evidence of Sinai Rocket Launch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 5, 2012 - 12:00am

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian officials disputed on Thursday Israeli assessments showing that rockets which struck the city of Eilat were fired from Egypt's Sinai desert. An Egyptian security official in the southern Sinai, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Egyptian-Israeli border was "intensively secured", and no one had detected a flash of light or sound on Wednesday. No casualties or damage were reported after the rocket struck the Israeli resort town, police said, but the incident fueled Israeli worries over militant activity in the border area.

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The infernal U.S.-Iran-Israel triangle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 4, 2012 - 12:00am

Why does most of the world continue to lose respect for the United States and its conduct of foreign policy? Two developments in the past week shed some light on this, and – not surprisingly – they both relate to Washington’s relations with Iran and Israel, an arena in which American rationality, fairness, consistency and integrity go out the window, and hysteria takes over the controls.

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Clinton: Unilateral Israeli Strike on Iran is in no one’s interest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Natasha Mozgovaya - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC news on Tuesday that a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran is "not in anyone's interest." "The U.S. has "worked very hard with Israel on all levels from the military, intelligence, strategic, and diplomatic level to make sure we were sharing information," she said. "It's our very strong belief, as President Obama conveyed to the Israelis, that it is not in anyone’s interest for them to take unilateral action."

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Israel predicts few casualties from war with Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli security officials have estimated the number of casualties in Israel as a result of a military conflict with Iran would be fewer than 300. An assessment presented to the security cabinet last weekend anticipates three weeks of rocket and missile attacks from Lebanon and Syria, as well as probably Iran and – to a limited extent – Gaza, according to reports in the Israeli media. The projected death toll, although significant in a country with a population of 7.8m, is lower than earlier estimates.

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Israel's plan to attack Iran put on hold until next year at the earliest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amir Oren - (Opinion) March 29, 2012 - 12:00am

At 8:58 P.M. on Tuesday, Israel's 2012 war against Iran came to a quiet end. The capricious plans for a huge aerial attack were returned to the deep recesses of safes and hearts. The war may not have been canceled but it has certainly been postponed. For a while, at least, we can sound the all clear: It won't happen this year. Until further notice, Israel Air Force Flight 007 will not be taking off.

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Arabs to Netanyahu: Hold your fire!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) March 29, 2012 - 12:00am

Allies in the Persian Gulf are telling American officials in Congress and the administration that the sanctions and other pressure on Iran are working and this is a time to ratchet up the pressure and keep the bombers on the ground. But if all else fails and the military option is the only way to prevent Tehran from getting nuclear weapons, it should be the Americans, not the Israelis, who do the job.

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