Arab Americans Need Political Normalization
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Daily Beast (Opinion) - November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Following the recent election, and noting the growing influence of nontraditional power blocs such as Latinos, Arab Americans have again raised the question of how they can become politically empowered. There is only one answer: become politically "normal" Americans.


NEWS: Pres. Abbas says the PLO will present its new UN resolution on Nov.29. Israel says it may cut off transfer of all Palestinian tax and other revenues if the PLO proceeds with the initiative. PLO officials are seeking feedback, especially in Europe, on their draft resolution. Palestinian officials say Pres. Obama placed a personal phone call to Abbas expressing opposition to the initiative, but Abbas said he would go ahead anyway. FM Lieberman meets ambassadors to rally opposition to the Palestinian initiative. Israel's finance minister admits the country has doubled spending on settlement activity in recent years. Israel fires warning shots into Syria. 7 more Palestinians are killed in fighting in a refugee camp outside Damascus. Violence continues to escalate on the Israel-Gaza border. Israel says it is prepared for major military action in Gaza if necessary, as four Palestinians and a youth are killed by Israeli shelling. The PA says it is again beginning to partially pay public employee salaries. Israel announces 500 new settlement housing units in the occupied West Bank. Russian experts will now join French and Swiss investigators looking into the death of the late Pres. Arafat. 1,200 tunnels between Egypt and Gaza are reportedly operating at full capacity, but Egypt may be preparing to destroy many of them. A new breast cancer screening unit is operating in the occupied West Bank. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish says Arab Americans must politically normalize themselves.The New York Times says it would be a huge mistake for Obama not to reengage with Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, but Thomas Friedman says he is otherwise occupied. Amira Hass says it's hard to tell who has a tighter “iron fist” against demonstrators, Hamas or Israel.Gideon Levy says Israel is not an apartheid state, but its occupation is an apartheid system. Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff say Israel will probably avoid a major military operation in Gaza, but may assassinate Hamas leaders. Barry Rubin says Israeli leaders are increasingly realizing they cannot simply rely on the US as a protector. Rachel Shabi looks of a new film about how Israeli courts enforce military rule against Palestinians. The National says Israel's reaction to Palestinian UN initiatives shows "anxiety, ruthlessness and hypocrisy." Eitan Schwartz says diplomacy with the Palestinians is the only way to end Israel's international isolation. Raja Shehadeh recalls his father's1967 peace proposal to Israel. Stephen Rosen asks if J Street is winning a battle over Israel in the Democratic Party. Ami Ayalon says a two-state solution is Israel's only hope. The Media Line interviews Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Shtayyeh.In his final column after 35 years at Haaretz, Akiva Eldar urges Israelis to keep the two-state solution alive.

Before the 1967 lines retire, too
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) November 13, 2012 - 1:00am


On Saturday afternoon light rain greeted the long column of cars crawling through the narrow lanes of the Palestinian village of Jayus in the heart of the northern West Bank. At the head of the column was a battered truck dragging behind it a cart laden with black plastic chairs. Little children gathered around the visitors, proudly showing off their knowledge of Hebrew. Curious onlookers looked out of windows at the strange men and women, most of them gray-haired and a few of them young. On one doorstep a mustached man surrounded by youths waved at the people arriving.


Palestinians Snub President Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Diana Atallah - (Opinion) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am


Ramallah - Palestinians will not succumb to United States President Barak Obama’s request to postpone their United Nations bid and will ask members the UN’s General Assembly to vote on a resolution to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to a non-member state no later than the 29th of this month.


Separation from Palestinians crucial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) November 13, 2012 - 1:00am


Barack Obama's reelection will concern the Israeli public throughout the election campaign and will likely affect the political establishment as well over the next four years. The US elections are the elections of the American citizens, who have America's interests in mind. The American economy has its own problems, and the State of Israel is not a major factor in the US' economic policy.


Is J Street Winning?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Steven J. Rosen - (Opinion) November 9, 2012 - 1:00am


Will there be a tectonic shift in attitudes toward the Middle East among Democrats in the next Congress?


My Father's Peace Proposal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Raja Shehadeh - (Opinion) November 9, 2012 - 1:00am


A few days after the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories began on June 6, 1967, my father, Aziz Shehadeh, submitted a peace proposal to the Israeli government.


Diplomacy with Palestinians Key to Ending Israel’s Isolation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Calcalist
by Eitan Schwartz - (Opinion) November 9, 2012 - 1:00am


Our refusal to have any kind of a diplomatic dialogue is a weight that will drag us underwater, both politically and economically-socially. Seeing worsening international isolation, Israel’s prestige among Diaspora Jews is also declining.  For the last two years, countries across the globe have been grappling with an ongoing economic and social crisis. The importance of having a social alternative that prioritizes the welfare of the citizen is unquestionable. But make no mistake: Social platforms go inextricably hand in hand with a diplomatic horizon. 


Israeli threat a sign of growing anxiety
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am


The Palestinian people should take satisfaction from Israel's latest bit of bluster, because it reveals growing alarm over the world's steadily growing support for Palestine. To be sure, there is nothing pleasing about the threat, made on Saturday by the Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, that Israel will stop collecting taxes on the PA's behalf, and withhold money already collected, if the Palestinians persevere in their effort to take a step, via the United Nations, towards statehood.


The Israeli documentary putting military rule in Palestine on trial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - (Film Review) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am


The Law In These Parts, an Israeli documentary awarded this year's Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury prize, examines how the country created a military-legal system to control the Palestinians in the lands Israel occupied in 1967. And at some point during the film, it becomes clear that it's the judges who are on trial. The documentary, which just screened as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, features forceful archive footage, alongside a line-up of Israeli legal experts, explaining how they made Israel's occupation laws.



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