Iron Dome may not be as effective as the IDF thinks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Melman - (Analysis) July 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Everything about the last test of the Iron Dome missile defense system, created to intercept all manner of launched projectile within a 40 kilometer radius, came up smelling like roses.

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Israel: Rocket defense system ready to go
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mark Lavie - July 20, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A system that can shoot down incoming rockets has passed its last tests and will be ready for deployment in a few months, Israel's Defense Ministry said Monday. If effective, it could have far-reaching strategic implications for Israel's battle against militant groups on its borders. The "Iron Dome" system uses sophisticated radar to track incoming rockets, intercepting and destroying them far from their targets. It is the only anti-rocket system of its kind in the world, according to experts.

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Israel nabs Hamas cell accused of deadly shooting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Matti Friedman - July 20, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel has arrested five Palestinians accused of being members of a Hamas cell responsible for killing an Israeli policeman in the West Bank, the Shin Bet security service said Monday. It said the men, all in their 20s, confessed to killing the policeman near the West Bank town of Hebron on June 14 and handed over three Kalashnikov rifles they used. The arrests were carried out a week after the attack, which wounded two other policemen, but were only made public Monday in a statement released to the media.

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Silwan children live in fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ronen Medzini - July 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Jewish and Arab residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood described life in the shadow of clashes in the area during a hearing in the Knesset Committee for the Rights of the Child on Monday. The Arab parents told of arrests of children in the middle of the night, that their kids live in fear. Should they want to play in a nearby playground, the parents said, the children have to take a taxi to get there. On the other hand, Jewish parents complained that their children must travel in armored vehicles out of fear that rocks will be thrown at them.

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Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system not a silver bullet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - July 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Four years after Hezbollah exposed Israel's vulnerability to short- and medium-range rockets, Israeli defense officials finished testing on Monday what is supposed to be the answer. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system is designed to intercept salvos of primitive rockets from Gaza and Lebanon, drastically reducing the ability of Hamas and Hezbollah to hit Israeli population centers. It's also a blow to Iran, which supports both militant groups, and could use them as proxies in a broader conflict against Israel.

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FM presents: 2nd disengagement from Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shimon Shiffer - July 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Five years after Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has proposed a new plan aimed at ridding Israel of any responsibility for the coastal enclave, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Friday. Lieberman is troubled by the fact that despite the evacuation of all Israeli settlements in Gaza and a full IDF withdrawal, the disengagement was not acknowledged by the international community, which still demands that Israel provide the Strip's residents with their basic necessities.

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The olive branch in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Bulletin
by Hugh Gusterson - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, was recently quoted as saying that relations between the U.S. and Israel were undergoing a "tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart." If the quote is accurate, which Oren later disputed, it is surely an overstatement. Still, an interesting divergence is developing in the means by which the U.S. and Israeli militaries are dealing with Islamic militants in territories they are occupying.

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Shin Bet challenged by cases of Jewish terror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Suspicions against a member of the extreme right wing, Chaim Pearlman, link him to cases of Jewish terrorism that have yet to be solved: the murder of two Arabs, stabbed to death in Jerusalem more than a decade ago. In the police files and at the Jewish Division of the Shin Bet, there are a number of such conundrums left, and first and foremost among them is a series of shooting attacks in which Palestinians were murdered on West Bank roads during the early part of the past decade.

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IDF mulls entry to West Bank cities by Jewish Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The IDF has told the Palestinian Authority it is willing to consider a request to permit Jewish Israelis to visit a number of West Bank cities as part of an effort to strengthen the Palestinian economy, The Jerusalem Post has learned. On Monday, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi visited Jenin as a guest of the PA’s local security commander. He spent close to four hours there, during which he toured a mall and soccer field, and met with Palestinian security chiefs and local businessmen.

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Hamas arrests alleged collaborators with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - July 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The militant Hamas group launched a campaign to arrest suspected collaborators with Israel in the Gaza Strip, detaining five in overnight raids, a Hamas security official said Wednesday. The raids began after a two-month amnesty for collaborators expired and just three months after two collaborators were executed. Collaboration is viewed as an especially egregious offense in Palestinian society. The Hamas official said suspects would go to trial, adding, "We are not going to show any mercy to those involved in spying on our people."

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