Special from Israel: A country torn over projected impact of Arab Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Roger Hercz - (Opinion) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Facing US lawmakers on Capitol Hill in late May, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu did not even attempt to wrap an elegant coating around his undiplomatic mocking of the uprisings sweeping the Arab World. Comparing the current situation in many Arab states to Israel, he left nothing to the imagination. “My friends, you don‘t need to do nation building in Israel. We have already built,” Netanyahu said, as the lawmakers joined him in laughter. “You don’t need to export democracy to Israel. We’ve already got it.”

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The IDF is leading Israel to destruction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Imagine if hundreds of 18-year-olds were to inform the government and the chief of staff this summer that they will not enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

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Ashkenazi: Palestine is inevitable, UN state bid is not
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Former IDF chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that a Palestinian state is "inevitable," and that Israel must take an active stance in seeking to reengage the Palestinian leadership in order to avoid a unilaterally declared Palestine in the UN this September, Army Radio reported Monday. Speaking at an event in Toronto, Ashkenazi said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government could still avoid the UN Palestinian state bid if Israel opened up negotiations again with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Mofaz: Israel must prevent UN Palestinian state bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Lahav Harkov - June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Foreign Affairs, Defense C'tee chair says Israel must look like a leader, act wisely with a plan to prevent unilaterally declared Palestine. Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) warned on Monday that Israel must initiate a plan to combat a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood in the UN this September. "This is a historically significant time, and we must act wisely and responsibly," Mofaz said. "Israel has to look like a leader, like a country that takes initiative and has what to offer."

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Remembering the ‘Altalena’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jerold S. Auerbach - (Opinion) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel is confronting increasingly virulent worldwide challenges to its legitimacy. An expanding chorus of politicians, journalists and academics relentlessly denounces the Jewish state as a racist, apartheid abomination. The resemblance between their shrill diatribes and the rhetoric of anti-Semitism during the past 2,000 years is not coincidental.

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Meir Dagan required to return diplomatic passport
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
June 19, 2011 - 12:00am

The government demanded that former Mossad chief Meir Dagan turn in his diplomatic passport, an unusual request that follows controversial remarks by Dagan in which he criticized the country's leadership for its treatment of the Iranian threat, Channel 2 reported. Dagan had requested to keep the passport because of a slate of upcoming trips he had planned outside of the country, but his request was denied, according to the report. The diplomatic passport offers, among other benefits, diplomatic immunity.

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Protest organizer jailed by Israeli court for year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 19, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Ofer Israeli military court sentenced popular protest coordinator Naji At-Tamimi to one year of imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 shekels ($2,914), his colleagues said. Naji and Basem At-Tamimi were taken by Israeli forces from their homes in April and held without charge. Naji was charged with inciting and participating in rallies and organizing demonstrations against Israeli land confiscation and settlement building. Israel has declared such demonstrations illegal.

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Israel as a ‘Jewish state’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) June 19, 2011 - 12:00am

I am fed up with all this nonsense about recognizing Israel as the “Jewish State.” It serves many different purposes, almost all of them malign. Benjamin Netanyahu uses it as a trick to obstruct the establishment of the Palestinian state. This week he declared that the conflict just has no solution. Why? Because the Palestinians do not agree to recognize etc. etc.

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Ex-Mossad man a fit for Sharon's shoes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Asia Times
by Victor Kotsov - (Opinion) June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

A new star is about to rise on the Israeli political horizon. Given the widely perceived impasse on all fronts, the time may be just right. Analysts have long lamented what they call a "deadlock" in the Israeli political system. Last year, American think-tank Stratfor described the situation in the following way:

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Netanyahu is dooming Israel to live eternally by the sword
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Author Etgar Keret, on assignment from Haaretz, accompanied the prime minister on his trip to Italy this week and reported on Benjamin Netanyahu's perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "This is an insoluble conflict because it is not about territory," Netanyahu said. "It is not that you can give up a kilometer more and solve it. The root of the conflict is in an entirely different place. Until Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, there will be no way to reach an agreement."

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