The Nakba is alive for both Jews and Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Salman Masalha - (Opinion) May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

Let's set aside for a moment the discourse about human rights and the debate about natural rights, because no salvation will come from them. Moreover, they will never lead to a solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the contrary, they pour oil on the flames and encourage people to continue wallowing in the mud.

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A Silwan Story: Palestinian Child Arrested, Abused by Israeli Authorities and Barred From Finishing 9th Grade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Moriel Rothman - (Blog) May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

Someone is pounding on the door. It is 3:45 a.m. The pounding gets louder. The father goes to open the door, and immediately they enter: two men dressed in civilian clothes, flanked by police officers bearing heavy guns. They go straight towards the boy, who has pulled on a baggy sweatshirt and stepped out of his room, snake their hands under his arms, and take him. "He will only be gone for a few hours," they say. "Don't worry." Outside the house, the boy's hands are tied with plastic packaging bands and he is pushed into the police car.

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Peres calls for stop to racism and incitement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Greer Fay Cashman - May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

Racism has no place in Judaism, President Shimon Peres declared on Thursday at a swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court, and said that, as president and as a citizen of Israel, he was appalled by revelations of incitement and racism.

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No charges on 'racist' King's Torah text
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - May 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel's Attorney General has decided not to prosecute two rabbis who wrote a controversial religious text proposing circumstances in which it is permissible to kill non-Jews even if they pose no direct physical threat of violence.

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The Merchant of Venice: A protest within a play
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Will Gompertz - (Theater Review) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am

An Israeli theatre company performing a Hebrew production of The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare's troublesome play about anti-Semitism - arrived at London's Globe Theatre amid calls for and against a boycott. Cue action on and off stage. A festival consisting of all 37 of Shakespeare's plays performed in a short space of time is likely to induce some confusion into the mind of even the bard's most ardent fan. Richards can become muddled with Henrys, shipwreck locations misplaced.

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Israeli Politicians Court American Donors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am

For wealthy Americans these days, appeals for political contributions from candidates, party committees and now from super PACs seem never-ending. But for wealthy American Jews involved with Israel, there is, increasingly, yet one more hand outstretched, from abroad, seeking political largesse. Israeli candidates, vying for seats in the Knesset, the country’s parliament, have found a reliable funding base in American Jews willing to add their dollars to the pile of shekels fueling primary races in Israel’s major political parties.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am

James Baker temporarily banned him from the State Department. Madeleine Albright described him as an Israeli Newt Gingrich (and it wasn't a compliment). Bill Clinton emerged from his first meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996 (then serving his first term as prime minister) more than a little annoyed by his brash self-confidence. "Who's the fucking superpower here?" Clinton exclaimed to aides. Netanyahu is the first Israeli premier to trigger truly bipartisan recoil.

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Infiltrated by History
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Raphael Magarik - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli right-wingers have it rough. After last week’s Tel Aviv riot against African immigrants, likudniks like MKs Danny Danon (who said, “The infiltrators are a national plague”) and Miri Regev (who called immigrants “a cancer” and then backed off… sort of) came under fire for their inflammatory rhetoric.

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Ehud Barak: If negotiations fail, Israel must consider unilateral withdrawal from West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - May 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that Israel should consider unilateral moves if negations with the Palestinians fail to bear fruit. "We are a coalition of 94 MKs, this is the time to lead a diplomatic process," Barak said Wednesday morning in a speech at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies. "But if it isn't possible to reach a permanent agreement with the Palestinians, we must consider an interim arrangement or even a unilateral move."

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Kadima MK: Send human rights activists to prison camps
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Omri Efraim - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am

If given the opportunity, some Israeli human rights groups "would be the first to put haredim and settlers on buses and transfer them," Knesset Member Yulia Shamalov Berkovich said Tuesday during a heated House Committee debate of on the influx of foreign migrants into the country.

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