February 7th

Why Israel fears a free Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Aaron David Miller - (Editorial) February 6, 2011 - 1:00am Having dealt with the Israelis for the better part of 40 years, I have learned never to dismiss or trivialize their foundational fears. As both former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and current premier Binyamin Netanyahu reminded me on different occasions, Israelis don't live in some leafy Washington suburb, but in a much tougher neighborhood. And today, it is impossible to overstate the angst, even hysteria, that Israelis are feeling about their neighborhood as they watch what is unfolding in the streets of Cairo. » Read more

Israel says no to more Egyptian troops in Sinai ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - February 7, 2011 - 1:00am Senior army official: We don’t want it to seem as if the peace treaty is meaningless, particularly when there could be a regime change in Cairo. Fearing a complete breakdown of the peace treaty with Cairo, the government last week refused a second Egyptian request to allow it to deploy more military forces in Sinai, The Jerusalem Post has learned. » Read more

Revolt in Egypt, impact on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - February 6, 2011 - 1:00am WE are in the middle of a geological event. An earthquake of epoch-making dimensions is changing the landscape of our region. People are afraid of change. Israelis are no exception. While in neighboring Egypt earth-shattering events were taking place, Israel was absorbed with a scandal in the army high command. But what is happening now in Egypt will change our lives. As usual, nobody foresaw it. The much-feted Mossad was taken by surprise, as was the CIA. Yet there should have been no surprise at all — except about the incredible force of the eruption. » Read more

Why the Palestinian Authority Is Worried About Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Karl Vick - February 5, 2011 - 1:00am On the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by Mahmoud Abbas may not qualify as a sovereign government. But it is moderate and U.S.-backed, and has been behaving of late like one of the region's brittle and freshly vulnerable autocratic regimes. » Read more

February 4th

Between the hammer and the anvil ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Oraib Al-Rantawi - February 3, 2011 - 1:00am Over the last decade, Jordan's policies have centered on a single assumption: that the creation of a viable Palestinian state is a major pillar of Jordan's security and stability. Even more so, it is vital to Jordan's existence and identity. Based on this assumption, Jordan stood firm behind the peace process and was a strong supporter of the two-state solution. In that light, Jordan supported the Arab Peace Initiative and US President George W. Bush's vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Equally, Jordan called for the implementation of the roadmap and signed agreements. » Read more

Intriguing alliance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - February 4, 2011 - 1:00am The surprising determined refusal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in office for nearly 30 years, to step down immediately has probably stunned many worldwide, and especially the hundreds of thousands of his ever-increasing opponents who have been demonstrating for days against his regime in Egypt’s main cities. Equally alarming were Mubarak’s brief televised remarks, broadcast late Tuesday night, that he would not seek reelection but promises an orderly transition before his term expires in September. » Read more

Three Years Old, J Street Still Struggles For Acceptance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - February 2, 2011 - 1:00am Several recent setbacks for J Street are refocusing attention on the dovish Israel lobby’s ongoing struggle to gain acceptance both in Washington and within the broader Jewish community. » Read more

Who is Uri Avnery, and Why Does He Matter? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily by Aryeh Tepper - February 3, 2011 - 1:00am Jerusalem's decision in the early 1990's to admit Yasir Arafat and his fellow thugs into the heart of the land of Israel proved to be one of the country's major political blunders, paid for in the coin of a five-year terror war that traumatized Israeli society and transformed the dream of Israeli-Palestinian peace into an extended nightmare. How did it happen? » Read more

Louis Theroux: My time among the 'ultra-Zionists' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Louis Charbonneau - February 3, 2011 - 1:00am On a hilltop in the Northern West Bank, not far from the large Palestinian city of Nablus, I met 17-year-old Yair Lieberman. A part-time labourer and student, Yair's home was a makeshift canvas-covered structure, only slightly more solid than a tent, which he shared with three other young men. The bed was a tangled mess of sheets, in the style of a conventional teenager's, and hung around the dwelling were posters - though not of pop groups, but of favourite rabbis. Outside, in the neighbouring lots, was a scattering of fifteen or so caravans and trailers - the outpost of Havat Gilad. » Read more

Israeli or Palestinian? Umm Al-Fahm Residents Are Divided ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Miller, Arieh O'Sullivan - February 2, 2011 - 1:00am The narrow streets of Umm Al-Fahm, one of the largest Arab towns in Israel, are steep as they wind up the hillside of the town that sits in a topographical bowl overlooking the biblical Plain of Jezreel. The 50,000 residents of this town of cinderblock houses and large golden-domed mosques are on the literal edge of the Western democratic state of Israel an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, rubbing shoulders with what may be the future Palestinian state in the West Bank on the other side of the nearby fence. » Read more