January 16th

Netanyahu's choice of coalition partners key to Israel's future foreign policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 16, 2013 - 1:00am   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, which has decided to present a joint-list of candidates with the Yisrael Beiteinu party for the Jan. 22 elections, is expected to become the largest party in the next Knesset (parliament). However, opinion polls show that the two right-wing parties will not get enough mandates to form a majority government by themselves, and will hence have to convince other parties to join them in a coalition government. » Read more

Israeli left seeks to regain appeal with focus on economy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ori Lewis - January 16, 2013 - 1:00am   In decline since the peace it sought with the Palestinians unravelled into violence, Israel's Labour Party looks set to regain some lost ground in next week's election after waging an economy-focused campaign. » Read more

Jerusalem barrier spurs illicit building boom ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Karin Laub - January 16, 2013 - 1:00am   Dozens of apartment towers sprouting up illicitly in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem are creating a fraught new dynamic in the struggle for control of the sacred city at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. » Read more

Approval for settlement plans jumped 300% in 2012, says Peace Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - January 16, 2013 - 1:00am   The number of approvals for home construction plans in the settlements leaped in 2012 compared with the two previous years, says the Israeli non-governmental organization Peace Now. » Read more

Israeli watchdog rips Netanyahu over settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Karin Laub - January 16, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

January 15th

Netanyahu: tactical genius, strategic idiot ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Financial Times by Gideon Rachman - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am   In a normal time, in a normal country, Benjamin Netanyahu would be a political giant. He is already the second-longest serving prime minister in Israel’s history. Next week, when the country goes to the polls, he is likely to win a third spell in office. He has presided over an economic renaissance in Israel, during which the country has become a byword for high-tech flair. At a time when the world economy has been in turmoil, Israel has kept growing strongly.   » Read more

Israeli Settlements Are Irreversible ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor (Opinion) January 15, 2013 - 1:00am   Is there a prime minister, from the right or the left, who will evacuate Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem or settlements in Judea and Samaria? » Read more

Peace is not an ‘issue’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Israel’s political cycle not stuck on the right ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by David Bernstein - (Opinion) January 14, 2013 - 1:00am With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poised to win re-election later this month, some critics of Israel’s peace and security policies worry out loud that Israel’s political cycle -- its pattern of cycling alternately between the political left and right -- is stuck on the right. » Read more

Likud or Jewish home? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yoel Meltzer - (Opinion) January 15, 2013 - 1:00am One of the hottest topics currently being discussed in the broadly defined national camp is whether to vote for a seemingly more right-wing Likud or for a revitalized Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) in the upcoming elections.With quality candidates such as Yariv Levin, Tzipi Hotovely and Moshe Feiglin in t » Read more