Pres. Peres says the US should engage Hamas on peace. Israel bombs 4 sites in Gaza. Israel offers to let EU officials visit Gaza. On the fourth anniversary of the capture of Gilad Shalit, rights groups criticize Hamas' treatment of Israeli prisoners. Israeli soldiers often kill Palestinians with impunity. Aluf Benn describes the four stages of US-Israel policy disputes. Yitzhak Laor says the spirit of Kahane is alive in Israel's universities. Gideon Levy asks when the Israelis will hold PM Netanyahu to account for his policies. Israelis accuse Palestinians of “stealing” water in the occupied West Bank. Israel plans to increase trucks into Gaza by 200%. Ray Hanania praises the first planned Palestinian city in the West Bank. Antony Lerman says a lively debate has emerged about the nature of Israeli society. The Economist says Hamas is gaining ground following the flotilla debacle, and the US calls further flotillas irresponsible. Patrick Seale says that, alarmed by regional developments, Israel may be reconsidering peace with Syria.

Palestinians : look forward, not backward
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ray Hanania - June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


Qatar is unlike many of the other Arab countries that support the Palestinians. Instead of donating lip-service and writing checks to be used in conflict, it has invested heavily in a project with a Palestinian construction company to build a new city in the West Bank called Rawabi. The Palestinians should be focused on doing more of this; building Palestine, and switching gears from the confrontation-style politics of Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran and a lot of other losers who love to exploit Palestinian suffering. Even Turkey might consider putting a cork in its rhetoric.


Israel marks fourth anniversary Gilad Shalit capture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


Gilad Shalit, 23, has been held in Gaza by Hamas militants who are demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his release. Thousands are expected to rally outside the military headquarters in Tel Aviv calling for his release. His parents plan to stage an 11-day cross-country march starting on Sunday. Frustrated with failed attempts to free their son, Sgt Shalit's parents are beginning the long walk from their home in northern Israel to the prime minister's home in Jerusalem. The say they will remain camped there until they see their son again.


IDF will boost trucks to Gaza by 200%
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


The IDF plans to increase the number of truckloads into Gaza by over 200 percent; a move which will bring it close to pre-blockade levels, according to the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories. Israeli and Palestinian activists have warned that evaluating Israel’s closure policy simply by counting the number of truckloads is misleading. What is significant is the type of goods and their route of passage; an issue, which makes the difference between a meaningful and meaningless increase, they have said.


The debate within the Jewish state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Antony Lerman - June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


Israel may show all the signs of being a typical westernised, post-ideological society. But in response to growing international pressure over recent years and with the country's centre of political gravity drifting to the far right, Zionist ideology appears to be playing an increasingly important role in decision-making and in determining the face that Israel presents to the world. But does this represent an irreversible trend?


Palestinians stealing water in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shmulik Grossman - June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


The Israel Defense Forces recently thwarted an attempt made by Palestinians to illegally connect to the Mekorot Israel National Water infrastructure in order to siphon off water from it. Soldiers took note o four people trying to connect to the pipes south of Hebron. When the four noticed they had been discovered, they fled the scene and the soldiers followed after them. The soldiers managed to apprehend two of the four men, while the others got away.


The public is dumb and therefore the public pays
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


At least one Israeli - other than Shalom Hanoch whose signature is affixed to the title of this article (taken from his song "Waiting for the Messiah" ) - has reached the conclusion that Israeli public opinion is dumb. That person is the prime minister, and he is correct.


Hamas is making ground again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


AFTER three years of campaigning for Israel to lift the siege of Gaza, some of the Islamists ruling the territory are having second thoughts. This week the agriculture minister for Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, was putting the finishing touches to a ten-year plan to wean it off dependence on Israel and make it self-sufficient in food. Israel’s ban on fertilisers had helped his plan to replace fertiliser with compost made from sewage that otherwise spills into the sea, and turn Gaza into a big organic farm.


Yes, Kahane lives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


On July 29, 1986, extreme right-wing MK Meir Kahane submitted another no-confidence proposal: "The government's refusal to discuss the disintegration of Zionist ideology, which endangers the existence of the Jewish state." According to Kahane: "Since the beginning of political Zionism, the movement's thinkers have ignored and avoided the terrible and frightening truth of the basic contradiction between Zionism and enlightened Western democracy, to which all the Zionist leaders were indentured servants.


The four stages of Israeli policy: crisis, pressure, cave-in and agreement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) June 25, 2010 - 12:00am


When the security cabinet decided to ease the civilian blockade on the Gaza Strip this week, the process followed the precise modus operandi Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken with regard to leading Israel's foreign and defense policy this term. Each such incident has had four stages: crisis, pressure, cave-in and agreement.



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