July 5th

The blockade is the problem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) July 4, 2011 - 12:00am All signs indicate that the government of Israel has taken steps to receive the present Gaza flotilla in a manner much more systematic than last year's actions. Instead of relying entirely on the use of force, diplomatic measures were taken this time, and friendly states, first and foremost Greece, mobilized to help Israel and hampered the flotilla's departure. This diplomatic action proved that there are alternatives less violent than Israel's predilection for discharging armed soldiers to suppress civilian protests. » Read more

Siege of Gaza has become a moral blockade of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is indeed connected to the centers of power in the world. The predictions of a tsunami at present seem to be exaggerated, but nevertheless, before the victory ball, it is worth remembering - the Israeli occupation is the longest military occupation of modern times. » Read more

Fatah 'tiptoeing round accord with Hamas' in run-up to statehood bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am After signing a reconciliation accord two months ago but agreeing on little since, the widely hailed rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah now resembles little more than a shaky truce. The festering differences between the two Palestinian political factions have been manifested publicly in bickering over whether to appoint Salaam Fayyad as prime minister in the yet-to-be-formed interim government of technocrats. » Read more

Will the One-State Solution Become the Only Solution? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Eric Alterman - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am Tony Judt’s deliberately provocative 2003 New York Review of Books essay, “Israel: the Alternative,” is a lesson in the limits of American Jewry’s allowable discourse when it comes to Israel. Writing explicitly in the tradition of thought experiment, rather than policy proposal, about what he called an “alternative future,” Judt suggests that Jews and Arabs alike might be better off as citizens of a secular democratic state that encompassed both Israel and Palestine, in which all citizens had equal rights regardless of religion or national origin. » Read more

Israel Determined to Keep Pressure on Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am As it maintains its isolation of the Hamas rulers, Israel has been working to boost the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Gaza Strip by gradually supporting its projects there. “I believe our current policy to work with international organizations and support the Palestinian Authority’s projects in Gaza, plus our efforts to weaken Hamas, are the way to bring about the real change in Gaza,” said Maj.-Gen. Eitan Dangot, Israel’s government coordinator for activities in the West Bank and Gaza. But, he stressed: We have no desire to ever return to the Gaza Strip.” » Read more

US envoy in Israel to Rivlin: Obama will visit Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post July 5, 2011 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama will visit Israel, US ambassador to Israel James B. Cunningham told Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday. "The president wants to visit and he will do so," Cunningham told Rivlin. Though he did not specify a date for the visit, Cunningham said it was on Obama's agenda. Rivlin told Cunningham that "Israelis sense that the atmosphere in the White House has changed for the worse. The feeling is that Obama views Israel as a burden more than as a strategic asset." » Read more

2 killed in IDF strike on terror cell ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hanan Greenberg - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The Israel Air Force targeted a terror cell in Gaza Tuesday, after it was identified as attempting to fire projectiles at Israel. The pilots reported hitting their mark. A Palestinian medical source said two people were killed and one wounded in the strike, which took place east of the Maghazi refugee camp. The sources said the three were hit while approaching the security fence in central Gaza; adding that the bodies were taken to the Gaza hospital. It is still unclear which militant organization the three were associated with. » Read more

Alarming rise in clashes between settlers and Palestinians in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am The IDF is alarmed by the increase in clashes in the West Bank between Palestinian villagers and settlers in nearby outposts and by the growing harassment of senior army officers and civil servants by right-wing extremists. The commanders are concerned that the situation may deteriorate even further with the diplomatic crisis looming in September when Palestinians make their bid for UN recognition. » Read more

Israel, Palestinians hope to avoid fall violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 3, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli and Palestinian security forces are already taking precautions to avoid an outbreak of violence after an expected U.N. vote for Palestinian independence in September, officials on both sides said Sunday, reflecting shared concerns about the possibility of renewed fighting this fall. For now, Israeli and Palestinian officials said they do not want — or expect — armed hostilities to resume. But both sides fear that one small incident could quickly spin out of control. » Read more

Conspiracy to block flotilla ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Linda S. Heard - (Opinion) July 5, 2011 - 12:00am It never ceases to astonish how a sliver of a country that has been illegally occupying another people's land for 44 years succeeds in leading the international community by the nose. The efforts by several countries to block the Freedom Flotilla II from setting sail to Gaza for the purpose of breaking the Israeli blockade is a shameful example of governments' machinations. » Read more