March 8th, 2013

Europe can engineer peace in Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - March 7, 2013 - 1:00am The Middle East is experiencing some of its greatest political upheavals since the creation of the Arab state system after the First World War. Right across the region, regimes have been toppled and authority challenged. In one country after another, people have gone down into the street in their tens of thousands to demand jobs, bread, respect, an end to corruption and police brutality, a greater say in how they are governed. » Read more

Israeli police, Palestinians clash at Jerusalem mosque ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ori Lewis - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Israeli police fired stun grenades to disperse Palestinian worshippers who had thrown rocks and firebombs at them after Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, police said. Dozens of officers entered the politically sensitive area, one of Islam's holiest sites to break up several hundred protesters. A number of policemen were lightly hurt, a police spokesman said, and Palestinian media said at least 15 protesters were injured. » Read more

Who is an Israeli? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ranan Hartman - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Legendary US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said that "the task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” These days, while the uproar of an equal share of the national burden is bubbling again as the main issue in the coalition negotiations for the establishment of a new government, the Israeli public is waiting for leaders to get » Read more

The empty debate on Zionism in Britain ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am Who is a Zionist? Once upon a time the answer to this question was simple. A Zionist was someone who believed there were moral justifications and a need for a Jewish sovereign state in the historical Land of Israel. If you recognized this, you were Zionist and all the rest was just nuance. But the definition of a Zionist has become hopelessly murky in the more than six decades since Israel's establishment amid the never-ending debate over Israel's definition, borders and values. » Read more

US, Israeli threats of force against Iran are illegal and harm chances for a deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Reza Nasri - (Opinion) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am These threats were issued at a time when the latest round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 in » Read more

Is a Jew Meshuga for Wanting to Live in Palestine? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Noah Feldman - (Opinion) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am If Israelis and Palestinians agree on one thing, it’s that more settlements in the West Bank will eventually make a two-state solution impossible. Rabbi Menachem Froman, who died on March 4 at age 68, thought differently. » Read more

Savir's Corner: The day after ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Editorial) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am With the historic visit of President Barack Obama to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan at the end of the month, it seems that leaders in our region are thinking along the lines of “life before Obama” and “life after Obama.” One can safely assume that both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas cannot wait for the day the American president returns to Washington. » Read more

Obama in Israel: Can he overcome low expectations? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Yisrael Medad - (Editorial) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Later this month, President Obama will visit Israel, a country intended by an act of international law to be the reconstituted Jewish national home. The visit will be highly charged, but at the same time, many Israelis have low expectations for what could come of it. » Read more

Obama in Israel: The start of a new era? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Israel, I fear, is on a suicidal path: It could cease to be the democratic home of the Jewish people. » Read more

March 7th

Obama is promoting, not proposing, peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am resident Barack Obama plans to go to the Middle East in two weeks, and the Israeli Left and the Palestinians are praying he’ll be bringing an American peace initiative. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Right are praying he won’t. Even if he wanted to, President Obama knows another US peace push wouldn’t work. All the rhetoric aside – and it really is little more than rhetoric – neither side is interested in, much less ready for, serious peace talks. » Read more