Israelis, Palestinians and ‘managing the crisis’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Hassan Barari - February 17, 2013 - 1:00am A few days ago, the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that chances to reach an agreement with the Palestinians on the issue of permanent borders would be modest. He argued that whatever happens, parties will be left only with “managing the crisis.” Difficult as it may look, Liberman has articulated what many observers already know. Ever since the peace process has run aground following the advent of Sharon’s first government, events unfolded have only reinforced what Liberman had said. » Read more

Palestinians Need To Learn The Lesson On Antisemitism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) February 15, 2013 - 1:00am On January 31, Ma’an News Agency ran an opinion piece on its Arabic-language website in which the author, Ghassan Mustafa al-Shami, unleashed his decidedly vile opinion that the Holocaust is a “myth” spread and exploited by Jews for our own nefarious ends: » Read more

Israel is the sleeping enemy within the US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Tariq A. Al-Maeena - (Opinion) February 16, 2013 - 1:00am When writers daringly break barriers and put out reports on the dangers of Israeli manipulation of US politics for self-serving interests, their pieces are quickly dismissed as anti-Semitic hysteria. But historical events justify the alarm raised by a few western writers against a deeply embedded menace within the US political system. It is a menace that singularly promotes Israeli interests above American ones, and effectively uses US politicians for that purpose. » Read more

On eve of Israeli visit, renowned academic Zygmunt Bauman laments protracted occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avner Shapira - February 16, 2013 - 1:00am Professor Zygmunt Bauman last visited Israel some 20 years ago, during the period of the second government of Yitzhak Rabin. “I came to Israel during the tragically brief episode of Rabin’s government − the time of hope that the nation was about to come to its senses, stop the rot and follow the road out of the impasse,” he recalls now. “That episode, though, was brought to a violent end shortly after − not by a Palestinian, but by a Jewish bullet. » Read more

Joining the ICC: What is the P.A. waiting for? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya by Sharif Nashashibi - (Opinion) February 18, 2013 - 1:00am Palestine’s upgraded status at the U.N. to non-member observer state handed it a potent weapon against the longest military occupation in modern history: the ability to join the International Criminal Court. So what has the Palestinian Authority done with this weapon in the months since? Absolutely nothing, and for no discernible reason. » Read more

Haneen Zoabi, Israeli Lawmaker, Is Reviled by Jews — and Adored by Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward by Ben Lynfield - (Opinion) February 16, 2013 - 1:00am At the Knesset in West Jerusalem, she has been threatened, denounced as a terrorist and stripped of her parliamentary privileges. Israel’s new kingmaker, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, has cited her as the reason he would never join a coalition that depended on support from Israeli-Arab political parties. But at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, chatting earnestly over a cup of espresso and a slice of cake, Haneen Zoabi is interrupted repeatedly by waves and smiles, and by requests by passers-by to have their picture taken with her. » Read more

Hunger Striker Samer Issawi Invisible to Israeli Society ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Shlomi Eldar - (Opinion) February 17, 2013 - 1:00am Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi from the village of Issawiya has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days now. “Two hundred days? How is he still alive?” I asked Khader Adnan. If anyone could give me a reliable answer to this question, it's Adnan. After all, he started the wave of hunger strikes in Israeli prisons about a year ago, and since his release he has emerged as one of the most prominent activists on behalf of Palestinian prisoners. » Read more

Israel's Cover-ups ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) February 16, 2013 - 1:00am We are usually highly critical of Arab governments, accusing them of being outdated. We also blame them for their rigid commitment to policies of suppression and silence. But then we witness a country, such as Israel, displaying traits that are just as bad as those we have been criticizing. We typically assume Israel is a modern and strong country that can deal with everything in a transparent manner. It has larger universities, larger research centers and more advanced media institutes than us. » Read more

Fitting Palestinian prisoners into the excitement of the Ben Zygier affair ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) February 18, 2013 - 1:00am Samer Issawi was sentenced by a military tribunal to nearly three decades in prison, freed after six years in the 2011 prisoner swap that secured the release of Gilad Shalit, and re-arrested in July and sent back to jail for another 20 years because he went from Jerusalem, where he lives, to A-Ram, on the other side of the road. Issawi has been on a saline drip to keep him alive since August. » Read more

An inconvenient truth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Robert Fattal - (Opinion) February 16, 2013 - 1:00am On December 31, 2012 the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released a report on the demographics of Palestinians. Rather than going through the effort of talks with the Netanyahu government, Palestinians are now talking to all of Israel. Israelis can be forgiven for not paying much notice, given other issues like absorbing the consequences of the elections. » Read more