Palestinian PM slams Israel for denying entry of U.S. professor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad lashed out at Israel on Monday for denying entry of Jewish American professor Noam Chomsky into the Palestinian territories. According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, Fayyad phoned Chomsky after he was barred from entering the West Bank and updated him on the latest developments in the Palestinian territory. The academic was invited by Birzeit University, near Ramallah, to lecture at a number of its faculties. He was also supposed to meet with Fayyad and other Palestinian officials.

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Is Netanyahu alienating Israel’s friends in Europe?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

On the day last week that Israel gained admission to the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel's continued control over the Palestinians was eroding its global standing. Whereas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Israel’s joining of the OECD as an economic and diplomatic coup, Barak warned of a growing tide of international isolation unless Israel comes out with a major peace initiative of its own, irrespective of the OECD membership.

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Strenger than Fiction / Israel is encouraging academic boycott by denying entry to Chomsky
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Professor Noam Chomsky, the left-wing radical thinker and activist, is regularly voted the most influential public intellectual in the world. He has been highly critical of Israel’s policies for many years, particularly since the time of the first Lebanon war in 1982. On Sunday, Chomsky was denied entry at the Allenby Bridge on his way from Amman to Ramallah, where he was scheduled to lecture about American foreign policy at Bir Zeit University.

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The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Peter Beinart - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

In 2003, several prominent Jewish philanthropists hired Republican pollster Frank Luntz to explain why American Jewish college students were not more vigorously rebutting campus criticism of Israel. In response, he unwittingly produced the most damning indictment of the organized American Jewish community that I have ever seen.

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Israeli left flies flag to urge end to occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

A weekend rally in Jerusalem by Israelis demanding an end to their country's settlement and occupation of the West Bank was hailed by its left-wing sponsors as the start of a major push that could help U.S. peace efforts. But the turnout of just a couple of thousand people drew scorn from settlers, who count on the rightist-led government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resist President Barack Obama's drive for a deal to establish a Palestinian state.

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U.S. Jewish leaders echo European call to end Israeli settlement building
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Following in the footsteps of the European initiative launched by JCall, a group of Jewish-American leaders on Friday launched an online petition urging an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and calling for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli protest against settlements Called "For the Sake of Zion," the petition is signed by dozens of prominent American rabbis, judges, writers, academics and philanthropists.

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Chomsky Barred From West Bank by Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Robert Mackey - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and political thinker who has been critical of Israel, was denied entry into the West Bank on Sunday by Israeli immigration officials when he tried to cross into the Palestinian territory from Jordan to deliver a lecture. Amira Hass of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported:

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Why some in Israel say the Gaza blockade has failed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Both Hamas and Israel chalked up victories this week. In Damascus, the Islamic militants got a rare international embrace from Russia President Dmitry Medvedev. In Washington, the Jewish state got about $280 million for weapon system to intercept rockets from Gaza. Skip to next paragraph

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E. J'lem demolitions on hold
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Lappin - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Demolition orders for illegally constructed Arab homes in east Jerusalem are highly unlikely to go ahead in the near future, it emerged on Thursday, despite a recent announcement to the contrary by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch. The U-turn came after the US State Department sought clarifications over comments by Aharonovitch, who said on Wednesday that “police have no instructions to refrain from carrying out the demolitions. They will be carried out in the coming days.” The comments threatened to reignite a US-Israeli row over Israeli policy in east Jerusalem.

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Attorney seeks to bar Goldstone from US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by E.B. Solomont - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

A well-known American Jewish attorney who worked to deport former Nazis from the US is urging American officials to bar former judge Richard Goldstone from entering the country over his rulings during South Africa’s apartheid regime.

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