Internal Israeli Politics | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel’s National Photo Collection Being Released For Free Use
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - February 8, 2012 - 12:00am

REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- The Israeli government is gradually releasing its National Photo Collection from copyright restrictions. It's an online treasure trove of 150,000 photographs compiled and scanned from around half a million pictures and put on a searchable website in honor of Israel's jubilee year in 1998.

By Avoiding Peace, Netanyahu is Punishing Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) February 8, 2012 - 12:00am

In a Pavlovian response to the reconciliation agreement signed by the rival Palestinian factions, under which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will also serve as temporary prime minister, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented Abbas with a simplistic ultimatum - peace with Hamas, or peace with Israel.

West Does Not Have Monopoly On Veto Morality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) February 8, 2012 - 12:00am

"At the end of last week we received a reminder about the environment we're living in. We heard Iran's ruler talk about Israel's destruction, we saw the Syrian army massacring its own people. Some leaders have no compunctions about harming their people or their neighbors," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the cabinet meeting. True, it's a lousy environment. Only one sentence is needed to complete the picture: "And there are governments that don't mind continuing to occupy other nations for nearly 50 years."

Israeli Court Grants Reprieve to Abandoned Palestinian Village
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - February 8, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A Jerusalem court has ruled against plans to build a luxury housing development on the remains of a Palestinian village abandoned in the 1948 war that followed the establishment of Israel. The court battle was seen as a test case for preservation of Palestinian heritage in Israel, where remains of Arab villages whose residents either fled or were expelled in the fighting have largely vanished under modern buildings, parks and planted forests.

“Death to Christians” sprayed on Jerusalem monastery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- A Jerusalem monastery, built on the spot where tradition holds the tree from which Jesus's cross was made, was defaced with graffiti bearing the hallmarks of Jewish extremists, police said on Tuesday. "Death to Christians" was daubed in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament.

Israel fears Hezbollah could get arms from Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israeli defense officials say they are increasingly concerned that Lebanese militants could get their hands on weapons from violence-wracked Syria. The officials say their main worry is that with the chaos in Syria mounting, Hezbollah guerrillas could acquire Syrian military S-125 anti-aircraft missiles, which could hinder operations by the Israeli air force. The officials say they are also worried Hezbollah may acquire Syrian chemical weapons and an array of Syrian missiles able to strike deep into Israel.

MK Tibi disciplined yet again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moran Azulay - February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

The Knesset's Ethics Committee has on Tuesday banned MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) from delivering one-minute speeches in the Knesset plenum for a period of one month. The decision came after MK Tibi delivered a speech three weeks ago during which he verbally confronted MK Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) who was heading the Knesset discussion. Tibi had already been suspended from the plenum and from participating in committee meetings for a period of one week last month over a limerick he read out during a plenum sitting called "Anasstasia's plumbing was damaged."

Why Israel is faced with 200,000 rockets
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

There are currently 200,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel, according to Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. Thousands carrying heavy explosive warheads, and some chemical and biological ones, are aimed at Tel Aviv. And they are in the possession of people who are not exactly Israel's friends. In fact, most are religious extremists bordering on messianic. So why aren't these missiles falling on our heads?

World democracies are warming up to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

No Israeli could have failed to notice the radical change in weather over the past two months. Forecasters predicted another dry winter, and fortunately they turned out to be wrong. And while Israel is still suffering from a water shortage, for the moment the situation is not as dire as we had thought.

Israel’s Silent March to War With Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

The atmosphere in Israel is pretty surreal these days. The whole world seems to be asking whether we’re going to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities this year — the whole world except this Israeli part of it.