Drying out the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

Since the beginning of the year, Israel has destroyed 35 rainwater cisterns used by Palestinian communities, 20 of them in the area of Hebron and the southern Hebron Hills. In 2011, Israel destroyed 15 cisterns, and in the preceding 18 months, 29. In many of these cases ancient cisterns were destroyed that had served the forefathers of the inhabitants of these communities. Recently, they have been restored with European assistance.

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Israel must not dismiss outrage over settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by James Carroll - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

AFTER A STORM of criticism hit Israel for the plan it announced to expand settlements in the occupied territories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back. “Israel will continue to stand for its essential interests,” he declared, “even in the face of international pressure, and there will be no change in the decision it has taken.”

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Why Obama Will Ignore Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

The last week of November 2012 was a big one on the Israeli-Palestinian front. On the 65th anniversary of the partition resolution that created a Jewish state, the United Nations recognized a Palestinian one. Israel retaliated with the West Bank equivalent of sequestration: announcing it would move toward building settlements in an area east of Jerusalem called E1, which many observers believe would kill the two-state solution.

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Netanyahu wards off criticism: Israeli settlement plans won't prevent Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by DPA - December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday dismissed international criticism of Israel's recently announced plans to build in an area near Jerusalem, saying it's "simply not true" that the settlements are an obstacle to Palestinian statehood. "I don't understand how this will prevent territorially the establishment of a Palestinian state," Netanyahu said, referring to Israeli construction in the area east of Jerusalem and west of Ma'aleh Adumim - the so-called E-1 area.

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EU dismayed at Israeli settlements, takes no action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Justyna Pawlak - December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

BRUSSELS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The European Union expressed dismay on Monday over Israel's plans to build settlements in a highly sensitive part of the West Bank, but spelled out no punitive measures in response. After meeting in Brussels, foreign ministers of the 27 EU states said the Israeli plan would seriously undermine the prospects of successful peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Meshal Goes Out of Bounds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Paul Pillar - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am

What Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said at a mass rally in Gaza City on Saturday was contemptible. Taken at face value, his words eradicated any distinction between Israeli and Palestinian territory, and any possibility of Israelis and Palestinians living in peace. “Palestine, from the river to the sea, from north to south, is our land,” he said.

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Despite souring relations with Israel, Europe not about to boycott settlement goods, sources predict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel
by Raphael Ahren, Joshua Davidovich - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am

Sources in the European Union on Thursday played down a report in the Hebrew daily Maariv that Europe was seeking to pass a series of harsh sanctions against Israel following Jerusalem’s announcement last week of plans to expand settlement construction. That move by Israel came in response to the upgrading of the Palestinians’ status the previous day at the UN.

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Israel bars academic from Berlin diplomatic event
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel barred a dovish Israeli academic from taking part in a science symposium in Berlin on Thursday that was part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Germany, drawing renewed charges that his government has little tolerance for dissent.

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The right is a danger to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am

Let's set aside values. Are we indeed prepared to reinforce our status as an occupying state that controls another people for a prolonged period? Let's set aside justice and morals. Are we indeed prepared to turn Zionism into an apartheid movement that denies millions of residents their basic rights? Let's set aside identity. Are we indeed prepared to exchange a Jewish democratic state for a state of ultra-nationalist zealotry that tramples on its minorities?

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We're going to pay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shimon Shiffer - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am

In the past, prime ministers would react with scorn and contempt to the UN and European resolutions against Israel. "Um-Shmum," David Ben-Gurion said angrily (um is the Hebrew acronymic pronunciation for 'UN', and the 'shm'-prefix signifies contempt or irony). "Those anti-Semites," Yitzhak Rabin said of the Europeans.

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