Palestinian PM-designate suggests forming unity gov't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Fares Akram, Yang Yuanyuan - March 7, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian Prime Minister- designate Salam Fayyad said Sunday that after studying faults that led to the Palestinian division in 2007, he proposed to form a unity government which would include both Hamas and Fatah. The unity government that comprised the Islamic Hamas movement and the Fatah party of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas collapsed in June 2007 "due to the absence of a clear security vision," Fayyad said during an interview with Xinhua. » Read more

Palestinian leader: No state with temporary border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - March 5, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian president said Saturday he would not accept an Israeli peace initiative if it called for temporary borders for a future Palestinian state. President Mahmoud Abbas' comments were the highest official response so far to news of a peace plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to publicly propose in the coming weeks. » Read more

Israeli PM: World conditioned to back Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 6, 2011 - 1:00am Israel's leader has accused the international community of automatically siding with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the Palestinians are refusing to make peace overtures, "instead preferring to take advantage of the international community's Pavlovian reflex in their favor." Peace talks broke down in September. The Palestinians blame Israel for the stalemate, saying continued Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is preventing the resumption of talks. » Read more

Israel denies top Anglican Bishop residency visa ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 6, 2011 - 1:00am The Anglican Church says Israeli officials are refusing to renew the residency visa of its top official in the Holy Land. Church spokesman Hussam Naoum said Sunday that Israel's Interior Ministry has refused to renew the visa of the Right Rev. Suheil Dawani since September. Naoum says the church kept the issue quiet while they tried to lobby officials, but decided to go public after receiving no response. Dawani, who is Palestinian, is remaining in Jerusalem illegally. » Read more

Gaza food situation tight as Karni crossing closed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 7, 2011 - 1:00am The complete closure of the Israel-Gaza border crossing at Karni, announced on March 2, will make the delivery of food aid to Gaza more difficult, in an area where over half the population is estimated to be food insecure. The closure of Karni will also add 20 percent to the cost of aid delivery, said Chris Gunness, spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Jerusalem, at a time when UNRWA is facing a budget deficit of over $50 million. Some 750,000 Palestinians receive UNRWA food assistance in Gaza, out of about one million refugees living in the territory. » Read more

Fatah scattered over Fayyad unity plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 7, 2011 - 1:00am Fatah leaders are divided over re-appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to create a unity government as he re-assembles the resigned ministerial cabinet. Since handing in his government's resignation on 14 February and being re-appointed as Prime Minister, Fayyad has said he hopes to use the mandate given to him to reconstruct the cabinet as an opportunity to cobble together a body which would put an end to political infighting, and lead the way to municipal, national and presidential elections in the coming five months. » Read more

Abbas gives Fayyad more time to form cabinet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 7, 2011 - 1:00am Re-appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad requested on Sunday another two weeks to form a new government, the secretary general of the Council of Ministers said. Na’im Abu Al-Hums told Ma'an Fayyad made the request to President Mahmoud Abbas and it had been agreed, allowing the independent politician to continue a series of consultations with a range of Palestinian political parties. » Read more

All's quiet on the Israel-Lebanon front ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - March 6, 2011 - 1:00am Something unusual is happening along Israel's border with Lebanon: nothing. The 49-mile stretch, one of the Mideast's most volatile areas, has been uncommonly quiet since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Even as both sides continue to build up arms and make war plans, it's been one of the longest lulls in fighting since Israel's founding. Not even a brief gunfire exchange last summer or the recent restructuring of Lebanon's government by Hezbollah have substantially raised border tension, as might have occurred a decade ago. » Read more

New Egypt foreign minister likely to be tougher on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Muhammed Mansour, Liz Sly - March 6, 2011 - 1:00am Egypt on Sunday got its second new government in less than six weeks, including a new foreign minister who is expected to take a tougher line with Israel than the government of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak did. The newly appointed prime minister, Essam Sharaf, announced his new cabinet as tensions soared between pro-democracy protesters and the army in downtown Cairo, with troops firing live ammunition and civilians armed with knives and sticks dispersing demonstrators who wanted to storm a key security building. » Read more

A Way Forward for Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) March 6, 2011 - 1:00am "Is This Man Dangerous?" asks the headline on the cover of Haim Watzman's article on how the maverick Sari Nusseibeh is challenging Middle East orthodoxies (The Chronicle Review, February 4). The answer is a definite no. As a philosopher president (of Al-Quds University), he regularly floats ideas to question assumptions and authority, to think outside the box, in order to educate and to transform reality. » Read more