Why Is Jonathan Pollard Still in Jail?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Moshe Dann - (Opinion) July 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Why are efforts to obtain clemency for Jonathan Pollard stuck? The man convicted in 1987 for spying for Israel and given a life sentence remains in jail despite a growing chorus calling for his release.

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Will Obama do something about colonies if re-elected?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) July 19, 2012 - 12:00am

A lengthy account in the Washington Post of the Obama administration’s nearly four-year fruitless effort to resolve the 64-year-old conflict between Palestinians and Israelis — running over four pages — carried the eye-catching headline, Where Obama failed on Middle East, and the subhead elaborated, Despite years of US trying new approach, Israelis and Palestinians came no closer.

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Syria Unrest Will Shadow Romney's Israel Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Buzzfeed
by Zeke Miller, Ben Smith - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am

The deepening unrest in Syria threatens to drive an unlikely wedge between many American conservatives and their allies in Israel on the eve of Mitt Romney’s friendly visit to the country. Even before the violence intensified and closed in on Damascus this week, Romney and his advisers were pushing for more direct American support of the Syrian rebels, while the Obama administration focused bringing international pressure to bear and working through proxies.

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Romney, Condi, and the meme that pro-Israel must be anti-peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Studies have shown that among American voters, Israel as an issue does not figure significantly in decision-making at the ballot box – even for Jews. It shouldn't matter, but it could. One step down the wrong slippery slope - a cross-border war, perhaps, or a spiral of civilian deaths in terrorism and air strikes, or, in the nightmare scenario, a conflagration involving Iran – and Israel could become very much an American campaign issue.

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No Space
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The Washington Post just published a long story by Scott Wilson about Barack Obama’s failure to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Op-Ed: Look between the headlines to understand the Presbyterians’ vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ethan Felson - (Opinion) July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s 220th General Assembly had just cast its first vote on an anti-Israel divestment resolution when the spin began. Major news outlets and activists on each side could hardly wait for the debate to finish the next day before declaring winners and losers.  This was my fourth GA and one thing I’ve learned is that reality lies somewhere between the headlines. Here are some reality checks on the GA. * The defeat of divestment was narrow -- and it wasn’t. 

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Obama's Promise Kept to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Mel Levine - (Opinion) July 15, 2012 - 12:00am

‘I can assure you, if somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.” This was the vow made by then-senator Barack Obama in Sderot in 2008, after the besieged Israeli city had been hit by more than 2,000 rockets,

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U.S. Jews to Netanyahu: Report urging state to legalize settlements will aid those seeking to delegitimize Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chemi Shalev - July 15, 2012 - 12:00am

More than 40 American Jewish leaders and philanthropists have sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressing their concern about the recent Levy Committee report on the legality of settlements in the territories and urging him to make sure that the government does not adopt it.

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Hillary Tends the Garden in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) July 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Former secretary of state George Shultz used to compare diplomacy to tending a garden. If you wanted results, you had to keep up with it. As the secretary of state lands in Israel this week, she will see a lot more weeds than flowers. And no amount of watering and weeding is going to make this garden grow, whether on the peace process, Iran or the Bibi-Obama relationship. Rarely has a secretary of state been more boxed in and had less leverage to press an American agenda on the two most important issues: Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

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Where Obama failed on forging peace in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - (Opinion) July 14, 2012 - 12:00am

It was their first meeting with the new president, and the dozen or so Jewish leaders picked to attend had made an agreement among themselves: No arguing — either with each other or their host. The pledge would be hard to keep.

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