June 7th

False messiahs in Israel's capital ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) June 7, 2011 - 12:00am This summer, 1,000 rockets a day are expected to land on the inhabitants of central Israel for an undetermined period of time, with thousands of casualties on the cards. This is the reality that emerges from the assessments of the minister for the homefront, the real front, Matan Vilnai and from the recent warnings voiced by newly retired Mossad chief Meir Dagan. » Read more

Israel's plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin slammed as cruel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am Human rights groups have condemned an Israeli government plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin Arabs from their homes in southern Israel, calling it "cruel and discriminatory". Government ministers are expected to approve a programme that will cost at least six billion shekels (Dh6.5bn) and calls for the relocation of the members of the Arab minority to larger Bedouin communities in the Negev desert, according to reports released at the weekend. » Read more

Report: 14 Palestinians killed in Syria camp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 7, 2011 - 12:00am Fourteen Palestinian refugees were reported killed and another 43 injured on Monday, a report from the Palestinian government's WAFA news said. The victims were part of a massive group in Al-Yarmok, an unofficial Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital of Damascus, mourning the death of between 10-23 Palestinians by Israeli fire on the Golan Heights ceasefire line the day before. » Read more

Settlers set fire to mosque near Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 7, 2011 - 12:00am A Ramallah-area mosque was torched overnight and its remains graffitied with racist anti-Arab slogans; witnesses said Israeli settlers were seen setting the fire at 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Al-Mughayyir's village council said the building was badly damaged, and its contents incinerated, drawing condemnation of the third mosque torching in three years. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an that a group of Israeli settlers arrived in the village before dawn, and shortly after they saw flames rising into the sky. » Read more

Israel Disputes Toll of Border Clashes, Saying Syria Has an Ulterior Motive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - June 6, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli military officials on Monday disputed the casualty figures announced by Syria a day earlier, after Israeli forces fired on protesters who had tried to breach the Syrian frontier border with the Israeli-held Golan Heights. The discrepancy in numbers underlined the messages being conveyed by each side. According to the Syrian version of events, Israel shot to kill unarmed demonstrators who were trying to reclaim their lost lands — whether in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, or in areas that are now part of Israel. » Read more

June 6th

Beyond Survival ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Shalom Hartman Institute by Tal Becker - (Opinion) June 5, 2011 - 12:00am For many years now, the conversation about Israel in the Jewish world has taken a familiar form. With rare exceptions, our sovereign project is spoken of in Jewish communities across the globe with pride about the past and anxiety about the future. » Read more

Beyond Survival ATFP World Press Roundup Article from (Opinion) June 5, 2011 - 12:00am For many years now, the conversation about Israel in the Jewish world has taken a familiar form. With rare exceptions, our sovereign project is spoken of in Jewish communities across the globe with pride about the past and anxiety about the future. » Read more

Palestine’s own spring ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique by Alain Gresh - (Opinion) June 6, 2011 - 12:00am The images of Palestinians massed at Israel’s borders on 15 May represented a dream for some, and a nightmare for others. On the 63rd anniversary of the declaration of the Jewish state and of the nakba (catastrophe) for the many thousands of Palestinians expelled from their homes, demonstrators from Syria (1), Lebanon, Jordan and Gaza converged on the promised land. They were only a few thousand but the world wondered what would happen if millions marched peacefully to the borders and walls next time. » Read more

Can equality exist in the Jewish state? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English by Kieron Monks - (Opinion) June 4, 2011 - 12:00am In 2005, following the arrest of several high profile Arab politicians and lobbyists living in Israel, the Shin Bet security agency made a statement justifying their actions: "The security service will thwart the activity of any group or individual seeking to harm the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel, even if such activity is sanctioned by the law." » Read more

Blueprint for future Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Adel Safty - (Opinion) June 6, 2011 - 12:00am Last week US President Barack Obama reiterated and clarified his earlier statement endorsing the 1967 borders as the basis for negotiated permanent borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted furiously to the statement and promptly rejected the idea saying that the 1967 borders were indefensible, and vowed that a Palestinian state would not be founded “at Israel’s expense”. » Read more