When Will the Israelis Protest?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) May 12, 2011 - 12:00am

More than at any time before, the State of Israel on the anniversary of its founding seems similar to all other countries in the region, as its “regime” resorts to the same fear-mongering methods that were adopted by Arab regimes that have gone, as well as by others that still make use of them with their citizens to convince them of the absurdity of change and the danger of the alternatives.

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Israel to invest millions in real-time satellite capacity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - May 11, 2011 - 12:00am

The Defense Ministry is set to invest millions to upgrade Israel’s space communication capabilities, to enable reconnaissance and surveillance satellites used by the IDF to provide real-time intelligence. As things stand, Israeli satellites can only download their data when they fly directly over Israel – which can mean a delay of up to 90 minutes, a critical handicap in times of conflict.

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Israel’s Security Elite Joins the Opposition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) May 11, 2011 - 12:00am

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that the leaders of Israel’s security establishment, the people who’ve led the fight against the state’s enemies for decades, are more frightened now than they’ve been in a long time. You might be shocked, though, to hear what’s got them in a panic. It’s not the Iranian nuclear project they’re scared of, nor Hamas, nor the unrest that’s rocking the Arab world. Israel has always faced dangers, and it’s always come out on top. What scares them most is their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Israel is a country evading reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) May 9, 2011 - 12:00am

On the eve of the 63rd anniversary of its independence, more than ever Israel ostensibly appears like the "villa in the jungle" that Defense Minister Ehud Barak referred to. It enjoys stable governance, strong democracy, economic power and relative quiet on the security front.

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Israeli PM's military attache stays away from UK
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
May 5, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli army says the prime minister's military attache did not accompany him to Britain this week, fearing pro-Palestinian activists might try to have him arrested on war crimes charges. Maj. Gen. Yohanan Locker was deputy chief of the Israel Air Force during Israel's war in Gaza two years ago. Activists critical of Israel's conduct in Gaza have sought to arrest other Israeli officials under a British law that allows foreigners to be prosecuted for alleged war crimes committed anywhere in the world.

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Poll: East J'lem residents prefer Israeli citizenship
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - May 5, 2011 - 12:00am

A recent survey conducted by Pechter Middle East Polls, in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations, ahead of the possible Palestinian bid for statehood in September, revealed that given a choice, the majority of east Jerusalem residents would prefer to remain Israelis. The survey sampled 1,039 Palestinians living in all 19 neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, and was supervised by Dr. David Pollock.

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Israeli threat to withhold taxes to damage Palestinian economy: analysts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - May 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel's reaction to the Fatah- Hamas reconciliation continued this week as Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz threatened to withhold taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) over fears that Hamas may use the money to fund its actions against Israel. Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas announced last Wednesday an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal, which outlined the creation of a unity government and preparations for national and presidential elections.

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Israel has Lost a Strategic Ally, "Sheikh Osama"...
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Elaph
by Khairallah Khairallah - (Opinion) May 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Osama bin Laden met the fate he deserved. It is thought that the Arabs will be amongst the first to congratulate the Barack Obama Administration for this achievement. Primarily they are supposed to try and learn from the experiences they endured as a result of the actions of Osama bin Laden. Difficult questions must be asked about the environment that allowed this phenomenon to survive and cause so much hardship. .

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New Tension Roils Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Matt Bradley, Joshua Mitnick, Jay Solomon - May 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel froze $88 million in Palestinian funds Sunday, elevating tensions over an Egyptian initiative to broker a power-sharing agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and raising new concerns about the prospects for peace in the region.

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Israel's Likud hard-liners calls for annexing West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Amid ongoing Palestinian efforts to unilaterally obtain recognition of statehood in the United Nations in September, members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led cabinet are reiterating calls for Israel to respond with a unilateral annexation of the West Bank. "If they take steps, we will take steps. I think that we need to immediately annex all of the territories on the same day (the UN declares the establishment of Palestine)," Welfare and Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon told an audience at a meeting of the Likud's young leadership forum on April 28.

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