August 26th, 2011

Gaza PM: We will not recognize Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Prime Minister of the Hamas-run Gaza government Ismail Haniyeh restated Friday his party's position that they will not recognize Israel. In an address to worshipers gathered at An-Nour mosque in Gaza City for the last Friday of Ramadan, Haniyeh said "we will not leave any centimeter of Palestine, and we will not recognize Israel and the occupation." The Hamas chief called the revolutions sweeping the Arab world, "the introduction for Palestinian liberation."

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Israel OK's expansion of building in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
August 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel is allowing Jewish settlers to expand a building in Hebron, one of the West Bank's most volatile cities. Palestinians object to Jewish construction in areas they envision for their future state. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office said Friday he gave the building permit to house a kindergarten in Beit Romano, a structure built in the late 1800s by a Jewish merchant. Today it houses a religious seminary. Hagit Ofran of settlement watchdog Peace Now says Barak has become a "tool of the most radical settlers."

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Israeli Strikes in Retaliation Kill 9 Gazans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram - August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Nine Gazans have been killed in Israeli strikes since Wednesday night, with Israel’s southern communities withstanding 20 rockets from Gaza over the same 24-hour period. Warning sirens repeatedly sent Israelis across the south into bomb shelters, but most of the rockets landed in empty fields near the Israeli cities of Ofakim, Ashkelon and Beersheba. However, a 9-month-old baby was slightly hurt in Ashkelon when a car was hit with shrapnel.

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August 25th

NEWS: A cease-fire between Israel and Gaza-based militants is tested by an exchange of fire. Five Palestinians die in Israeli bombing attacks on Gaza. Palestinians are being injured by rockets fired towards Israel from Gaza. The UN expresses “deep concern” about the violence. Glenn Beck hosts a rally in the old city of occupied East Jerusalem. A report suggesting that Israel may be unprepared for developments in September is being kept secret. Mysteries abound about a Palestinian engineer arrested by Israel. Ramadan discounts fuel commerce in Hebron's old city. COMMENTARY: Abdullah Abu Eid looks at the history of Palestine and statehood. Ha'aretz says the far right in Israel is aligning itself with fanatical Christian “lunatics.” Yossi Melman says Israel is unlikely to enjoy warm relations with the new Libyan government. Larry Derfner says we are experiencing the calm before the storm. Yossi Alpher says the recent violence shows the dangers and opportunities for Israel from Arab revolutions. Bilal Hassen says PM Netanyahu is a politician who sees only what he wants. Michael Bröning says whatever happens at the UN, Israel and the Palestinians need to prepare for the day after. Salman Masalha says a wise Israeli government would embrace Palestinian statehood in its own interests. Daniel Levy looks at protests in Israel.

Can Tahrir Square Come to Tel Aviv?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

“The Corner of Rothschild and Tahrir,” reads one of the posters at the site where Israel’s summer of social protests began—on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, which has become the movement’s tent-city HQ. Few of the protest leaders would flinch at acknowledging the inspiration they drew from the Arab Awakening, but it is a new, challenging and often uncomfortable feeling for many Jewish Israelis to consider the surrounding Arab world as providing a spark worth emulating.

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Right of return revisited
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Salman Masalha - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

A political tsunami is expected in September, the politicians keep warning us. Obviously the recognition of Palestinian statehood, if adopted, is expected to yank the rug from under the feet of the refugees who were raised on the dream of returning to the fig tree, the spring and the village that no longer exist.

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On a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Broning - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Israelis and Palestinians are preparing for a showdown at the United Nations in September, when the Palestinian leadership will ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the borders that existed before the Six Day War in 1967 (when Israel seized control of Jordanian-occupied territory). The details of the bid remain unclear, and the effort entails serious risks. But a sober assessment of what might follow a UN endorsement of Palestine’s borders allows for some cautious optimism.

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A Politician who sees only what he wants to see
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Bilal Hassen - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu is an example of a politician who sees only what he wants to see. Indeed, this has been a characteristic of many Israeli leaders, including Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barack. Those two conducted negotiations with the Palestinians and never imagined a situation other than the Palestinian official [sitting in front of them] agreeing to their views and the Israeli plan.

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Terror Attacks Reveal Danger and Opportunity of Arab Revolution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

The terrorist attack launched from Egyptian Sinai, just north of Eilat, on August 18, brought Israel into a headlong collision with the problematic fruits of the Egyptian revolution.

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Rattling the Cage: Earthquake weather
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

There’s a feeling of instability in the atmosphere, of built-up pressure hanging motionless. The air is hazy, the sky is pale and miasmic. Earthquake weather, it’s called. That’s the atmosphere in this country, geopolitically speaking. And while no one can predict an earthquake, I don’t know of any aware, realistic person who would predict that the relative calm we’ve known for nearly three years, since Operation Cast Lead, is going to last very much longer. A few months, maybe a year. More than that is hard to imagine.

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