Israel extends West Bank closure for three days
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 14, 2010 - 1:00am


Israeli security forces extended the general closure on the West Bank for three days to Tuesday midnight, an Israeli army statement said on Saturday. The lookdown, which had been expected to be lifted on Saturday midnight, was extended in view of the unrest in the area, according to the statement.


Israeli apology gets cool reception in Washington
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Josef Federman - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am


Israel's prime minister expressed regret Sunday for a crisis with the United States over plans to expand a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, even as American officials played down the apology and called for bold Israeli action to get peace efforts back on track. With tensions rising, Israel deployed hundreds of police around east Jerusalem's Old City and heavily restricted Palestinian access to the area — the scene of several recent clashes.


Officials: US wants Israel to cancel building plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - March 15, 2010 - 12:00am


The U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years, said Israeli officials Monday. Tensions in the city at the center of the spat were high, with police out in large numbers in Jerusalem's volatile Old City in expectation of renewed clashes and Palestinian shopkeepers shuttering their stores for several hours to protest Israel's actions in the city.


Netanyahu faces 'moment of truth' after US slams Israel 'insult'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am


Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself on the defensive after an unprecedented public assault by US officials over the weekend, as the diplomatic furor over new building in Jerusalem escalated.


Questions abound after Biden's Israel visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 12, 2010 - 1:00am


You come for a hug. You leave with a slap. It happens in the Middle East. Vice President Joe Biden's trip this week was supposed to highlight U.S.-Israeli cooperation to counter a perceived nuclear threat from Iran and kick off U.S.-brokered indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Instead, talk about Iran was sidetracked and the outlook for peace may be murkier than it was before. Even here, people are not quite sure how that happened.


Clinton Rebukes Israel on Housing Announcement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - March 12, 2010 - 1:00am


In a tense, 43-minute phone call on Friday morning, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s plan for new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem sent a “deeply negative signal” about Israeli-American relations, and not just because it spoiled a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.


Driving Drunk in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) March 13, 2010 - 1:00am


I am a big Joe Biden fan. The vice president is an indefatigable defender of U.S. interests abroad. So it pains me to say that on his recent trip to Israel, when Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government rubbed his nose in some new housing plans for contested East Jerusalem, the vice president missed a chance to send a powerful public signal: He should have snapped his notebook shut, gotten right back on Air Force Two, flown home and left the following scribbled note behind: “Message from America to the Israeli government: Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.


Netanyahu Offers Apology, but No Shift in Policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told his cabinet on Sunday that the ill-timed announcement of new housing plans for a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last week had been “regrettable” and “hurtful.” Mr. Netanyahu also said that the government had set up a committee to “examine the chain of events and to ensure procedures” to prevent such an episode from happening again.



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