U.S., Jordan Urge Abbas to Refrain From Threats to Dismantle Palestinian Authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Over the last several weeks, the Palestinian issue has been pushed to the margins of both the Israeli and world media’s attention, as well as to that of the diplomatic agenda. The massacre in Syria, the presidential elections in Russia and the increasing tension with Iran captured the attention of Washington, the UN and Western Europe.

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Palestinians Are Caught in the Middle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The tension between Iran, on one hand, and Israel and the United States, on the other hand, is growing and having a variety of impacts regionally and internationally. The reason for the increased tension is numerous official statements and periodic leaks over a possible Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities as a way to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power.

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Should Israel Accept a Nuclear Ban?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Opinion) March 8, 2012 - 1:00am

The strained relationship between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu during the last few days over Israel’s threats of unilateral action against Iran has focused the world’s attention on the sensitive issue of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Would this mess be avoided, and would Israel be safer, if Netanyahu agreed to a regional nonproliferation treaty as will be discussed at a conference in Finland later this year? Or would giving up nuclear weapons be suicidal for Israel? Why Would Jerusalem Budge? By Mya Guarnieri, blogger, +927

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Israel Criticizes Palestinians’ Invitation to Security Council to Visit Occupied Territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 28, 2012 - 1:00am

UNITED NATIONS — The Palestinians have invited the U.N. Security Council to visit the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, a move Israel says is an attempt to try to divert attention from getting back to direct negotiations to settle the decades-old conflict. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, told reporters after a council meeting on the Mideast on Tuesday that he sent a letter inviting the 15 council members “to see with their own eyes the reality of the Palestinian people in the occupied territory” including Israel’s “illegal” settlement building.

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Pro-Israel Voices Joining Bid to Get Iranian Dissidents Group off U.S. Terror List
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - February 28, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel -- three prominent Jewish activists who have joined with other prominent people in a bid to remove a group with a blood-soaked history from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The names on the growing list of influential American advocates to de-list the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK -- known in English as the National Council of Resistance of Iran -- suggest an effort to give the bid a pro-Israel imprimatur.

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EU's Ashton criticizes Israel for approval of 'illegal' settlement homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

The European Union's Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton criticized on Thursday Israel's recent approval of new homes in the West Bank settlement of Shilo, adding that Israeli settlements were "illegal under international law." On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry gave preliminary approval to a plan to build 600 new homes in Shiloh, a hardline settlement deep inside the West Bank. The move drew rebukes from the United Nations and Palestinians, and threatened to raise tensions with the United States as the prime minister prepares to head to the White House.

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What the case of Khader Adnan can teach us about Twitter morality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

As Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli administrative detention, ends his 66-day hunger strike, activists and Israeli government officials are no doubt breathe a sigh of relief. One man remains alive while Israeli authorities get to catch their breath. Whether they decide whether to reevaluate the use of controversial practices like administrative detention to enforce the occupation is another story.

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UN Security Council Condemns Terrorist Attacks aimed at Israel in India and Georgia
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is strongly condemning the terrorist attack aimed at Israel in India and the attempted terrorist attack in Georgia. The bombing in New Delhi injured the wife of an Israeli diplomat and her driver while an attempted attack the same day in Georgia was thwarted. The Security Council said late Thursday that “any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations, whenever and by whomsoever committed.” It reaffirmed the need to combat threats to peace caused by terrorist acts.

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US joins PA, UN in slamming outpost plans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

The United States, the Palestinian Authority and the UN on Wednesday condemned Israeli plans to authorize the Shvut Rachel outpost and 180 homes in the Shiloh settlement. Both adjacent communities are located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank. US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said continued settlement activity harmed peace prospects, when quizzed by reporters at the daily press briefing in Washington. He added that he had not known of the Shiloh plans.

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It's Israeli Apartheid Week. Just tell the truth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

It's that time again. On campuses the world over, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is mounting its eighth annual Israeli Apartheid Week. In the past, this has been a time for hardline pro-Palestinians and hardline pro-Israelis to rumble, counter-accuse, hurl half-truths and, often as not, scrum to an ineffectual draw. Not this year. This year there's something distinctly unfamiliar in the air. People have begun telling the truth about BDS.

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