Will Israel Attack Iran? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ronen Bergman - (Opinion) January 26, 2012 - 1:00am As the Sabbath evening approached on Jan. 13, Ehud Barak paced the wide living-room floor of his home high above a street in north Tel Aviv, its walls lined with thousands of books on subjects ranging from philosophy and poetry to military strategy. Barak, the Israeli defense minister, is the most decorated soldier in the country’s history and one of its most experienced and controversial politicians. He has served as chief of the general staff for the Israel Defense Forces, interior minister, foreign minister and prime minister. » Read more

How the Occupation Became Legal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books by Eyal Press - (Film Review) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am In 1979, a group of Palestinian farmers filed a petition with Israel’s High Court of Justice, claiming their land was being illegally expropriated by Jewish settlers. The farmers were not Israeli citizens, and the settlers appeared to have acted with the state’s support; indeed, army helicopters had escorted them to the land—a hilltop near Nablus—bringing along generators and water tanks. The High Court of Justice nevertheless ordered the outpost dismantled. » Read more

Political Failure Does Not Change Reality for Israelis or Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Joel Braunold - (Opinion) January 26, 2012 - 1:00am Today, 26 January, will mark another line in the sand in the morbid negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Whether or not this is the date that the Quartet has stated its deadline to get each side's documents presented to each other is currently under dispute by the sides themselves. Arguments about deadlines of document submission is as far as the sides have got in getting the decision makers into the same room together. » Read more

What Sheldon's Money Buys ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Gal Beckerman - (Opinion) January 26, 2012 - 1:00am It is safe to say that without multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s help the chances of Newt Gingrich becoming the Republican nominee for president would be zero — and consequently the race itself, going into Florida at the moment, would not be the competitive, drag-out fight it has become. Adelson, the hotel and casino magnate, has kept Gingrich alive, first through an infusion of $5 million into a super PAC, which allowed the former speaker to defend himself against attacks by Mitt Romney and led to Gingrich’s thumping victory in South Carolina. » Read more

A necessary act of futility ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) January 26, 2012 - 1:00am Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas have much in common. Both are pure of heart, noble of purpose and free of blame. Each man wants nothing more than peace between Israelis and Palestinians and would have it were it not for the other one’s intransigence. “The Palestinians have no interest in entering peace talks. I’m ready to travel now to Ramallah to start peace talks with Abu Mazen [Abbas] without preconditions,” Netanyahu has said. » Read more

Inside Out: Veering towards the center ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am Despite the fact that no formal announcement has been made, the prevalent assessment in political corridors is that a general election in Israel will be held by October 2012. The primaries that have been scheduled by the Likud and Kadima, as well as Yair Lapid’s decision to enter the political arena, have contributed to that sense of momentum. Figures from within the Prime Minister’s Office, moreover, reportedly shared with journalists a number of weeks ago that Netanyahu would prefer to seek reelection before a second-term Barack Obama was potentially seated in the White House. » Read more

Encountering Peace: Breakthrough dynamic ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am We are about to enter another one of those critical weeks in the chronicles of our peoples. Decisions with historic consequences could be made by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming days. Neither Israel nor Palestine has a real strategic alternative to a negotiated peace agreement that leads to the establishment of a nation-state of the Palestinian people, Palestine, next to the nation-state of the Jewish people, Israel, and the end of the conflict. » Read more

Israel is being hijacked ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Brizon - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni said in weekend interviews that Israel faces three existential problems: One on the diplomatic-security front, another on the socioeconomic front, and yet another on the religious-cultural front. Ms. Livni is both right and wrong. The three issues are in fact three sides of one problem: What will Israel look like in the future and who will be shaping its national character? » Read more

An alternative to Israel's High Court of Justice ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Israel Harel - (Opinion) January 26, 2012 - 1:00am From time to time the demand is heard in Israel to establish a constitutional court, like the most advanced countries have. Ever since Chief Justice Aharon Barak expanded the right to petition the court, the High Court has been used continually by extremist organizations funded by foreign governments and groups. These front organizations are working, it is said, to change the character of the country. » Read more

Netanyahu must stop misusing the Holocaust ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am The Holocaust is one of humanity’s most terrible historical episodes and the greatest horror that has befallen the Jewish people. It must be remembered and it must be studied. » Read more