August 7th

Egypt's Brotherhood blames Sinai raid on Israel's Mossad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News August 7, 2012 - 12:00am Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of being behind Sunday's attack on an Egyptian checkpoint on the border with Israel. » Read more

Abbas expresses solidarity to Morsi of Egypt against terrorism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 7, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed on Monday deep solidarity with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the Egyptian people against terrorism. » Read more

Gaza-linked Egypt attack hurts Hamas border bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - August 7, 2012 - 12:00am The weekend's deadly attack on the Egypt-Israel border by Islamic militants with purported ties to Gaza spells trouble for the territory's Hamas rulers. » Read more

Sinai attack seals up Gaza to outside world ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ahmed Aldabba - August 6, 2012 - 12:00am Although Islamic militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has strongly condemned the killing of Egyptian guards at the border with Israel and Gaza yesterday, » Read more

Sinai Attack Tests New Egyptian President’s Relationship With Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - August 6, 2012 - 12:00am With the relationship between Egypt's new Islamist leader and Israel still in its fragile infancy, the terrorist attack on the border that the two countries share with Gaza over the weekend presented a critical opportunity — and a crucial test. » Read more

August 6th

Israel is losing the battle for public opinion in America ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Eric H. Yoffie - (Opinion) August 6, 2012 - 12:00am The government of Israel wants to talk about Iran, but a lot of people did not get the memo. For an important group of public intellectuals, the occupation of the West Bank is becoming more rather than less important. And we are not talking here about the usual cast of anti-Israel characters, but of mainstream journalists, scholars, and opinion makers – those who write in middle-of-the-road, general publications with a broad readership. » Read more

Why the Palestinians are turning against al-Assad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Jonathan Schanzer - (Opinion) August 3, 2012 - 12:00am Even if Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad somehow survives the current uprising aimed at toppling his regime, the beleaguered dictator will have a lingering identity problem. Indeed, a long-standing pillar of Syria’s foreign policy has been support to the Palestinian “resistance” against Israel. But in the wake of the Syrian onslaught, the country’s estimated 500,000 Palestinians are abandoning – even challenging – their long-time champion. With this dramatic shift, al-Assad is left more isolated in the Middle East than ever before. » Read more

Palestinian Bubble Set to Burst ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - (Opinion) August 5, 2012 - 12:00am “It will collapse, and the collapse will be harder when it happens later,” says Tareq Sadeq, Palestinian economist and professor at Birzeit University, about the financial bubble building up in the Palestinian Authority government. “It will mean that people will lose their homes. They will lose their cars. They will lose their land sometimes because of the collapse of the bubble. This will affect the whole economy and will also reflect on the Palestinian Authority. So this may be a collapse of the PA itself,” Sadeq tells IPS. » Read more

Israel, Arab Countries Share A Common Foe in Radical Islam ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) August 3, 2012 - 12:00am Many years ago, a new concept was added to the Israeli political lexicon: a window of opportunity. In those years, the early 1990s, there was no need for erudite explanations of the concept. The Soviet Union collapsed; Syria lost its Soviet patron, halting the supply of Soviet weapons to Damascus and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was on the skids, actually crashing to the boards. The list doesn't end there. » Read more

Op-Ed: Israel must learn from American’s unrelenting self-examination ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Raleb Majadele - August 5, 2012 - 12:00am Among the many strengths of Israel is its strong democratic tradition. Maintaining this tradition, however, seems to be more of a challenge with every passing year.  Trends among some political parties inspired by nondemocratic instincts threaten Israel's most essential foundation. This fragile situation is made even less stable by the less than statesmanlike behavior of some Israeli leaders.  » Read more