Obama calls Abbas to discuss Middle East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 20, 2012 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time in six months on Monday to discuss the long-stalled Middle East peace process, the White House said. White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement that Obama called Abbas and told him the United States was committed to Middle East peace. He told Abbas both sides need to reinforce the efforts that have brought an end to recent fighting and to avoid provocative actions. » Read more

Israel: Palestinian economy not stable enough for independent state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 18, 2012 - 12:00am Israel is expected to present a report Wednesday at a donor meeting on Palestinian aid in Brussels claiming that the Palestinian Authority is not sufficiently stable to meet the standards of a well-functioning state. » Read more

EU pledges 35 million euros for Palestinian infrastructure project ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) by DPA - March 19, 2012 - 12:00am The European Union on Monday pledged 35 million euros (46.3 million dollars) for two Palestinian infrastructure projects. "We have signed two important agreements for a total amount of 35 million euros... one for a water treatment plant in northern West Bank ... another is for the crossings in Gaza," the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Salam Fayyad said. The money comes from the 300 million euros in Palestinian aid that the EU has earmarked for 2012 - the same figure that had been committed in 2011 - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters. » Read more

Palestinians ask for U.N. human rights investigation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 19, 2012 - 12:00am GENEVA, March 19 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority has asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to conduct a formal inquiry into the impact of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said on Monday. The probe should look into "attempts to confiscate land and settler violence along with the impact of settlement expansion on Palestinian life and basic human rights," he said, adding that the proposal for an inquiry was formally tabled on Friday. » Read more

Fatah official: Assassinations kill 2-state solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 20, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The head of Fatah in the Gaza Strip hit out at Israel's assassination policy on Monday, a week after factions in Gaza said a truce to halt recent violence would stop targeted killings by Israel. Abdullah Abu Samhadanah told reporters the killings had "assassinated the possibility of reaching a political compromise, leaving no room for the two-state solution." » Read more

Israel says improved crossing procedures for Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 20, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli military department in charge of civil affairs in the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday it has made a number of improvements to Palestinians' quality of life, Israeli media reported. The Israeli Civil Administration told Voice of Israel radio it had improved procedures at a number of military checkpoints in the West Bank. A Palestinian official, speaking to Ma'an on condition of anonymity, said there was nothing new in the announced improvements. » Read more

Even Einstein couldn't think of a peace plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am Given that she had had a two-year affair with the married Albert Einstein when she was 23 and he was 44, and that she was a Jew desperate to escape an Austria overrun by the Nazis, what resounds down the years about the letter Betty Neumann sent to Einstein in America is its restraint and delicacy. Writing to the already world famous scientist in German two months after Hitler's tanks had rolled into Vienna, Miss Neumann, by now in her mid-thirties, formally addresses her former lover – now installed at Princeton University – as "Highly Esteemed Herr Professor". » Read more

Abbas to Obama: PLO ready for talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 20, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that President Mahmoud Abbas insisted Palestinians are ready to return to negotiations if Israel commits to Quartet requirements, in a conversation with US President Barack Obama. Obama called Abbas on Monday to assure him of the US commitment to Middle East peace, the White House said, in their first conversation since meeting in New York as the US vetoed Abbas' bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN six months ago. » Read more

Not only violence has failed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am In reviewing more than six decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a cost/benefit analysis of the two sides' reliance on violence produces a very mixed record. Whereas Israel has generally triumphed in its conventional wars against neighboring Arab states, success in fighting non-state actors--primarily the Palestinians but also Hizballah--has been much more difficult to achieve. The Palestinian record against Israel is no better. » Read more

Physicians of female Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike say her life is in danger ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 20, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — A Palestinian woman who has refused food for the past month to protest her imprisonment by Israel without formal charges is in grave danger of dying, a medical rights group said Tuesday. Hana Shalabi lost 14 kilograms (31 pounds), her muscles are wasting and she is in excruciating pain, said Ran Cohen of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has provided her a doctor. She has taken only water since her arrest on Feb. 16. » Read more