An unholy battle in a holy city
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - November 19, 2010 - 1:00am

By pure coincidence, the main opposing forces in Safed’s latest anti-Arab flare-up are next-door neighbors. One is Eli Zvieli, 89, who became a target of threats and public denunciations after he rented an apartment to three Beduin college students last month. The other is Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, who vehemently repeated his decade-old call on Jews to refuse to rent to Arabs. They live in adjoining stone houses in the heart of the Old City and even share a rooftop balcony, divided by a low gate.

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U.S. report highlights Israel’s religious freedoms violations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
November 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Government allocations favoring the Orthodox, extra legal protection to Jewish holy sites and Orthodox hegemony over life-cycle events are among Israel's religious freedom violations highlighted in a U.S. State Department report.

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The Holocaust survivor whose life is in danger again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

First they threatened to burn his house down. Then they pinned leaflets to his front door, denouncing him as a Jewish traitor. But Eli Tzavieli, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, is defiant. His only "crime" is to rent out his rooms to three Arab students attending the college in Safed, a religious city in northern Israel that was until recently more famous for Jewish mysticism and Madonna.

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Israel at the Bottom of the Table
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Hussein Shobokshi - (Opinion) November 14, 2010 - 1:00am

In a world that is full of examples of detestable racism and discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, accent, or sect; Israel has distinguished itself with its new more creative methods of discrimination. It prohibits Muslims, Christians, and Baha'is from mandatory service in the Israel armed forces, with only Jews and Druze having to serve mandatorily. This is all part of the "Judaization" of Israel which was recently announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Diaa Hadid - November 12, 2010 - 1:00am

QALQILIYA, WEST BANK — A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down. The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.

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Jaffa imam arrested on terror claims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eli Senyor - November 10, 2010 - 1:00am

Police have arrested an additional imam for terror-related offenses, after Nazareth cleric was arrested this week on charges for inciting to terrorism. Jaffa's Muhammad Ayash, of the al-Bahr mosque, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in security offences. The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended his remand by eight days and placed a gag order on most of the details of the case. Ayash was arrested Tuesday by investigators working in tandem with the Shin Bet. Police searched his home and then took him to an interrogation facility in Petah Tikva.

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Rattling The Cage: UNESCO is right, Israel is wrong
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) November 10, 2010 - 1:00am

The word is that UNESCO is on an anti-Semitic tear, trying to “de-Judaize” and “Islamicize” two of the most holy Jewish sites in this country – the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem. “Talk about distortions,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told thousands of American Jews in New Orleans this week. “Can you imagine that UNESCO tried to deny the Jewish connection to Rachel’s Tomb next to Jerusalem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron? The absurdity to try to erase our past...”

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Netanyahu to Ban: 'Don’t erase 4,000 years of history'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - November 9, 2010 - 1:00am

The United Nations should not erase 4,000 years of historic Jewish connection to the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb just to score a political point, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the organization's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon when the two men met Monday evening in New York.

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Israeli police, Bedouin clash at mosque demolition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli police on Sunday arrested five people protesting the demolition of a mosque in the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the protestors had thrown rocks at the police, who were providing security for civil authority workers who were taking down the structure. The mosque had been built without the necessary permission, and was earmarked for demolition under a court order. According to Rosenfeld, Rahat inhabitants had rejected compromise proposals to build the mosque in another location.

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Historic move to expose Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) November 4, 2010 - 12:00am

A recent meeting in the Vatican of some 200 Catholic bishops, mainly from the Arab world, will very likely go down in history for adopting the strongest condemnation by Christian church leaders of present-day Israeli policies and actions.

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