Israel's unreasonable demand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Omar Rahman - (Opinion) September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

"The Palestinians must recognise Israel as a Jewish state." This is the mantra of the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has been promoting this controversial idea as a condition of any peace deal. But is such recognition valid, necessary, or even appropriate? This question will certainly remain at the heart of negotiations with an Israeli leadership that views such recognition as imperative. Although this is not the first time Israel has sought some form of validation, it varies from the past in stark and troubling ways.

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Netanyahu’s subtle, insidious, unworkable demand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently been reiterating the demand he has focused on since regaining power that Palestinians and other Arabs recognize Israel as not only a “Jewish state” but specifically as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.” This demand has been flatly rejected not only by the Palestinian leadership, but more recently by the Arab League.

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Netanyahu’s subtle, insidious, unworkable demand
In Print by Hussein Ibish - NOW Lebanon (Opinion) - September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently been reiterating the demand he has focused on since regaining power that Palestinians and other Arabs recognize Israel as not only a “Jewish state” but specifically as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.” This demand has been flatly rejected not only by the Palestinian leadership, but more recently by the Arab League.

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The Murder Midrash
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Kamoun Ben-Shimon - September 19, 2010 - 12:00am

ON A DAY IN LATE AUGUST, Rabbi Ya'akov Meidan, head of the Gush Etzion Yeshiva in Alon Shvut, a settlement south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, the most prestigious yeshiva of the moderate Zionist religious movement, began his daily lecture with a different lesson than the usual one on Jewish law. He held up a copy of “Torat Hamelekh” (“The King’s Torah”), a book with a marblepatterned cover and embossed gilt letters, to his students. “This is a challenging book, written by learned men,” he said to the assembly of students.

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Netanyahu urges recognition of Israel as "Jewish people's state"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Analysis) September 13, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged the Palestinians to recognize Israel as "Jewish people's state" and called for "two states for two peoples " as part of a solution to the Israeli -- Palestinian conflict. "We say that the solution is two states for two peoples, meaning two national states, a Jewish national state and a Palestinian national state," Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet session.

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Conscription in Gaza?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Omer Ghraieb - (Analysis) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am

[Gaza] It started first with the introduction of high taxes on cigarettes. It was the de facto government’s hope that this would prevent merchants from selling cigarettes, and that if they do, the cost would be too much for an average citizen to afford. Hamas believed this would eventually lead to the end of cigarette smoking in Gaza. Islam strongly discourages smoking and some even say that Muslims are forbidden from smoking cigarettes, since it is harmful to one’s health.

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A Special Place in Hell / Real men don't talk Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Blog) September 6, 2010 - 12:00am

There was something wrong with the air here the day President Obama hosted Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. There was a bottom-heavy grip to the heat, the air almost too thick to breathe, as though it had to be forced down, like medicine. In other places, this freight in the weather is the kind which announces a monsoon, or an earthquake. Not here. Here it was murder that was in the air. It just hadn't happened yet.

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Middle East peace talks, and the problem of land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Todd Gitlin, Liel Leibowitz - (Opinion) September 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which began this week in Washington, leaves even the most loquacious Middle East experts without much to say. No bold offers have emerged from either side, and President Obama has yet to show the blend of grit, gregariousness and ingenuity that made Bill Clinton an effective mediator. All we can expect with certainty are more bouts of brinksmanship.

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Extremists on both sides have nothing to offer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) September 1, 2010 - 12:00am

The stage has been set: only time will tell whether what transpires in Washington this week was meant for show or to produce something of substance. The talks between Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu that begin today are the first direct negotiations in two years. There remain, however, legitimate concerns over the timing of the talks.

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In Israel, Settling for Less
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Gadi Taub - (Opinion) August 29, 2010 - 12:00am

WILL Israel remain a Zionist state? If so, what kind? These are the important questions in Israeli politics today, and will be looming over the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority scheduled to begin Thursday in Washington.

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