NEWS: Israel asks Egypt to remove tanks from the Sinai Peninsula in spite of ongoing security concerns. Egyptian officials say all their recent military activity in Sinai was coordinated with Israel. FM Lieberman calls on the international community to help oust Pres. Abbas and hold new Palestinian elections. The Palestinian leadership condemns Lieberman's remarks while PM Netanyahu distances himself from them. Abbas calls for the protection of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Former FM Al-Kidwa has been appointed deputy joint special representative for Syria by the UN. The governor of Ramallah and al-Bireh, Layla Ghanam, says Muslim-Christian unity among Palestinians is indispensable. Israeli pro-settler activists demand Israel demolish Palestinian structures in the occupied territories. A 15-year-old girl, Bashaer Othman, has become mayor of a small Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian women in the occupied territories are taking up competitive car racing. COMMENTARY: Carlo Strenger wonders what Lieberman was trying to achieve with his remarks about Abbas. Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff say when Netanyahu and DM Barak go silent, Lieberman begins to talk. J.J. Goldberg says the Israeli defense community is united against Netanyahu and Barak's ideas about attacking Iran. Zvi Bar'el says hatred of Arabs has become the new test of loyalty among some Jewish Israelis. Shmuel Sandler and Efraim Inbar say Israel's left may be withering but its democracy is flourishing. Linda Gradstein looks at Israel's concerns about Egyptian military deployments in the Sinai Peninsula. Jill Jacobs says the attempted lynching of a Palestinian by Jewish Israeli youth should prompt introspection. The National says the attack was a symptom of society in crisis. Analysts worry it indicates the rise of a “generation of hate” in Israel. Rami Khouri says activists around the world are telling Israel that ethics matter.

Palestinian diplomat appointed as deputy special envoy for Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 22, 2012 - 12:00am


UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Kidwa on Tuesday was appointed as deputy joint special representative for Syria, according to a statement issued by the spokesperson's office of UN secretary-general.


Ethics matter, the world tells Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am


We may be quietly witnessing these days an important change in Middle Eastern history. The calm, rational human emphasis on ethical behavior and the quest for peace and justice could be triumphing over the attempt to spread victimization and hysteria and to overlook violent and criminal behavior.


Alleged Hate Crime in Israel Part of Larger Trend
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Dan Ephron - (Opinion) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am


An alleged hate crime against Palestinians in West Jerusalem this week, which left one young man unconscious and in the hospital, underscores a troubling reality: that Israeli teens are more militantly anti-Arab than their parents and increasingly more prone to rejecting democratic values.


Israeli attack goes to heart of society in crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am


When they were taken into court in handcuffs, the Israeli boys and girls who came close to committing murder tried to hide their faces, shielding themselves from the glare of the cameras. Yet the media coverage has been relentless and has starkly exposed the violence that pervades so much of Israeli society.


'Lynching' in Zion Square
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Jill Jacobs - (Opinion) August 21, 2012 - 12:00am


On August 17, a mob of several dozen Israeli Jewish teenagers — some reports say as many as 50 — assaulted four Palestinian youths in the center of Jerusalem in an attack that the Jerusalem police have labeled an attempted “lynching.” The young people shouted “death to Arabs” as they chased down and beat the Palestinians. One of the four victims remains in critical condition after being resuscitated.


Israel Skittish about Egyptian Tanks in Sinai
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Linda Gradstein - (Analysis) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am


When considering the situation in the Sinai Peninsula, Israelis are caught between a sand dune and the Red Sea. On one hand, they want to encourage the new Egyptian government to re-impose its control over the Sinai, which has become a center for smuggling everything from prostitutes to weapons. On the other hand, they fear that allowing Egypt to violate the historic 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty is “a slippery slope,” as one senior Israeli official put it.


The fading Left and Israel’s flourishing democracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Efraim Inbar, Shmuel Sandler - (Opinion) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am


The Israeli Left, frustrated following its failure to garner support in recent elections, has adopted a new strategy. Even before shrinking in the 2009 elections to only 16 MKs (represented by Labor and Meretz), several leftist figures decided to appeal to external forces “to save Israel from itself” rather than struggle for the hearts and minds of the Israeli people. They appeal to foreigners to pressure Israel into their desired direction by arguing that Israel is losing its democracy.


A good Jew hates Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) August 21, 2012 - 12:00am


The young criminals who mercilessly beat Jamal Julani and his cousins simply because they're Arabs don't live in settlements, haven't occupied any cities and haven't taken control of any terraced hills in the territories. Perhaps they participated in one of those tours the Education Ministry has been sponsoring in Hebron to deepen kids' familiarity with their Jewish heritage and heard something there about an occupation.


Netanyahu and Barak V. Israel's Defense Community
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am


One of the most astonishing features of Israel's current debate over the Iranian threat is the utter failure of the country's two top leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, to win significant support for an Israeli attack on Tehran's nuclear installations.



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