'Price Tag' Attacks Pose Test for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli society has been confronted recently by a troubling new trend: vigilante attacks by some settlers and their supporters against Palestinians in the occupied territories, Arab citizens of Israel and, increasingly, Israeli peace groups. These began as the settlers’ own form of retaliation — exacting a “price” for any Palestinian violence — but have devolved into a campaign of terror. Marauding bands of armed settlers have uprooted olive trees, burned mosques and schools, shot at cars, run over children. » Read more

The problem is not reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced last week that he plans to meet the head of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, on November 25 to discuss two issues. First, the leaders will discuss the future and challenges facing the Palestinian cause, and second, they will explore the prospects for reconciling the two factions they head and implementing a reconciliation agreement signed in May. » Read more

The regional Islamist circumstances are changing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am The notion of integrating Hamas, and with it the Gaza Strip, into a Palestinian unity government reflects the primary trend that has thus far defined the Arab revolutionary wave: Arab Islamist movements are entering government. In this sense, Hamas' victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections was very much a harbinger of things to come elsewhere in the Arab world. » Read more

Advocating the two state solution: the best bet? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Open Democracy by Brigitte Herremans - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am Nowadays, it is not an easy task to be a staunch advocate of the two state solution. True, there is a near-universal consensus at the international level that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in a viable and independent State of Palestine living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.[i] However, far from the ideal solution, it is an imperfect compromise. » Read more

Towards more trade with Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Fahed Fanek - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am Supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinians on their soil is supposed to be a firm and repeatedly confirmed Jordanian policy. Such policy is not subject to reservations or reconsideration at any time. However, the details of the current trade between Jordan and Palestine, as revealed by the Department of Statistics, do not support this claim. Trade with Palestine is running at a very low level. The trend deserves to be corrected, sooner rather than later, if we really want Palestinians to stay in Palestine. » Read more

A consensus that further isolates a repressive Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am The latest international condemnation of Israel will receive the usual denunciation, but it is becoming harder to deny. There is a growing international consensus that Israel is constructing a repressive system governing Palestinians that can be compared to apartheid South Africa. It is a mark of shame, and one that Israel has tried to reject. » Read more

Bibi Is a Liar, So What's the Fuss? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) November 20, 2011 - 1:00am Few stories that start out as potential bombshells end up as utterly duddish (from “dud”) as the “hot mic” exchange between Presidents Sarkozy and Obama. Duddish, that is, here in Israel, where I am for a couple of weeks; not so back home, in the States, as we shall see. If I were a rich man, I’d immediately do a survey of Israeli public opinion, a survey with just two questions: (1) Do you believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a liar? (2) Do you hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu will stay in power for another term after the next elections? » Read more

An open letter to Christian leaders in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Michaels - (Opinion) November 19, 2011 - 1:00am I write with a request: for your forgiveness. As a representative of the oldest Jewish communal organization – B’nai B’rith International, which includes members of many backgrounds in over 50 countries, including Israel, where we have been present in Jerusalem since 1888 – I feel obliged to express my revulsion over new reported incidents of spitting at Christian clergy in certain areas of the Holy City. I feel especially obliged to do so as an Orthodox Jew. » Read more

The ultra-Orthodox are changing the face of the IDF ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am The 19 reservist major generals who signed the letter to Chief of Staff Benny Gantz on Monday, warning of extremist religious trends in the Israel Defense Forces, "were in the army long ago," Rabbi Avichai Rontzki declared this week. Brig. Gen. (res. ) Rontzki, who was chief army rabbi until a year and a half ago, claimed that the veteran officers don't know what the IDF is like anymore. "Things are different nowadays," he explained. » Read more

New 'Jewish identity' bill will cause chaos in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shlomo Avineri - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am In response to the scathing criticism and pressure within his Kadima party, MK Avi Dichter retreated from his original proposal for a Basic Law on Israel - the Nation-State of the Jewish People. Instead, he proposed what was ostensibly a softened version. But anyone who opposes the first version will oppose the second. In the new version, too, the bill is unnecessary and merely deepens tensions between Jews and Arabs, as well as among various parts of the Jewish population. And it will give Israel a bad name. There is only one remedy for this bill - to shelve it completely. » Read more