Settlement outposts at root of Jewish violence in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - December 29, 2011 - 1:00am

For months many Israelis shrugged off the mosque burnings, the uprooted Palestinian olive trees and even the death threats against Jewish leftists. But when young settlers this month vandalized army bases and stoned Israeli soldiers, the question of Jewish terrorism turned into a national emergency. The recent flare-up in settler violence has puzzled many because it comes when there are no peace talks that might lead to land concessions, Palestinian attacks in the West Bank have dropped to new lows, and Israel is led by a conservative government that is expanding settlement construction.

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A spitting incident sets off Israeli frustration with Jewish zealotry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - December 27, 2011 - 1:00am

The harassment of an 8-year-old girl by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh is shaking Israel’s self image to the core, stirring nationwide outrage about escalating religious zealotry and creeping public segregation of women.

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Our laws favor Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moshe Ronen - (Opinion) December 21, 2011 - 1:00am

One cannot argue with the facts. Serious, in-depth examinations undertaken many years ago already proved that there are no equal laws for Jews and Arabs in the territories conquered by Israel in 1967. Then-Deputy Attorney General Yehudit Karp was appointed to look into this exact question in 1982 and found that clear bias exists in favor of Jewish suspects. The Shamgar Committee established in 1994 in the wake of the murder of Muslim worshippers by Dr. Baruch Goldstein confirmed Attorney Karp’s conclusions, and added that nothing has changed since.

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'Price tag' slogans painted on Hebron mosque
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 20, 2011 - 1:00am

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- A Hebron village mosque was spray-painted with racist slogans on Monday, locals said, in the fourth such attack in two weeks. Suspected extremist settlers daubed "price tag" and "Yitzhar" on the walls of the mosque in Bani Naim, which lies opposite the Kiryat Arba settlement. Yitzhar settlement in the northern West Bank is notorious for so-called price tag incidents, in which settlers exact revenge on Palestinians and their property for Israeli government policies towards unauthorized settler outposts.

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Israeli leaders are also advocates of 'Greater Israel'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aner Shalev - (Opinion) December 20, 2011 - 1:00am

It is easy to perceive terror. It is easy to perceive a terrorist wave. It is easy to discern a breach in the Jordanian border fence. It is easy to see a brick thrown into a military jeep. It is easy to discern a mass raid on a brigade base. It is easy to discern torched mosques. It is easy to detect black letters sprayed on a wall. But is it easy to understand their meaning?

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Ex-Palestinian prisoner: No regrets on Yosef plot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 20, 2011 - 1:00am

A Palestinian jailed by Israel for plotting to kill one of Israel's most influential rabbis said after his release on Sunday that he had no regrets about the path he had chosen. Salah Hamouri, 26, was one of 550 prisoners freed to complete a deal in which Israel released 1,027 prisoners for soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for more than five years. Many of the 450 prisoners freed on Oct. 18 under the Egyptian-brokered swap for the soldier had been serving life sentences for deadly attacks.

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Israel can be Jewish without being racist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) December 19, 2011 - 1:00am

What's easier for a secular person to hate than an ultra-Orthodox Jew who sets fire to an Israeli flag on the holiday of Lag Ba'omer? The answer is a religious West Bank Jewish settler who torches a mosque on any old day. The shared revulsion of those thugs who have acquired the nickname "hilltop youth" and whose hate crimes have euphemistically come to be called "price tag" attacks assuages the consciences of those who consider themselves secular liberals.

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Coy euphemisms, tragic implications
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) December 19, 2011 - 1:00am

Even I thought Hillary Clinton was overstepping the mark earlier this month when the US secretary of state said the treatment of women in Israel was reminiscent of the situation in Iran. That was until my health fund, Kupat Holim Meuhedet, sent a booklet round to my house.

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Only words
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Susan Hattis Rolef - (Opinion) December 18, 2011 - 1:00am

Last Wednesday, as part of my Knesset in the Democratic Regime of Israel course, I told my students about some of the ceremonial aspects of the Knesset’s work, placing an emphasis on a section from the Declaration of Independence that is read alout at the ceremonial Knesset session when a new government is sworn in.

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Shoot the Jewish terrorists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Uri Saguy - (Opinion) December 16, 2011 - 1:00am

The rioters who attacked IDF soldiers resorted to terror, and terror should be addressed firmly. However, the prime minister declared that these people are not a terrorist organization, thereby showing a leadership failure, to my regret. In the absence of leadership, we may have to facilitate a confrontation and win it. As the people who ruin us hail from our midst, we must take action. I fear these domestic threats more than I fear the Iranian threat. At this time, we are in the midst of a messianic, delusional process that is violent, belligerent, intolerant, and also un-Jewish.

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