Fear of engagement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


Israel's southern cities were bombarded by rocket and missile fire from Gaza as the weekend approached. There had been talk of a cease-fire at the beginning of the week, but this situation is actually a new form of tahadiyeh (lull ): It has different rules than the one after Operation Cast Lead two years ago. When Israel has an opportunity to attack, it does so, as it did Wednesday, killing Islamic Jihad operative Ismail al-Asmar in an air strike. That bombing sparked a new flare-up.


Legal opinion challenges PLO statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
by Guy Goodwin Gill - (Opinion) August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


A legal opinion highlighting the challenges and risks facing the Palestinian people in their quest for statehood has been obtained by Al Jazeera, in the lead up to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's bid at the United Nations in September.


Stage is set for much bigger conflagration in Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


As if sparked by the intense summer heat, fierce fighting and other acts of extreme violence have broken out across the Middle East. The danger is that one of these nasty local conflicts will escalate into a full-scale war, setting the whole region on fire. In retaliation for an ambush of a Turkish military convoy on August 17 by guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which killed eight soldiers and wounded another 15, the Turkish Air Force, a couple of days later, struck at 60 suspected PKK hideouts and bases in the mountains of northern Iraq.


Egypt, Israel and Palestine: an awkward three-way dance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


It has been a tense week in Egyptian-Israeli relations. It all started when unknown assailants crossed from Sinai to carry out a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks in southern Israel, which left eight Israelis dead. Terror was met with more terror and counter-terror, as Israel bombed embattled Gaza, leading to the deaths of at least 14 people, despite the absence of evidence that Gazans were behind the attack (some of the alleged perpetrators appear to be Egyptians), and Islamist militants in Gaza fired their Grad rockets into southern Israel.


Social justice also means ending the occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zeev Sternhell - (Opinion) August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


Be the internal ills of Israeli society as they may, and they are too numerous to count, most of them can be treated and even cured; but the occupation and colonialism are terminal illnesses. Therefore anyone who refuses to understand - as did Shelly Yachimovich in her interview with Haaretz's weekend magazine - that the socialism of masters, and on behalf of masters, is no less ruthless and despicable than the neoliberalism of the rich on behalf of the rich, is not worthy of seeking the leadership of a party that has pretensions of charting the future.


Lebensraum as a justification for Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


Until now Israel had supported the occupation of the territories with two pillars: history and security - its right to inherit the land and its obligation to defend it. In recent weeks a third pillar was added, which all these years was hidden under straw and stubble. And maybe it's not a pillar but a snake, whose head must be crushed while it's still small.


Springtime in Sinai
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


“Sometimes you have to subordinate strategic considerations to tactical needs,” says Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, former prime minister and the country’s most decorated military man. This is one such time: Mr Barak, backed by the current prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is going to agree to Egypt deploying thousands of troops in Sinai even though the Israel-Egypt peace treaty strictly forbids it. They will have helicopters and armoured vehicles, Mr Barak says, but no tanks beyond the lone battalion already stationed there.


From stabbing IDF soldiers to having them as teammates, Palestinian uses football for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 25, 2011 - 12:00am


Sulaiman Khatib is an ordinary Palestinian with an extraordinary past. Born in the West Bank near Jerusalem, he grew up as a “freedom fighter,” as he describes it, fighting against the Israeli occupation by throwing stones and preparing Molotov cocktails.


How Israel takes its revenge on boys who throw stones
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
August 26, 2011 - 12:00am


The boy, small and frail, is struggling to stay awake. His head lolls to the side, at one point slumping on to his chest. "Lift up your head! Lift it up!" shouts one of his interrogators, slapping him. But the boy by now is past caring, for he has been awake for at least 12 hours since he was separated at gunpoint from his parents at two that morning. "I wish you'd let me go," the boy whimpers, "just so I can get some sleep."


EU diplomat says aid to Palestinians in question
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Daniella Cheslow - August 25, 2011 - 12:00am


Europe's financial crisis is causing some European Union lawmakers to question whether the bloc can continue to deliver millions in aid to the Palestinians, an EU diplomat said Thursday. The EU is the largest single donor to the Palestinians, contributing about 500 million euros ($720 million) a year to build institutions for a future state and pay salaries. Under Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the Palestinians embarked in 2009 on a two-year state-building plan to be ready for independence by September.



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