March 2nd

In Hebron, PA cabinet criticizes Israeli heritage list ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 2, 2010 - 1:00am In what was billed as a move to support the city, the Palestinian Authority cabinet held its weekly session in the Hebron Municipality Hall on Monday, protesting Israel's decision to include the Ibrahimi Mosque on the list of its national heritage sites. Under pressure from settlers, Israel listed Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque and Bethlehem’s Rachel’s Tomb as national “heritage sites” slated for renovation last week, sparking Palestinian protests. » Read more

US Senator John Kerry presses Israel on Gaza access ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 2, 2010 - 1:00am US Senator John Kerry raised the issue of Israel’s closure of the Gaza Strip during his meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in the Middle East, his spokesman said on Monday. The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman "has long called for heightened access for humanitarian goods and foodstuffs," said spokesman Frederick Jones on the phone from Washington. » Read more

Will Israel heritage sites spark next Palestinian intifada? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - March 1, 2010 - 1:00am Amid spreading Palestinian protests against Israel's decision to declare shrines in two West Bank cities as Israel heritage sites, the Palestinian cabinet held a solidarity meeting Monday in the city of Hebron near one of the sites while some here worried about a new Palestinian intifada. Clashes on the Temple Mount plaza in Jerusalem's Old City Sunday capped a week of violence since the declaration of Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem as official Israel heritage locations. » Read more

Israel has its faults, but apartheid isn't one of them ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) March 2, 2010 - 1:00am Toward the end of last year, Jimmy Carter apologized for some of his very harsh statements about Israel. In an "open letter to the Jewish community" -- and with a vagueness that ill becomes him -- he airily mentioned criticisms that "stigmatize Israel" but omitted his own contribution: the implication that Israel is, like the racist South Africa of old, an "apartheid" state. » Read more

Dubai cracks down on Israelis after killing of Hamas operative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - March 2, 2010 - 1:00am In Israel's quest for normal ties with the Arab world, the United Arab Emirates has been among the few countries to offer a slight opening. It allowed an Israeli cabinet minister to attend an energy conference, let an Israeli tennis star play in a recent tournament, and offered a wink and a welcome to Israelis arriving with U.S., European or other third-country passports. » Read more

March 1st

Allies Divided ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Interest by Benjamin E. Schwartz - (Analysis) March 1, 2010 - 1:00am The storm following Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s rebuff of the Obama Administration’s appeal for Israel to halt all settlement expansion—including “natural growth”—overshadows a rarely noted but more fundamental and intractable divergence between Israeli and American policies. This split is rooted in the two governments’ contrasting answers to the following question: Is Palestinian political and geographic fragmentation a barrier to peace? » Read more

Are the Settlements Illegal? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Interest by Nicholas Rostow - (Analysis) March 1, 2010 - 1:00am Israeli settlements in the territories that came under Israeli control as a result of the June 1967 war have long been a subject of often highly emotional debate within the United States, Israel and the international community. The Obama Administration’s decision to focus on settlements right out of the gate heightened attention on this already salient issue, but it is by no means clear that heightened attention will by itself facilitate resolution of the Palestine/Israel problem. » Read more

Behind the Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Interest by Daniel Kurtzer - (Analysis) March 1, 2010 - 1:00am Ariel Sharon was considered the godfather of the Israeli settlements movement. His ardent support of settlements construction and the legitimacy he lent to the strategic argument for settlements as a means of enhancing Israeli security were vital to the success of the enterprise, particularly in the years after he left the Israeli military for politics. Sharon’s basic argument revolved around security. During my time as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Sharon would often hold forth on the rationale for and his own role in the planning of new settlements. » Read more

Provocative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) March 1, 2010 - 1:00am This is an annexation of the mosques, which is illegal, and an attempt to trigger religious confrontation. The two mosques are the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque near Bethlehem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. » Read more

Israel’s warped priorities hurt peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) March 1, 2010 - 1:00am On the Jewish holy day of Purim in 1994, Baruch Goldstein entered the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron and began shooting; 29 Palestinians died in the midst of their prayers, another 150 were wounded. It was Goldstein’s perverse reinterpretation of the story of Esther, which Purim commemorates. This year, Jews across the world have just finished celebrating Purim, and once again Hebron and the Ibrahimi mosque, which contains the tomb of Abraham, are a flashpoint for conflict. » Read more