Israel’s right have eyes but do not see, have ears but do not hear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Future historians will debate how Israel’s leadership could have been so blind. They will wonder how it was possible that Israel - for 43 years - didn’t realize what David Ben-Gurion saw a few weeks after the Six-Day War: that the occupation of the West Bank was a catastrophe for Israel.

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Knesset committee okays Citizenship Law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

The Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee on Monday approved a bill allowing citizenship to be revoked from Israelis convicted of terror or espionage crimes. The bill will be brought to the Knesset plenum for its first reading. The Shin Bet, which had previously supported the motion, announced during the discussion that they had reversed their opinion on the matter. A stormy verbal confrontation broke out during the meeting between the initiator of the bill, Knesset Member David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), and Balad Chairman MK Jamal Zahalka.

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Israeli left reawakens after death of Palestinian protestors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

The security forces had set up roadblocks to stop us from reaching the black township to attend a funeral for one of the thousands they had killed to protect our "security". So we had to take backroads and cross open ground. Some were intercepted and turned back, but hundreds of us white activists still made it in, to stand side by side with a mourning community rededicating itself to the fight for justice - and to make clear to them, and to our own communities, that we would resist the crimes committed in our name.

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ISRAEL: Poor diplomacy strikes foreign relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - (Blog) January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel's foreign relations are suffering these days from an outbreak of poor diplomacy. Not necessarily bad; just poor. Foreign Ministry employees say they are just that, poor. Their basic salaries have been devalued by about 40% since last being updated in the early 1990s, and many of them rely on help from welfare services, say activists from the ministry workers' union.

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Israeli academics' petition calls for boycotting university in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 9, 2011 - 1:00am

Over 150 senior Israeli university lecturers and researchers have signed a petition calling for an academic boycott of the Ariel University Center, located in the largest Israeli town in the central West Bank. The petition, initiated by Nir Gov with the Weizmann Institute, stated that the college was built on occupied land "only a few kilometers away from Palestinians living in villages and refugee camps under unbearably harsh conditions and without basic human rights," local daily Ha'aretz reported.

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Freedom of expression in Israel is a hollow pretension
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) January 7, 2011 - 1:00am

Jonathan Pollak is due to go to prison in another few days because of his views. The official reason for his arrest was his participation in a quiet protest by cyclists demonstrating in Tel Aviv against the Gaza blockade. The police said the demonstration slowed traffic. Not nice, to slow traffic, so off to prison with him.

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Israeli Diplomacy at Standstill as Foreign Ministry Staff Stage Labor Action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Benjamin Peim, David Rosenberg - January 6, 2011 - 1:00am

Everyone from the president of Russia to Filipino guest workers and new immigrants is being blocked from entering Israel as a work slowdown by the country’s diplomatic corps enters its 11th day. Foreign Ministry employees have stopped arranging official visits and processing visas for immigrants and foreign workers, and have stopped working with other branches of the government, said Amir Sagie, a member of the union’s negotiating team. The diplomats are coming to their offices and embassies, but they have shed their suits and ties for jeans and sneakers, he said.

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Israeli police raid leftist homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Mya Guarnieri - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli activists who participate in protests against their country's separation barrier came under state attack on Wednesday, with special forces entering homes in Tel Aviv. Israeli special police forces showed up outside one home in central Tel Aviv, shared by a number of left-wing activists. After spending some time outside the residence, forces attempted to enter and conduct a search. Activists said that they were not shown a search permit and refused to submit to the search.

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Money can't buy love from Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) January 5, 2011 - 1:00am

An "unbreakable" bond doesn't have to be inflexible. This holds in any marriage, and it's especially true for the United States and Israel, a relationship that is quickly becoming abusive. The prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement to the Knesset on Monday that he was ready to extend a settlement freeze in the West Bank late last year, and that it was Washington who got cold feet, was the political equivalent of tossing an old friend under the proverbial bus.

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Israeli minister: Labor could bolt government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Matti Friedman - January 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel's Labor Party will pull out of the government within two months if there is no progress in peace talks, a senior member of the party said Monday, in a potential threat to the stability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition.

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