Report From the Two-State Frontlines
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Jewish Daily Forward - July 20, 2012 - 12:00am

UPDATE, 12:38 PM The session ended with summaries by the three panelists of where they see things heading.


NEWS: The potential downfall of the Syrian regime is making Israel rethink its regional strategies. The PA expresses concern about Palestinians caught up in violence in Syria. Israel is concerned about Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons. Romney's visit to Israel is overshadowed by unrest in Syria. Israel releases a senior Hamas politician. Hamas says Pres. Morsy has promised to help lift the blockade of Gaza. Fatah says reconciliation talks with Hamas are on hold until the Palestinian election commission is allowed to resume work in Gaza. Israel says it will seek retribution “near and far” for the Bulgaria terrorist attack, which it blames on Iran. Experts say this is more likely to be in the form of covert action. Thousands of Palestinians are going to Jerusalem to pray on the first day of Ramadan. The American Jewish Committee breaks with mainstream Jewish consensus by siding with some key findings of the Levy Committee Report. Israeli settlers use summer camps to teach Jewish Israeli children to become settlers. Palestinian athletes are preparing to participate in the upcoming Olympics. Palestinian officials deny that American officials threatened a broad cutoff of aid if Palestinians resume efforts for greater recognition at the UN. COMMENTARY: Adam Gonn says PM Netanyahu is unfazed by the collapse of his super-coalition. Amos Harel says Israel is sure of Iranian responsibility for the Bulgaria attack. Carlo Strenger says “Zionism 2012” no longer believes in democracy, Jewish majorities or any of the ideas of old-fashioned Zionism. Rina Bassit says Israel is increasingly concerned about terrorism emanating from Africa. Nir Baram says the Israeli left needs to be much more straightforward about what's wrong with the occupation. Hannah Weisfeld says if the Levy Committee Report's findings are accepted by the Israeli government, the settlers will be short-term winners but Israel will be a long-term loser.

The Levy Committee: Who Are the Real Winners?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Hannah Weisfeld - (Blog) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am


Last week the Levy Committee, set up by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine the legal status of outposts in the West Bank, announced its findings. According to the committee the IV Geneva Convention does not apply to the West Bank and, therefore, Israel cannot be deemed to be occupying this piece of land. On that basis the 'illegal outposts' in the West Bank, built on what Israel recognizes as state land, should be made legal, and zoning policies should be amended to make it easier for Jews to build in this area.


The Israeli left's zombie argument
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Baram - (Opinion) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am


One of the primary concerns arguments of the Zionist left, from the time of Yitzhak Rabin's second government and until very recently, was, "What the world will think of us?" The argument went like this: In the absence of peace with the Palestinians, or at the very least of negotiations pretending to be serious, Israel will become a pariah state. Its economy will take a serious beating, and the aspiration of most Israelis to deny that they are part of the geographic region in which they live, and to see their country as part of the Western world, will turn out to be illusory.


Is Mideast terrorism drifting to Africa?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Rina Bassist - (Analysis) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am


Two weeks ago, Kenyan police arrested two people suspected of planning a terror attack against Israeli and American targets. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet declared immediately that the arrest proved Iran’s involvement once again in international terrorism. At the same time, Kenyan media reported that Israeli detectives had arrived in Nairobi to conduct meetings with different security bodies. Israeli officials have refused to comment so far.


Zionism 2012: A Guide for the Perplexed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) July 18, 2012 - 12:00am


Last week I opened the papers and finally had reason to sigh in relief. A panel headed by retired Supreme Court justice Edmond Levy has determined that Israel is not an occupying power. The bothersome international law that insists that Israel’s colonization of the West Bank is illegal simply doesn’t apply: All settlements are legal!


Palestinians deny U.S. aid threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Allison Good - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am


The Palestine Liberation Organization has denied recent reports that the White House issued a notice threatening to cut all aid to the Palestinian Authority if it launches a renewed drive for recognition at the United Nations. "This is absolutely not true," PLO representative to Washington Maen Rashid Areikat told The Cable this week. "We do not know what they are saying. It's unfounded."


Israel has no doubt about who is behind the deadly attack in Bulgaria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) July 19, 2012 - 12:00am


The government didn't hesitate to point a finger on Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently supported by detailed intelligence, immediately blamed Iran for the terror attack on Israelis in Bulgaria that killed seven people. If this is so, the man behind the attack in Burgas would be Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, who operates the Guards' overseas operations. Hezbollah assists Quds, but the Lebanese group has been less effective since Imad Mughniyeh's assassination in 2008.


Palestinian Olympic participation brings conflict to the fore
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ben Sales - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am


A portrait of the two most prominent Palestinian leaders -- current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and former President Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004 -- hangs in the conference room of the Palestinian Olympic Committee headquarters.


Israeli PM unfazed by Kadima walkout of government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am


It was labeled the "super coalition" which would give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a solid majority in the Knesset (parliament) to deal with challenges facing the nation. However, on Tuesday, Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz decided to leave the government he had joined only 72 days earlier, after negotiations over a new draft law fell apart. The day after Kadima joined the government in May, the Knesset was scheduled to vote on a law calling for elections in September, but after Kadima joined the law was scrapped.



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