A new Palestinian Intifada? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Wendy Pearlman - October 10, 2011 - 12:00am Mahmoud Abbas captured the world's attention with his controversial bid for U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood. As the world awaits the outcome of that diplomatic contest, one of the key wild cards is the potential for mass nonviolent protest in the Palestinian territories. Some fear the failure of the bid will spark massive unrest and even the collapse of the Palestinian Authority. Others hope that Palestinians will rally en masse behind Abu Mazen's strategy, using non-violent protest on the ground to supplement official Palestinian pressure on Israel at the United Nations. » Read more

Israel and those ‘real democratic rights’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Lawrence Davidson - (Opinion) October 10, 2011 - 12:00am In his speech to US Congress on May 24, 2011 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that “Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel's Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights.” This is, of course, a variation on the oft-cited claim that Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Leaving aside places like Lebanon and now potentially Tunisia and Egypt, one can ask just how “real” are these democratic rights Netanyahu claims for Israel's Arabs? Here is some recent evidence that speaks to this question. » Read more

What's Wrong With American Jews Taking Partisan Sides in Israel? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jay Michaelson - October 11, 2011 - 12:00am That there has been a realignment of American Jewish attitudes toward Israel is by now apparent and heavily commented on. In some quarters, this has been seen as an earth-shattering, Judaism-betraying paroxysm of collective self-hatred. Yet in fact it is entirely logical. » Read more

No simple solutions for Jerusalem, PBS correspondent Ray Suarez tells Philadelphia forum ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Episcopal News Service by Mary Frances Schjonberg - (Opinion) October 11, 2011 - 12:00am Just inside the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is the Stone of Anointing on which tradition says Jesus was prepared for burial. Watching pilgrims from all over the world fall to their knees to kiss the stone "makes you reconsider what it all means to them to you, to the people who live there, to the people who live far away," according to Public Broadcasting Service Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez. » Read more

"End the blame game" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Chronicle by Martin Bright - (Interview) October 11, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli Opposition leader Tzipi Livni was shocked that the anti-Israel campaigners on campus in Britain had intensified their campaign to lobby for a "one-state solution" to the conflict. Speaking to the JC during her brief visit to the UK last week she said: "What surprised me was not that there are those who are delegitimising Israel. It's not that people are pushing Israel to make decisions on annexation as they call it. It surprised me that they are calling for one state, a bi-national state. This is a change." » Read more

Why Cutting U.S. Aid to Abbas Could Hurt Israel More Than it Hurts Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tony Karon - (Opinion) October 11, 2011 - 12:00am "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you" may be a cliche once tossed out by parents about to spank their children, but it could well prove to be the case if Congress proceeds with plans to punish the Palestinians for seeking U.N. recognition by cutting off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). » Read more

Gaza represents the ultimate failure of politics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by David Miliband - October 11, 2011 - 12:00am Government is all about statistics. But life is about people, and the disjunction between the two explains a lot about the cynicism and disaffection with politics. This is true for domestic policy, but also in international affairs, where the confusion and fatigue induced by distance is increased by the seemingly intractable nature of many of the problems. The people who suffer are those who most need the attention of the world. This is notably true of the 1.5 million people crowded into the Gaza Strip, locked between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean sea. » Read more

Encountering Peace: Confessions of a ‘yefeh nefesh’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) October 10, 2011 - 12:00am I admit it, I’m a yefeh nefesh or at least striving to be one, and I’m proud of it. That’s my confession from my Yom Kippur soul searching. An online dictionary definition of the term says: “(literary) sensitive, delicate, refined, noble, gentle soul; (critically) bleeding heart.” It’s the critical definition of “bleeding heart liberal” that is the accepted Israeli colloquial understanding and use of the term. One could easily add to this “leftist, radical leftist, Arab lover, self-hating Jew, post-Zionist and traitor.” » Read more

Israel must stamp out Jewish extremism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Newman - (Opinion) October 10, 2011 - 12:00am In his Yom Kippur sermon at Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue, former Israel chief rabbi (and current chief rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa) Yisrael Meir Lau was very forthright in his condemnation of the recent “price tag” desecration of the mosque in Tuba Zanghariya. His comments were made before it became known that a Muslim cemetery in Jaffa, the area under his jurisdiction, had also been defaced, including such disgraceful graffiti on graves as “Death to Arabs.” » Read more

A burning house of God ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Edward Rettig, David Rosen - (Opinion) October 10, 2011 - 12:00am A burned house of worship, in this case a mosque in the Israeli Arab town of Tuba Zangaria, and a desecrated Arab cemetery in Jaffa, were together an ominous opening to the New Year. To be sure, the responses from the local authorities on up to the prime minister and president Israel have been exemplary. » Read more