NEWS: Hamas and Fatah agree to hold elections as a prelude to national reunification. An Israeli human rights group has released video of Israeli settlers shooting rubber bullets at unarmed Palestinians while Israeli soldiers stand by impassively. An Israeli military occupation court convicts a leader of Palestinian protest movements. Israeli officials react with outrage at demands by South Africa and other states that settlement goods be clearly labeled as distinct from those produced in Israel itself. Palestinians and right-wing Israelis clash in occupied East Jerusalem. The settlement outposts issue is the most immediate test of the new Israeli coalition. A verdict will be reached in August on the Rachel Corrie civil liability case. Haifa University's faculty demands the return of Arabic to the school's logo. PM Netanyahu warns that Israel could be “overrun” by African migrant “infiltrators.” The family of a Hamas operative assassinated in Dubai is trying to block an Israeli film about the murder. Austria's defense minister describes FM Lieberman as “unbearable.” Former Israeli PM Olmert says Jerusalem must be partitioned for peace. COMMENTARY: Ilan Bloch looks at the complexities of partitioning or sharing Jerusalem from a Jewish Israeli point of view. Liat Collins says the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike reveals many complexities on all sides. Nicola Nasser says Palestinians, and everyone else, should recognize that the traditional peace process is a sham. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid says Israel has finally decided that the fall of the Assad regime in Syria is in its interests. Emily Hauser says it's vital that Israelis and Palestinians get to know each other. Yossi Alpher says it's too early to tell if a new Israeli coalition will have any effect on Middle East peacemaking. Ghassan Khatib says the new Israeli government augurs little change for Palestinians. Walter Pincus asks why the United States would be funneling several packages of large amounts of new defense spending to Israel at a time of American budget crisis.

Is U.S. going above and beyond for Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Walter Pincus - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am


Should the United States put solving Israel’s budget problems ahead of its own? When it comes to defense spending, it appears that the United States already is.


Little change for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am


The formation of a new Israeli government coalition that includes the Kadima party was a dramatic development in Israeli politics and took many politicians and observers by surprise. It was not, however, very exciting for Palestinians. Despite their increasingly difficult conditions, and despite their interest in any change that might revive the comatose peace process with Israel, Palestinians could not find any reason to feel hope after this shift.


Leave the page blank?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am


My initial inclination in composing this article about the new, expanded governing coalition in Israel and the peace process was to leave the page blank. It is painfully obvious that there will be no serious peace process between this government and the Palestine Liberation Organization.


Meet The Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) May 18, 2012 - 12:00am


Many Israeli and American Jews hold strong opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We study it, attend conferences, and are often told to expect only violence from the Palestinian side—yet there’s one thing many of us have never done: Met a Palestinian.


Israel's turn against the Assad regime
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) May 18, 2012 - 12:00am


It is not natural for the Israeli political and military establishment just to watch the events and violence taking place along its borders. During the past one year, the Israeli government did not spell out any stand on the Syrian revolution, although it was one of the dangerous incidents facing Israel since 1973 War.


Peacemaking without mediators
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Nicola Nasser - (Opinion) May 19, 2012 - 12:00am


A Surplus of mediators have been around all the time, including the heavy weight Quartet of the UN, US, EU and Russia, as well as heaps of terms of reference of UNSC resolutions, bilateral signed accords and “road maps,” in addition to marathon bilateral talks that have left no stone unearthed, international as well as regional conferences were never on demand to facilitate the “peace process,” which has been lavishly financed to keep moving.


My Word: Hunger-striking prisoners’ dilemma
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Liat Collins - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am


The movie Midnight Express has a lot to answer for. The title became a synonym for hellhole jails with sadistic guards, brutal cellmates and mental torture. It’s probably still the image that springs to mind when talking about prisons anywhere in the Middle East. Israeli penitentiaries are certainly no picnic, but neither are they a Midnight Express-like nightmare.


Jerusalem as the eternal capital
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ilan Bloch - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am


As we mark the 45th anniversary of the Israeli conquest of east Jerusalem on the third day of the Six Day War, it is timely that we explore the concept of Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.


Ex-PM: Give up on trying to unify Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
May 20, 2012 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM -- Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged Israeli leaders Sunday to relinquish the idea of a unified Jerusalem if they truly want peace, contending in interviews that years of government neglect have kept the Jewish and Arab sectors irreparably divided.



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