Palestinian On Hunger Strike to Be Freed Without Court Ruling
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - February 21, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian who fasted for 66 days to protest his detention without charge ended his hunger strike on Tuesday after the Israeli authorities agreed to release him in mid-April, if no major new evidence is brought against him.

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How Israeli negligence led to the death of a Palestinian car thief
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - (Analysis) February 20, 2012 - 1:00am

The figure at the side of the road was completely still. A pedestrian who saw him in the early morning light came close, and found the body of a young man. He was barefoot and clad in a thin hospital gown from the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.

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Airport security can't treat Arab Israelis like suspicious objects
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

Yara Mashour wanted to return to her home in Israel. A natural-born citizen and the editor of a popular Israeli weekly, she arrived at an El Al counter in a Milan airport this week, her passport and an airline ticket in hand. What happened next is what happens to almost every Arab Israeli traveler: She was singled out, put through rigorous security checks, asked ridiculous, humiliatingly intimate questions and had her baggage thoroughly searched. But when it reached the stage of a body search, Mashour, a proud citizen, refused, choosing instead to give up her flight.

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Israeli Arab journalist switches airline after 'humiliating' El Al security check
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - February 16, 2012 - 1:00am

An Arab journalist says she was so profoundly insulted by El Al security staff at a Milan airport that she changed her itinerary and may sue the Israeli national carrier. Yara Mashour is the editor of the Nazareth-based women's magazine Lilac and the daughter of the late Lutfi Mashour, the editor and publisher of the Arabic weekly Al-Sinara. Yesterday she related what she said happened to her, her brother-in-law and another relative when they arrived at Milan's Malpensa Airport on Monday for their return flight to Israel, and reached the El Al security checkpoint.

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Overstating Israel’s ‘internal Arab problem’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Oded Haklai - (Opinion) February 14, 2012 - 1:00am

In recent months, analysts from diverse ideological persuasions and political stripes have been sounding the alarm bells about Israel’s “internal Palestinian problem.” On the one hand, it is claimed that if Israel does not accede to the political demands of the Arab minority and does not recognize it as a national and indigenous minority with extensive collective rights, Israel’s domestic stability and very democratic character will be undermined.

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As the Illegal Outpost of Migron Goes, So Goes All of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) February 14, 2012 - 1:00am

The fate of Migron, an illegal outpost in the heart of the West Bank, is about to be decided. The implications of this decision are about far more than the future of a handful of settlers in a single outpost. This decision will be a litmus test of Israeli rule of law and, ultimately, of Israel's capacity to make peace with the Palestinians. How can one outpost be so important?

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Racism and political tension tied to Israel's soccer league
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - February 8, 2012 - 1:00am

REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- High drama exists in Israel's soccer league for reasons other than goals scored, as political tension and racism sometimes play out on and off the fields. The Beitar Jerusalem soccer club, most recently owned by Dan Adler and Adam Levine of the U.S., remains closely associated with its fans' far right-wing politics and slurs against opposing players. The club faces numerous penalties because of fan behavior, with Beitar fans often chanting personal and religious insults at other players. A group dubbed "La Familia" is viewed by many as setting the tone.

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Haunted by “Jenin, Jenin”
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Merav Michaeli - (Interview) February 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Israeli actor Mohammed Bakri, whose film "Jenin, Jenin" caused a furor about a decade ago, performed at Tel Aviv's Tzavta Theater this week in "The House of Bernarda Alba." The right-wing Im Tirtzu movement demonstrated against the show, and Culture Minister Limor Livnat criticized Tzavta's "judgment" in allowing Bakri to take the stage. It's been a long time since you've been onstage. You haven't been on an Israeli stage since 2003. Did you miss it? Yes. How was it to return to an Israeli audience?

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“Death to Christians” sprayed on Jerusalem monastery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 7, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- A Jerusalem monastery, built on the spot where tradition holds the tree from which Jesus's cross was made, was defaced with graffiti bearing the hallmarks of Jewish extremists, police said on Tuesday. "Death to Christians" was daubed in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament.

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MK Tibi disciplined yet again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moran Azulay - February 7, 2012 - 1:00am

The Knesset's Ethics Committee has on Tuesday banned MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) from delivering one-minute speeches in the Knesset plenum for a period of one month. The decision came after MK Tibi delivered a speech three weeks ago during which he verbally confronted MK Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) who was heading the Knesset discussion. Tibi had already been suspended from the plenum and from participating in committee meetings for a period of one week last month over a limerick he read out during a plenum sitting called "Anasstasia's plumbing was damaged."

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