November 1st, 2012

Israeli settlers, police clash amid West Bank outpost demolition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 1, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Several dozen Israeli settlers of a northern West Bank settlement scuffled with police and soldiers during an operation to raze several illegal structures overnight. "Security forces evacuated three illegal buildings," an army source told Xinhua Thursday, in the early morning operation in hilltop Yitzhar's "Haseruga" outpost -- built six months ago without municipal approval.

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Israeli ex-leaders discussing campaign to defeat Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - October 31, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Former leaders Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni announced on Wednesday they were discussing a partnership that could shake up Israeli politics and lead to a joint campaign to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a January election. Olmert, a centrist, was forced to quit as prime minister in 2008 over corruption charges of which he was largely acquitted. Were he to make a comeback, he is seen as possibly the most likely candidate to beat Netanyahu, the right-wing Likud party leader, who polls now predict will win re-election.

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Syrian rebels arm Palestinians against Assad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mariam Karouny - October 31, 2012 - 12:00am

BEIRUT, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Wednesday they had begun arming sympathetic Palestinians to fight a pro-Assad faction in a Palestinian enclave in Damascus - a move which could fuel spiralling intra-Palestinian violence. Two rebel commanders told Reuters they expected their Palestinian allies to fight the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) which dominates the Yarmouk enclave - a one-time refugee camp turned sprawl of apartment blocks which is run by the Palestinians themselves.

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The forgotten refugees of Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Siraj Davis, Yasmin Omar Lulu - (Analysis) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

The Gaza camp in Jordan, near the northwestern historical ruins of Jerrash where the Greco Roman Empire once flourished, was set up by the UN as an em

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The Next US Administration and Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) October 31, 2012 - 12:00am

Whoever wins the election, President Barack Obama or his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, will face the same fundamental problem regarding Palestine.

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Palestinians campaign for UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - November 1, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank —Palestinians are launching a last-minute diplomatic offensive to a series of European countries to vote in favor of their partial statehood bid at the United Nations, a senior official said Wednesday. Palestinian envoys were dispatched to Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Finland this week, hoping to persuade those countries to vote in favor of giving Palestinians non-member observer status at the U.N. Some of the countries are opposed, and others are undecided.

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East Jerusalem streets get names, easing confusion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Tia Goldenberg - November 1, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM —When he drives around east Jerusalem, taxi driver Samer al-Risheq doesn't use GPS and tucks away his maps. In many parts on this side of the city, those tools are useless: The streets have no names. It's a sign of overall neglect. Now Jerusalem's municipality is trying to at least solve the part that involves signs.

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October 31st

Is Israel's Nuclear Ambiguity Worth Preserving?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Adam Raz - October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Since the 1960s, Israel has maintained a "nuclear ambiguity policy" under which it will not be the first nation to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East. This policy, according to which Israel refrains from declaring what it does and doesn't have is a "diplomatic fiction," and it isn't for nothing that it was deemed by some to deserve the Israel Defense Prize. It is a "fiction" since it is no secret that, according to foreign sources, Israel is a nuclear state, as even a child can discover reading Wikipedia.

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NEWS: Israeli officials say Iran is pulling back from military aspects of its nuclear program. Palestinians are pressing forward with a renewed effort at greater recognition at the UN. French investigators say they will exhume the body of the late Pres. Arafat next month. PM Netanyahu is in France, pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran. Syrian rebels attack Palestinian factions aligned with Pres. Assad. Sudan dismisses Israeli allegations about arms shipments. Analysts say the Israeli right is uniting while the center and left remain in disarray. Peace Now says two new “unauthorized” outposts have been established by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Israel announces 180 new settlement housing units in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces arrest 24 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu claims Arabs would not be upset about an Israeli attack against Iran. A long-serving PLO official says a Palestinian confederation with Jordan might be an option. The Church of Scotland owns a luxury hotel in the Galilee. Jewish-American groups are increasingly discussing how to deal with the new Egyptian government. Knesset Speaker Rivlin says the reelection of Pres. Obama would be bad for the settlement project. COMMENTARY: Amira Hass says Israel cannot forever rely on military prowess for its future and security. Zvi Bar'el says Israel is starting to resemble Turkey, a democratic system in effect ruled by a single party. Alan Dershowitz says he thinks Obama deserves to be reelected. The Daily Star says Arab states talk about Palestine, while Israel acts. Danny Rubinstein says the Palestinian economy is teetering on the brink of collapse. Adam Raz says it might be time for Israel to abandon its policy of nuclear ambiguity. Michael Koplow says the Netanyahu-Lieberman joint list could be a disaster for both of them.

Bibi's Mistake
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Michael Koplow - (Opinion) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

In an announcement last Thursday that shocked the Israeli political establishment, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated their intention to merge Netanyahu's Likud Party with Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu. Despite the contention made by some -- notably Haaretz editor Aluf Benn -- that this move creates a war cabinet that will make it easier for Israel to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, it's more likely the two men had domestic politics at the forefront of their minds.

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