March 1st

Guest post: Salam Fayyad's Facebook outreach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Erica Silverman - February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

With Internet-organized protest movements sweeping the Arab world, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is trying his hand at social networking by posting a request on his Facebook page aimed at young Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, asking for suggestions as to who should fill the seats of the new cabinet that he must form in less than six weeks. "We appreciate the role of the youth and their participation in making this decision, they play a major role in our march toward freedom," said Fayyad.

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News Analysis: Israel worried with New Arab system
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Khaled Khalefe - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli leadership is watching the latest developments in the Arab world with great concern and anxiety, and it's not clear whether the emerging Arab regimes and a new Arab world will enhance the Israeli security or not, according to analysts. Israeli officials are worried about the loss of those leaders who created the environment for the historic reconciliation with the Israeli state, such as former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said analysts.

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Report: Israel to legalize tens of outposts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel is moving to "immediately dismantle all illegal settlement outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land," Israeli media reported Tuesday citing army officials. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the decision would legalize other outposts, which were determined to be on "state lands." The announcement came hours after Israeli troops took down two sheds in an outpost near Havat Gilad, an illegal settlement in the northern West Bank near Nablus.

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PA: Israel assassination probe 'making excuses for murder'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority on Monday slammed an Israeli investigation which found the killing of 13 civilians in Gaza during an assassination was not a disciplinary offense. In July 2002, Israeli forces dropped a one-ton bomb on the Gaza City home of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh, killing 13 civilians including his wife, daughter and eight other children. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed a committee of military generals to probe the killings after a rights group petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court demanding an investigation.

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Israel shuts down Jerusalem event
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli police and intelligence agents forcibly shut down two events in East Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, citing "security reasons" for the clampdown. Armed police and border guards prevented guests from entering a conference on "Defending Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem" at the Capitol Hotel on Salah Addin Street in Jerusalem, organizers said. Police handed organizers a warrant signed by minister of internal security Yitzhaq Ahronovitch addressed to the hotel administration. The warrant warned that the meeting was banned for "security reasons."

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Future Cloudy As Palestinians Dissolve Peace Team
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Sheera Frenkel - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

As popular uprisings continue to spread across the Middle East, Palestinian leaders have made a number of moves aimed at appeasing would-be protesters in the West Bank. Among those is the dismantling of their entire peacemaking apparatus, which has become deeply unpopular after years of failed peace talks. Palestinian officials say it is now unclear who would negotiate for them if the peace process resumes.

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In Mideast, peace map is in sight
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by H.d.s. Greenway - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM has it that with the Arab world in turmoil, this is a time for Israel to batten down the hatches, and put any talk of peace with the Palestinians on ice for awhile. But there are Israeli voices, both in and out of government, who say this is exactly the time, with the old Arab order changing, to lance the Palestinian boil and go for a two-state solution.

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Netanyahu Warns on Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu berated leaders of his conservative-leaning Likud Party on Monday after they pressed him for more settlement construction, telling them that Israel was under international pressure and operating in a complex new reality in the Middle East. “People don’t understand the reality they are living in,” Mr. Netanyahu was quoted as telling an assembly of Likud ministers and legislators, as well as some leaders of Jewish settler councils from the West Bank, who then passed on the remarks to the Israeli news media.

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February 28th

Palestinians seek new paths to statehood. An Israeli investigation finds no crime was committed in the assassination of a Hamas leader in 2002 that caused many civilian casualties. Two Gaza men and a baby are wounded in Israeli attacks. Fouad Ajami says the Arabs have turned their shame into liberty. Israel builds a light railway along a venerable road in Jerusalem. Fatah sets new standards for cabinet appointments. Settlers clash with Israeli police. Hamas suppresses a pro-unity rally. DM Barak says Israel must look past its anxieties and towards peace. Israeli police arrest eight settlers. Jordan’s FM says Palestinian statehood is nonnegotiable. The PLO also opposes power-sharing with Hamas. Akiva Eldar says PM Netanyahu is exploiting Israeli anxieties to forestall peace, and the PM says he is wary about new international initiatives on negotiations. Neri Livneh says Jewish fundamentalists are as dangerous as Muslim ones. Palestinians use technology to avoid long lines at Israeli checkpoints. Few Israeli politicians are attending the J Street conference. Rabbi Eric Yoffie says Jews and Muslims should work together for peace and democracy. Abdel Monem Said says the US veto of UN resolution on settlements was “shameful.”

Shame on Obama and the US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) February 26, 2011 - 1:00am

The US veto of the Security Council draft resolution to condemn Israeli settlement construction is a disgrace on the part of President Barack Obama and the United States. This ignominy will forever remain in the history books, and the voting records of the UN Security Council. The veto is shameful firstly because the US, by using its veto power, has adopted a stance in opposition to the entire world.

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