September 5th

Push for recognition of Jewish refugees from Arab lands seeks to counterbalance Palestinian claims ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Sales - September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Naim Reuven was only 8 when he left Baghdad more than 50 years ago, but he still remembers going with his father to catch fish in the Tigris River. His dad worked in a laundromat, a middle-class father of six and one of Iraq’s more than 100,000 Jews. Baghdad’s Jewish community suffered a pogrom in 1941, but Reuven, born a year later, has only fond memories of his childhood there -- until Israel declared independence in 1948. » Read more

Too Many Secrets ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward (Editorial) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am Back in April, Stephen Colbert told his television audience about a new tax-exempt group he had created, one which “never has to disclose its donors, because it is a quasi-charitable organization called a 501(c)4.” As his own lawyer explained on the show, it’s a social welfare organization that is supposed to further public policy goals and is not supposed to engage too much in politics. » Read more

Liberman praises Obama, talks tough on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Hoffman - September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman issued praise for the policies of United States President Barack Obama’s administration Tuesday at a pre-Rosh Hashana toast for activists of his Yisrael Beytenu party at Jerusalem’s Shalom Hotel. Liberman’s comments come at a time when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been issuing veiled public criticism of Obama’s Iran policies. While the foreign minister did not mention the US president by name, his comments could aid Democratic efforts to market Obama as pro-Israel. » Read more

Rivlin says Obama doesn't understand Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Lahav Harkov - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama's administration does not understand the realities of the Middle East, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Wednesday, amid ongoing speculation of a rift in US-Israel relations. "The fact that the Democrats removed a united Jerusalem as Israel's capital from their platform is more worrying than the argument over Iran," Rivlin told The Jerusalem Post. "The change may have far-reaching consequences." » Read more

Israel, Palestinians may lose chance for two-state solution, Norway FM says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am The international community must consider how to relate to the import of goods that are produced in the settlements, "which we consider illegal according to international law," the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Store told Haaretz on the eve of his visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah. Store, head of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee - a donor support group to the Palestinian Authority - said that Norway would "consider various options to demonstrate its policy in regard to the expansion of the settlements." » Read more

Is Israel Preparing for Attack on Iran? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Linda Gradstein - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am In the past few weeks, the question has morphed from “Should Israel attack Iran to try to stop its nuclear program?” to “When will Israel attack Iran to try to stop its nuclear program?”   Israel seems to be increasing its preparations for that attack. Gas mask distribution has been ramped up, and newspapers are filled with bellicose statements, some of which are directed at Israel’s closest ally, the United States.   » Read more

Israel paying hundreds of thousands of shekels to move West Bank settlers’ mobile homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am The Israeli government is footing the bill, worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, for moving caravans in the now-evacuated West Bank outpost of Migron. The caravans are owned and rented out by an organization called “Amana,” which supports settlements in the West Bank and other areas of Israel. The mobile structures at Migron are not owned by the former Migron residents, but rather by Amana, an organization responsible for illegal settlement construction in numerous other areas, has a yearly budget of tens of millions of shekels. » Read more

Investor Kevin Bermeister has big plans for Jerusalem, West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - August 31, 2012 - 12:00am Australian technology investor Kevin Bermeister has had some hits and misses in his career. He founded the popular file-sharing network Kazaa, built Australia's largest video game distributor and was an early investor in Skype. Less successful ventures included the now-defunct Sega World theme park in Sydney and an offshoot of troubled PC-maker Packard Bell. » Read more

Free Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am The time has come to free the Gaza Strip, to lift the closure against it and to maintain a "normal" relationship both with its Hamas leadership and its population. The time has come to allow European nations and the United States to make direct investments in the Strip and allow the Gaza economy to develop, like its counterpart on the West Bank. The time has come to stop bluffing and pretending that the Gaza blockade punishes Hamas, impedes missile fire and serves Israel's security needs. » Read more

PA asks economic committee to study price crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 5, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday said it asked a special economic committee to study a government memo about the rising cost of living in the occupied territories. The committee will respond to the memo, prepared by the ministry of national economy, within two days. The report focuses on possible ways to cope with the situation amid growing protests. The assignment was made during the PA cabinet’s weekly meeting in Ramallah where prime minister Salam Fayyad and his ministers discussed the financial situation as they prepared a budget for 2013. » Read more