A surefire way to keep Israeli Arabs from voting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - November 29, 2011 - 1:00am

Against the wave of anti-democratic legislation, the meaning of conservatism is turned around; refraining from action becomes active political cooperation with the trampling of democracy.

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O little church in Bethlehem – basilica decays as sects squabble over who pays
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - (Analysis) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

When it comes to fixing the church roof, rarely has it been so difficult to reach agreement as at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. But, after a centuries-old stand-off between rival religious sects, it looks as if the reputed birthplace of Jesus may finally get the renovation it so badly needs.

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Israel delays bridge razing at volatile holy site
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Maayan Lubell - (Analysis) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed demolition of a footbridge at Jerusalem's holiest and most volatile religious site, fearing the work could spark Muslim anger, government officials said on Monday. The wooden ramp, now deemed unsafe by engineers, was erected by Israeli authorities as a stopgap after a snowstorm and earthquake in 2004 damaged the stone bridge leading up from Judaism's Western Wall to the sacred compound where the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine stand.

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An open letter to Christian leaders in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Michaels - (Opinion) November 19, 2011 - 1:00am

I write with a request: for your forgiveness. As a representative of the oldest Jewish communal organization – B’nai B’rith International, which includes members of many backgrounds in over 50 countries, including Israel, where we have been present in Jerusalem since 1888 – I feel obliged to express my revulsion over new reported incidents of spitting at Christian clergy in certain areas of the Holy City. I feel especially obliged to do so as an Orthodox Jew.

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Jerusalem & Babylon / Ultra-Orthodox need not protest Israel, they run it
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am

Someone just woke up and discovered that women have been banished from advertising billboards throughout Jerusalem. Good morning! The Modesty Police has been ruling the streets for years and none of you have done anything about it. I am normally very skeptical of conspiracy theories, because that is what they are, theories, and because I have actually met some of the conspiracists. But even I sometimes wonder if a group of rabbis did not get together at some point at the end of the 1990s and hatch a plan to take over the state of Israel by legal and democratic means.

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Top settler rabbi: Soldiers will sooner choose death than suffer women's singing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yair Ettinger - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel Defense Forces soldiers should choose death before they remain at army events which include women's singing, a top settler religious leader said in an interview on Thursday. The comment made by Elyakim Levanon, the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh, came after earlier this week, 19 reserve major generals sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, imploring them not to allow harm to come to women's service in the army as a result of religious soldiers' demands.

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Israeli generals fight gender segregation in ranks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - (Analysis) November 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel's military must not give in to Jewish religious demands to prevent the mixing of men and women in the ranks, a group of reservist generals told the country's defence minister on Monday. The 19 generals, among them former army, air force and navy commanders, listed times when they said women had been sidelined or segregated during military events because of pressure from male Orthodox soldiers.

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Fighting to make Israel into a military theocracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yagil Levy - (Opinion) November 8, 2011 - 1:00am

Is there a connection between the warning of the outgoing Judea and Samaria Division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon - who said a "radical minority, marginal in quantity but not in influence, is liable to bring about extensive escalation through what are called 'price tag' acts but reach the level of terrorism" - and the separation of women at the army's Simhat Torah celebrations?

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Moshe Dayan's Widow Ruth: Zionist Dream Has Run Its Course
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Rula Jebreal - (Opinion) October 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Elegantly dressed and perfectly made up, Ruth Dayan, 95, receives me with a wide smile in her Tel Aviv home overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The charismatic, alert, and extremely intelligent Dayan is the widow of Moshe Dayan, legendary chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces and a key leader in the war of independence in 1948. Indeed, Moshe Dayan was transformed into a symbol of national strength during the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The Israelis felt invincible with this imposing figure at the helm.

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In the Holy Land, a changed Christian world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Matti Friedman - (Analysis) October 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The schedules for Mass at the two Roman Catholic churches in Jaffa, on Israel's Mediterranean coast, reveal a change that has dramatically, if quietly, altered the face of Christianity in the Holy Land.

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