Top IDF officer warns: Settlers' radical fringe growing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - October 20, 2009 - 12:00am

The extremist fringe of West Bank settlers is growing, a senior officer on the Israel Defense Forces General Staff warned this week. Though most West Bank settlers are law abiding, the officer said, recent years have seen an upswing in violent attacks by extremist settlers against both IDF troops and neighboring Palestinians.

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Dallas-area Muslims fear backlash from arrests tied to terror plot
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Dallas News - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

North Texans were both angry and relieved last month when federal agents arrested a Jordanian teenager in a failed plot to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. But for area Muslims, the arrest of 19-year-old Hosam "Sam" Smadi evoked yet another emotion – fear. "Being a Muslim in America today is not easy," said Hadi Jawad, a longtime Dallas business owner and a volunteer at the Dallas Peace Center. "We feel under siege. There is open season on our faith. Muslims are painted with a broad brush."

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American Jews Rethink Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Philip Weiss - October 14, 2009 - 12:00am

This year has seen a dramatic shift in American Jews' attitudes toward Israel. In January many liberal Jews were shocked by the Gaza war, in which Israel used overwhelming force against a mostly defenseless civilian population unable to flee. Then came the rise to power of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose explicitly anti-Arab platform was at odds with an American Jewish electorate that had just voted 4 to 1 for a minority president.

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ANALYSIS / Third intifada unlikely, despite Jerusalem tensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Nine years and 10 days after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada, tensions gripping the Temple Mount could once again lead to the eruption of violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis. Yet a third intifada would seem inconceivable now, for several reasons - West Bank Palestinians are tired, their economy has been improving, and the Palestinian Authority itself has no stomach for a worsening situation.

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Lose-lose situation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Two weeks of continuous incitement by the Islamic Movement's northern branch, members of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian clerics has generated a particularly volatile mixture. The escalation in Jerusalem surrounding the Temple Mount and its Al-Aqsa Mosque has led the world's most important Sunni cleric, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to declare today "Al-Aqsa Day." In addition, there are no diplomatic negotiations under way with Israel.

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Palestinian FM urges UN to ease Jerusalem tension
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki called on UN chief Ban Ki-moon Thursday to intervene to prevent further escalation in Jerusalem. He said he asked for Ban's "immediate intervention to prevent Israel from escalating the situation in Jerusalem." Also Thursday, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition filed by the Temple Mount Human Rights group, headed by Yehuda Glick, who demanded that Jews receive access to the holy site on Friday and Saturday. IThe judge said police were responsible for making the decision and that the court could not become involved.

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Postponing Discussion on the Goldstone Report: Many Attackers and Even More Beneficiaries!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

A useful comparison can be made between, on the one had, internal US discourse as well as US-international discourse over the issue of the problem of Afghanistan and the extent to which Islamic extremism affects the interests of nations, and, on the other, the way the international community as well as the Arabs – amongst themselves – is addressing the report of the head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza War, Judge Richard Goldstone. This report condemned both Israel and Hamas for committing “war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity”.

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Restraint in a delicate place
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The growing tension surrounding the Temple Mount threatens to undermine the calm Israel has enjoyed for the past few months. Some of the incidents of the past few days have been routine, such as Jews and Muslims worshipping and the annual Jerusalem March; others not, such as the visit by French tourists to the mosque area and the rumor of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having dinner in Silwan. Either way, they underlay the recriminations and mutual threats, the diplomatic intervention by Jordan and the United States, and the street protests by masked Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

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Fears of third intifada as tension grows in Israel
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Telegraph - October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

fter two weeks of mounting tension and sporadic clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters, a showdown is expected when Friday prayers are called at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's old city. Thousands of Israeli soldiers and policemen are being deployed around the site after the Palestinian Authority called a one-day general strike and a leading Islamic cleric in Egypt urged the Arab world to rise up in "a day of anger".

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Jerusalem's grand mufti: Israel wrong to block Al-Aqsa Mosque
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

As grand mufti of Jerusalem and orator of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Mohammed Ahmad Hussein has the power to sway millions of Muslims. But in his three years since being appointed mufti – a title that dates to the British Mandate and bestows guardianship over the Islamic holy places here – Sheikh Hussein has been relatively reserved. He chooses his words carefully, stays above the political fray, and, despite his ability to issue fatwas, has not made any Islamic rulings that have engendered controversy.

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