AL BIREH, West Bank — More than half the Palestinians who participated in municipal elections on Saturday said they did so because they saw voting as a civic duty, twice the portion giving the next most popular reason.



Analysts: Despite Hamas absence, elections still Fatah failure

Media Outlet: 
Ma'an News Agency
Date: 
October 22, 2012

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The first elections held in the West Bank for six years reflect how frustrated Palestinians are with their political system and ruling party Fatah, political observers said Sunday.

The poll was held on Saturday in 92 of the 353 municipalities in the West Bank. Other seats were uncontested, creating automatic winners, or failed to register any candidates in this round, and will hold polls next month.



Israel Seizes Activist Ship en Route to Gaza Strip

Media Outlet: 
The New York Times
Date: 
October 20, 2012

JERUSALEM — The Israeli Navy on Saturday seized a European ship headed to the Gaza Strip to try to break Israel’s maritime blockade against the Hamas-controlled region and diverted it to an Israeli port.



Palestinians: Israeli airstrike kills 2 Gazans

Media Outlet: 
Associated Press
Date: 
October 22, 2012

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip —

Israeli aircraft struck the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, killing two Palestinian militants, after mortar attacks targeted Israeli troops earlier in the day, officials said.



Israel's Netanyahu: no limit on Jerusalem building

Media Outlet: 
Associated Press
Date: 
October 21, 2012

JERUSALEM —

Israel's prime minister vowed on Sunday to continue building in east Jerusalem, despite objections from Palestinians who claim the territory as capital of their hoped-for state.



Qatar's emir to head to Hamas-ruled Gaza

Media Outlet: 
Associated Press
Date: 
October 21, 2012

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip —

The ruler of Qatar is expected in the Gaza Strip this week, in what would be a major stamp of legitimacy for the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers.



Israeli PM defers cabinet decision on report legalizing settlements

Media Outlet: 
Xinhua
Date: 
October 22, 2012

JERUSALEM, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday postponed a cabinet vote on a controversial report advocating legalizing the status of settlements and outposts in the West Bank.



Israeli local board green lights war college on disputed east Jerusalem plot, objection aroused

Media Outlet: 
Xinhua
Date: 
October 22, 2012

JERUSALEM, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Jerusalem district planning board has okayed construction of a National Defense College near the Mount of Olives on land in dispute with the Palestinians. The 42,000-square-meter structure, according to The Jerusalem Post, is to be erected adjacent to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mount Scopus campus, from where it overlooks the Old City, less than one kilometer away.



Salafis' rise in Gaza robs Hamas of resistance banner

Media Outlet: 
Christian Science Monitor
Date: 
October 15, 2012

Tel Aviv

Israel and Hamas are seeking to restore the relative calm that has prevailed for months after a weekend flare-up in fighting between Israel and Gaza that left at least five Palestinians dead. 



IDF source: Hamas gaining strength in West Bank

Media Outlet: 
The Jerusalem Post
Date: 
October 21, 2012

Hamas is getting stronger in the West Bank, but is focusing its activities on indoctrinating Palestinians in its extremist ideology and creating social assistance programs, an IDF source said Sunday.



W. Bank: Vandals graffiti, try to burn Palestinian cab

Media Outlet: 
The Jerusalem Post
Date: 
October 22, 2012

Vandals unsuccessfully tried to torch a Palestinian taxi cab at the entrance to the village of Danya in the southern Hebron Hills region late Sunday night, in what police are investigating as a 'price tag' incident.

The vandals also spray-painted "tag mahir" (price tag) on a nearby wall.



Israel's missed opportunities

Media Outlet: 
Haaretz
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 22, 2012

It is 39 years since the 6th October/Yom Kippur war of 1973. After the peace talks in Geneva following the war, Israel’s then-foreign minister, Abba Eban, the ever-articulate founding father of Israeli diplomacy, quipped that, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”



The general from Jeddah must shout louder

Media Outlet: 
Haaretz
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 22, 2012

About a month ago, I participated in one of the many seminars on the Arab Spring taking place around the world. One of the outstanding speakers was a retired general from the Saudi Arabian army who now heads a research institute in Jeddah. The general went out of his way to praise the Arab Peace Initiative that had been the brainchild of Saudi King Abdullah more than a decade ago.



Will Netanyahu change the status of the settlements?

Media Outlet: 
The Jerusalem Post
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 21, 2012

As yet we do not know whether prior to the general elections Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will actually bring to the cabinet for approval parts of the report former Supreme Court justice Edmond Levy submitted to him concerning the legalization of the allegedly illegal outposts in Judea and Samaria.



5 Broken Cameras – review

Media Outlet: 
The Guardian
Article Type: 
Film Review
Date: 
October 20, 2012

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, before he embarked on the grander works that made him famous such as his Decalogue series and his Tricolor trilogy, Krzysztof Kieslowski made a succession of films about politics and personal responsibility. One of the most notable is Camera Buff about Filip, a minor functionary in a provincial Polish town who buys an 8mm camera to photograph his baby daughter.



We condemn Israel. So why the silence on Syria?

Media Outlet: 
The Guardian
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 19, 2012

We know the government hopes to do nothing, but what about the rest of us? Exactly one year after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the chances of another round of Libya-style western military intervention, this time for Syria, hover close to zero. Even the hawkish Mitt Romney promises no such thing. Few politicians speak even of non-military options – of which there are many – let alone taking up arms.



Christians’ letter is an unworthy tactic

Media Outlet: 
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 21, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Iran is threatening Israel, the Middle East and the world with the specter of nuclear weapons. Christians across the Middle East are persecuted and martyred in the repercussions of the so-called Arab Spring. But some American Christian leaders are busy dedicating time, money and resources to their habitual demonization of Israel.



Why I Refuse to Serve in the IDF

Media Outlet: 
The Daily Beast
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 19, 2012

American Jews actively supported the civil rights movement. Or so goes the popular narrative in the American Jewish community. For the purposes of this piece, let’s call it “The Narrative.” The values that come along with The Narrative are values that have guided me throughout my life: values of nonviolence, values of anti-racism, and values of disobeying unjust laws.



Obama’s bad for Israel? His record indicates otherwise

Media Outlet: 
The Times of Israel
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 19, 2012

President Obama has been criticized for being antagonistic to or wrong for Israel. Some go so far as to claim that he is the worst president for Israel in American history. Really?



Romney’s big chance with Jewish voters

Media Outlet: 
Reuters
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 22, 2012

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney at the Monday foreign policy debate, should play to the Jewish TV audience like he was the star of a Borscht Belt revue.



The Man on a Mud-Stained Horse

Media Outlet: 
The Daily Beast
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
October 22, 2012

Somewhere in Israel, a printing house awaits Ehud Olmert's decision on his political plans before printing a Hebrew version of that most despairing [28] of election slogans, "Vote for the Crook. It's Important." Or so you might think while reading Israeli headlines of recent days.