Rabbis refuse questioning over war book
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Lappin - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Two prominent rabbis from the national-religious camp refused police requests on Monday that they undergo questioning for their endorsements of a controversial book authored by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. The book, Torat Hamalech (The King’s Torah), discusses the rules of war and states that in certain situations, non-Jews can be killed. The book has attracted a firestorm of controversy since being published in 2009, and police questioned Shapira over the text last month while raiding his yeshiva, Od Yosef Chai, in Yitzhar in order to confiscate copies.

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New Gaza leisure projects focus on fun not hardship
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

New leisure projects and restaurants have been springing up in the Gaza Strip, some partially funded by Hamas Islamists ruling a territory long seen as a symbol of Palestinian hardship. The construction boom in recreational facilities has prompted some Palestinians in the enclave to complain that Hamas should have channelled such investment into rebuilding homes and infrastructure destroyed in conflict with Israel. Some 800 visitors a day flock to Al-Bustan, a resort built by a Hamas-linked charity, to enjoy its swimming pools, restaurants and cafes.

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Top settler rabbi arrested for allegedly inciting to kill non-Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The head rabbi of a prominent yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar was arrested Monday for writing a book that allegedly encourages the killing of non-Jews. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is the alleged author of the book "The King's Torah," which deems as legal, according to "Jewish law," the killing of non-Jews. Police began investigating Shapira after an advertisement for the book in a Hebrew newspaper created a public uproar. Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan encouraged the investigation as he believed the book contained an incitement to violence.

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Pursuit of the holy land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by James Carroll - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

‘LAND For peace’’ was the early mantra of the Mideast peace process, and it was realized in Israel’s treaties with Egypt and Jordan. The formula has proven to be more problematic between Israel and Palestine because the disputed territory defines core identities of both peoples. Having accepted the principle, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a fellow Jew for whom any surrender of Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) violated the sacred trust given by God.

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The War to Save Israel and Iran from their Isolation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - July 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Whatever feelings one might harbor towards international individual and group stances on Arab problems, it would be useful for everyone to carefully analyze these stances. Indeed, such stances are adapted to the nature of relations between international players, most prominently the five nuclear countries that are permanent members of the Security Council: the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France. Arab concerns during this period are focused on what is going through the mind of Israel and Iran, as well as Turkey to a lesser extent.

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Israel considers restricting citizenship for some who convert to Judaism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

An Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday advanced a bill that could lead to lack of recognition for conversions to Judaism performed by rabbis from the Reform and Conservative movements. The bill could give the chief rabbinate, the religious authority in Israel run by ultra-Orthodox Jews, the power to decide which conversions are accepted, overturning an Israeli Supreme Court decision that ensures eligibility for Israeli citizenship for Jews converted by rabbis from all branches of Judaism.

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What about Palestinian residents of Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ahmad Tibi - July 12, 2010 - 12:00am

In the 11 years that I have served in the Knesset, I have received numerous death threats. Pulsa Denura (the term for a rabbinical death curse) has evidently taken exception to my consistent call for equal rights for the country’s Palestinian minority. Recently I received a letter – the second in as many days – that warned: “You have 180 days to live. Your death will be sudden and cruel, accompanied by great pain...”

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Do U.S. Donors Drive Israeli Politics?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Naomi Chazan, Daniel Gordis, Ori Nir, Benjamin N. Schiff, Yossi Shain, Stephen Spector - (Opinion) July 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The Diaspora’s Influence Yossi Shain is a professor of political science and the director of the Aba Eben Program of Diplomacy at Tel Aviv University and a professor of comparative government at Georgetown University. He is the author of “Kinship and Diasporas in International Affairs.”

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In Israel, the Noble vs. The Ugly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nicholas D. Kristof - (Opinion) July 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel goes out of its way to display its ugliest side to the world by tearing down Palestinian homes or allowing rapacious settlers to steal Palestinian land. Yet there’s also another Israel as well, one that I mightily admire. This is the democracy that tolerates a far greater range of opinions than America. It’s a citadel of civil society. And, crazily, it’s the place where some of the most courageous and effective voices on behalf of oppressed Palestinians belong to Israeli rabbis — like Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights.

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Egypt in awkward position on Gaza following Israeli attack on aid flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

With pressure building on Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Egypt finds itself in the uncomfortable position of continuing to help enforce the siege while watching Turkey outflank the region's traditional Sunni Arab heavyweights in championing the Palestinian cause.

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