Why Rahm Emanuel is a lightning rod in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 26, 2010 - 12:00am In a move seen in Israel as a bid to smooth ties after recent sharp differences over Israeli building in East Jerusalem, Rahm Emanuel paid a rare visit as White House chief of staff to Israel, delivering in person an invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with President Barack Obama next week. » Read more

Palestinians complain of 'tree massacre' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am The Israel Defense Forces and Civil Administration uprooted 500 Palestinian trees in the village of Nahlin in the Gush Etzion region. The Palestinians sarcastically said this must be part of the easements the IDF announced hours earlier, but the Civil Administration said an evacuation order was issued to the Palestinians over two months ago for illegally trespassing on the land. » Read more

'PA boycott is a declaration of war' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority has "declared war" on the Israeli economy by boycotting settlement goods, charged Knesset speaker Ruby Rivlin (Likud) during a solidarity visit he made Thursday morning to the Barkan Industrial Park in Samaria. The West Bank park, located right off Route 5, is home to 143 factories. Half of its 5,000 workers are Palestinian. Rivlin spoke on the same day that the PA inaugurated its house-to-house campaign, in which 3,000 volunteers are knocking on doors and explaining the significance of the boycott. » Read more

What’s Behind White House Strategy To Woo U.S. Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am Washington — As the Obama administration’s charm offensive toward the Jewish community enters its second month, a clearer picture is emerging of the White House’s strategy for recouping lost ground with American Jews on Israel. First and foremost, the administration is touting its strengthening of military cooperation and security ties with Israel, even as public clashes recede, for now, over expanding Israeli-Jewish settlements in predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. » Read more

Israel's Arab-Jewish conflict played out on a soccer field ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Lisa Rosen - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am Any soccer fanatic gearing up for the World Cup will tell you that national pride is on the line with every game. When that pride is caught up in geopolitics, keeping score can get even more complicated. The documentary "After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United" looks at Bnei Sakhnin, a soccer team from an Arab city in Israel that won that country's national cup in 2004. » Read more

The dig dividing Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ahdaf Soueif - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am If you walk out of Jerusalem Old City through its south-eastern gate and on to the perimeter road encircling it, you will most likely see several large coaches with elderly western tourists climbing out of them. You will see them stand at the low wall at the edge of the road and peer down into the lush valley with its pretty houses that nudge and lean against each other. The tourists may notice the woman marking exercise books on her sunny terrace, they may smile to see the bright-haired four-year-old riding her tricycle round the yard. » Read more

White House to Host Mideast Leaders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 27, 2010 - 12:00am President Obama has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to the White House for separate meetings, White House officials said Wednesday. The meetings with Mr. Obama will be the first for the Middle Eastern leaders since the start of the indirect peace talks that began last month, with the president’s special envoy, George J. Mitchell, mediating between the parties. » Read more

Elections in Palestine, again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Daoud Kuttab - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority is going ahead with plans to hold municipal elections on July 17. The elections are taking place despite the fact that the de facto government in Gaza has refused to accommodate them in areas under its control. Hamas has also said that it is calling on its supporters in the West Bank not to participate in the coming elections. The movement, which has yet to agree to the Egypt-sponsored reconciliation plan, says that elections of any kind (municipal, parliamentary or presidential) should only take place after Palestinians are unified. » Read more

Rattling the Cage: Living it up in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am Don’t you just wish you lived in Gaza? Don’t you just envy those people who get to raise their kids amid such abundance? Look at all the stuff they’ve got: “Truckloads of meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, milk powder, baby food, wheat and other staples arrive in Gaza on a daily basis,” said the Foreign Ministry in advance of the “Freedom Flotilla,” due to either reach Gaza or get intercepted by the navy today. » Read more