NEWS: The murder of a respected West bank governor suggests lawlessness may be returning to towns like Jenin. Palestinians are hoping Egypt will help resolve the crisis over hunger striking prisoners. UNSG Ban says Israel should either charge prisoners or release them. Settlers are creating patrols in the West Bank, looking for Palestinian homes for Israel to demolish. The oldest Palestinian refugee camps run by the UN are slated for upgrades. The CEO of a construction company says settlers in "Ulpana" knew they were building on privately owned Palestinian land. A new Hamas force is reportedly thwarting rocket attacks against Israel. Palestine is attempting to participate in the upcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Conference as a state. A US congressional committee seeks to tighten controls on aid to the Palestinians and Egypt. Israel's separation barrier threatens an ancient way of life in West Bank villages. The Palestinian national air carrier, grounded since 2005, has resumed operations with flights between Egypt’s El-Arish and Amman. COMMENTARY: Fareed Zakaria says under PM Netanyahu Israel is now stronger than ever, but questions whether he can use his power for anything other than own survival in office. Gideon Levy says Israel's new coalition leaders are delegitimizing the country. The Boston Globe says the new government offers new hope for peace. Israel Harel predicts that the new coalition will mean that Likud's ideology shifts towards the center. Harriet Sherwood says Netanyahu outmaneuvered the militant pro-settler right in his own party. J.J. Goldberg says Kadima leader Mofaz got more out of the deal than Netanyahu. The Daily Star says Israel's unity government shows Palestinians also must reunify. Mya Guarnieri says African refugees and migrants have joined Palestinians as the most marginalized people in Israeli society. David Makovsky looks at how the new coalition might affect various Israeli policies. Yezid Sayigh says Hamas is struggling to turn the Arab uprisings into political gains.

Hamas Looks to the Future: With Gains Come Dilemmas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
by Yezid Sayigh - (Analysis) March 8, 2012 - 1:00am

Since the start of 2012, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyya, has traveled to Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Qatar, Bahrain, and Iran. Six years after Hamas achieved victory at the Palestinian ballot box, it has received genuine regional recognition. 

»

Let's Make a Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Having spent the better part of two decades traveling the negotiator's highway, I've often thought about why some deals get made along the way and others don't. Granted, I've labored almost exclusively in the Middle East coal mines -- an often bizarre, idiosyncratic, and exceptionally dysfunctional place where deals rarely, if ever, get done.

»

Changes in Israeli Policy after the Netanyahu-Mofaz Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
by David Makovsky - (Analysis) May 9, 2012 - 12:00am

In a stunning political shift, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Shaul Mofaz, the newly elected head of the leading opposition party Kadima, forged a national unity government in Israel late Monday night. The move adds 28 Kadima parliamentarians to the ruling coalition, increasing the current government's tally to 94 of the Knesset's 120 seats, the most ever. Mofaz will become vice prime minister, a member of the inner security cabinet, and a minister-without-portfolio. Various portfolios will be given to other Kadima members.

»

Refugees join Palestinians as the reviled 'other' in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Mya Guarnieri - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

On Tuesday, Israelis woke up to the surprising news that the early elections announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday had been cancelled. In a deal made while the country was asleep, Mr Netanyahu forged a new coalition with the centre-right party Kadima. Now the Knesset will march in lockstep behind the prime minister, meaning little will change. Not that elections would have made much of a difference, anyway - the popular Mr Netanyahu had been expected to win by a landslide.

»

Likud's ideology will now move toward the center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Israel Harel - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

To attack Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t need Shaul Mofaz. Such a strike, if it is ever carried out ‏(and it seems it won’t be necessary‏), will enjoy consensus support even without the Kadima chairman.

»

Divided Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu’s abandonment of his early election and the revelation of a new coalition government have once again highlighted the need for the various Palestinian factions to form a cohesive front, and soon.

»

Real Winner in Israel Deal? Not Bibi.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

There are two ways to read the grand coalition deal that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cooked up with Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz on May 8. One is that the wily Netanyahu has once again outwitted his rivals, bought another year as grandmaster of Israeli politics, neutralized the plodding Mofaz and gained almost wall-to-wall backing if he attacks Iran. Mofaz, in this reading, appended his 28-member Knesset caucus to the ruling Likud’s 27 in order to save his neck from a September 4 snap election, which would have cut Kadima’s strength by nearly two-thirds.

»

How a rattled Netanyahu outflanked Likud's militant settler faction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - (Analysis) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Binyamin Netanyahu's stunning political coup this week, calling off elections and forming a unity government, was partly a response to increasingly strident demands of rightwing settlers in the West Bank coming from within his own party.

»

Surprise coalition in Israel raises hopes for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
(Editorial) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The surprise agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shaul Mofaz, leader of the Kadima party, offers some glimmer of hope for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, because a government that includes Mofaz’s centrist party is more likely to seek a peace deal than a government involving only the Israeli right. But the greater consequence may unfold over time, as Netanyahu and Mofaz begin to address a little-discussed problem — the unstable nature of Israeli politics.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017