Israel is paranoid about pro-Palestinian activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) April 12, 2012 - 12:00am

And with what shall we frighten the Israeli public in advance of the seventh day of Passover? How will we provide the dose of fear to which it has long since become addicted? After a week of a quiet and safe vacation, we have to find something, after all. The Iranian threat has entered a negotiations freeze, terror is quiet, even the Grad missiles have diminished in number, there is no mass plague on the horizon and even the circumstances of the attack against the Jew in Kiev have not become sufficiently clear.

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Quartet to Meet in DC, but Expectations are Low
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Senior Quartet representatives will meet in Washington on Wednesday amid little expectation that they will have more luck this time kick-starting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and Quartet envoy Tony Blair will meet on the sidelines of the G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process.

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Baird lobbied hard against Palestinian bid for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Globe and Mail
by Campbell Clark, Justin Ling - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird personally took to the phones last year to try to swing countries to oppose Palestinian efforts to be recognized as a state by the United Nations, according to newly released documents that for the first time reveal in detail how intensely Canada worked behind the scenes to block the statehood resolution. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird holds a news conference announcing that Canada is reopening its embassy in Libya's capital, Tuesday September 13 2011 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

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Iran Media: Israel-Linked ‘Mercenaries’ Arrested
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 10, 2012 - 12:00am

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's official news agency says the country's intelligence department has dismantled an Israeli-linked assassination and sabotage network. The Tuesday report by Irna says several "mercenaries" were arrested in different parts of the country and that large quantities of weaponry and telecommunications equipment were seized. It said more details will be revealed at an appropriate time in the future. Iran periodically announces the capture or execution of alleged U.S. or Israeli spies, and often no further information is released.


Grass: Ignorant or Calculating Cynic?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am

As a falsifier of his own Nazi past and that of Germany’s, Grass’s moral and intellectual authority to speak on these issues is zero.

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Israel’s Grass fiasco
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Daniel Bettini - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Interior Minister Eli Yishai’s decision to declare Guenter Grass a persona non grata appeared cynical and populist from the get-go. It was clear that not much time would elapse before the overwhelming support for Israel in the German and global media, and the criticism over Grass’ despicable poem, would turn around as result of our interior minister’s statement.

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The Israeli and Arab Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear Program
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brookings
by Shibley Telhami - (Analysis) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Suzanne Maloney draws attention to many important angles of the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear program and America’s policy choices. But there are also others for Washington to consider—namely, the Israeli and Arab dimensions. Here are ten brief points for the next president to reflect on.

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Militants attack Egypt’s gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 9, 2012 - 12:00am

EL-ARISH, Egypt — Militants on Monday blew up a gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that transports fuel to neighboring Israel and Jordan, a senior Egyptian security official said. The attack was the 14th on the pipeline since last year’s popular uprising that ousted Egypt’s longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Previous bombings of the pipeline have been blamed on Islamist militants who have stepped up their activity in Sinai, taking advantage of a security vacuum caused by a thin police presence in the post-Mubarak era.

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Israel has reacted with hysteria over Gunter Grass
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) April 9, 2012 - 12:00am

Author Gunter Grass sees the State of Israel as a threat to world peace. He believes Israel is armed with nuclear weapons, and is threatening Iran as the Islamic Republic looks to obtain a nuclear arsenal. After the poem he published to this effect in the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung last week drew extensive criticism, he asked to distinguish between the state and its government. It's not Israel that worries him, he said, but the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Chinese Divided Over Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Robert O. Freedman - (Opinion) April 9, 2012 - 12:00am

In recent years, China’s foreign policy has turned more assertive than it has been in decades. When it comes to the Middle East, it has expressed this aggressiveness mostly through the veto power it wields in the United Nations Security Council, protecting Iran, for example, from tough sanctions over its nuclear program. With regard to the Syrian uprising, the Chinese, along with the Russians, have prevented the international body from sanctioning the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for its bloody repression of its own population.

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