Netanyahu's flawed arguments for war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The Iranian crisis has given rise to another duel between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. The public platform for the confrontation of the two men was provided by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) policy conference which the two men addressed separately last week. They duelled in the past over how to achieve peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the Aipac policy conference, they publicly duelled about waging another war in the Middle East.

»

GPS Panel: Iran, Israel and a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Fareed Zakaria - (Interview) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave President Obama a gift in Washington this week. It was a copy of the book of Esther, which tells the tale of a benevolent king who saved the Jewish people from an enemy who wished to destroy them - a Persian enemy (not very subtle). So where does the Israel-Iran conflict end? On Sunday, I had an excellent panel to talk about that and much more. Daniel Levy is co-director of the Middle East Task Force of the New America Foundation. Bret Stephens is the foreign affairs columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

»

Targeted-Killing Policy is Backfiring on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth
by Roni Shaked - (Opinion) March 11, 2012 - 1:00am

No one in Israel was surprised by the blizzard of rocket fire [on the western Negev, in the southern part of the country] that followed the killing of [Popular Resistance Committees leader] Zuhair al-Kaisi. There is no single focused foiling or targeted prevention – as such operations are known in Israel – carried out in the Gaza Strip in the past decade that has not provoked a massive rocket barrage on Israel.

»

For Israel, it is about walls and war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) March 10, 2012 - 1:00am

The recent visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States received the lion’s share of publicity about Israel’s position in the Middle East and the world. However, the real story about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict rests elsewhere.

»

Israel’s ex-spy chief says more efforts needed before considering attack on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 9, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — The recently retired head of the Mossad intelligence agency has said Israel must consider alternatives to a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but another expert said Friday an Israeli attack could come within months. Ex-Mossad director Meir Dagan pointed to a need for caution after Israel’s prime minister hinted Israel might feel the need to attack. Among the alternative actions he suggested was supporting Iranian opposition groups working for regime change.

»

On Iran, a Win-Win
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) March 9, 2012 - 1:00am

The conventional wisdom is that the latest meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even if more cordial and productive than their eight prior exchanges, highlighted the stark differences between the two leaders as their nations face the threat of a nuclear Iran. And this gulf, so some urge us to believe, presents a serious schism for Americans who care about Israel’s security and this most special of special bilateral relationships. Permit us to offer another perspective.

»

The tragedy of success
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI)
by Morgan Strong - (Analysis) March 9, 2012 - 1:00am

BRICK, N.J., March 9 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited U.S. President Barack Obama Monday. He has tried, and failed, to convince Obama to join Israel in attacking Iran. Netanyahu says the purpose in attacking Iran is to prevent the development of nuclear weapons that Iran will use against Israel. That is sheer fantasy. Iran is very far from the development of nuclear weapons. Even if Iran were to succeed in building a primitive nuclear device, they could never match Israel's vast nuclear arsenal.

»

Israelis, like United States, wary about strike on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karin Brulliard - March 8, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from a visit to Washington this week, much of the discussion here centered on traffic-light hues. Had the Israeli leader been given a red light or a green light about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities? The general assessment was that President Obama’s signal — his appeals to give diplomacy more time and his pledges of support for Israel — fell somewhere on the spectrum between yellow and red. To many here, that probably came as a relief.

»

Israel stacks the legal deck
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by George Bisharat - (Opinion) March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestinian baker and activist Khader Adnan captured headlines recently for a 66-day hunger strike that led him to the brink of death. His ordeal began in the dead of night on Dec. 17, 2011, when Israeli soldiers broke down the door of his West Bank home. Adnan was arrested before his terrified wife and daughters, and was reportedly abused verbally and physically upon detention and later in interrogation.

»

Ex-Mossad Chief Halevy: Romney’s Iran Talk is Irresponsible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy said Mitt Romney's gibes at President Obama's Iran policy were irresponsible. "This means to an Iranian, if you will wait until another few months and there is a change in the White House, then maybe there will be trouble, so the lesson is, let's redouble our efforts to do it as quickly as we can," Halevy said in an interview with The Huffington Post posted Wednesday. "In the effort to demolish the president he is making the situation worse."

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017