March 30th

'Obama must do more to mend ties' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am A top Jewish leader on Monday urged the Obama administration to do more to push back against negative aspersions about the Jewish community and the state of the US-Israel relationship in the wake of recent tensions between the two countries. “The outward appearances have been perceived and described in much of the media in very negative terms and I would hope that’s something theadministration would address,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. » Read more

'Israel to allow clothes, shoes into blockaded Gaza' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 29, 2010 - 12:00am Israel will allow a shipment of clothes and shoes to be delivered to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for the first time in its almost three-year-old tight blockade of the enclave, Palestinian officials said on Monday. They said the first 10 truckloads would be arriving via the Israeli-controlled Gaza border point on Thursday. Israel is under international pressure to relax its blockade, which the United Nations says punishes Gaza's 1.5 million people over their leaders - the Islamist group Hamas, who are pledged to Israel's destruction. » Read more

Arab countries miss opportunity to cash in on strained Israeli-US relations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am The 22nd Arab League summit that ended on Sunday was, as is common by now, long on rhetorical support for the Palestinians but short on practical measures to implement such support. Arab leaders did agree to draw up a strategy, in the words of Amr Moussa, the league’s secretary general, to stand up to Israel. In this context, however, it was surprising that the apparently strained US-Israeli relations were not more of a topic. » Read more

US judge to reconsider ruling in terror case ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 30, 2010 - 12:00am A federal appeals court said a judge must hear arguments on whether the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority can be forced to pay more than $116 million for a Hamas terrorist attack that killed a US citizen and his wife. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals said US District Judge Ronald Lagueux in Rhode Island should have taken more factors into account before deciding last May to uphold the default judgment against the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. The court sent the case back to Lagueux for more arguments. » Read more

Thousands attend 'Land Day' ceremony ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Sharon Roffe-ofir - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am Thousands of people arrived in Sakhnin Tuesday to attend a ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of 'Land Day'. Participants waved black flags and Palestinian flags and called, "Barak, Barak, defense minister, how many children have you killed today?" Mosques throughout the northern city called on worshippers to participate in the rally and churches rang bells of mourning for the deaths of six activists who died protesting the confiscation of their lands in 1976. » Read more

The Sons of Iran! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) March 29, 2010 - 12:00am It can’t be a coincidence that Hamas announced on Saturday its clashes with the Israelis in order to “deter Zionist arrogance and confront the occupation forces…and respond to the continued crimes of the ongoing occupation,” according to the Al Qassam Brigades statement, and at the same time Iran called on the Arab Summit in Libya to make tough decisions and “raise the alarm” to protect Jerusalem. The reason we say this can’t be a coincidence is because Hamas avoided responding to Israel for 14 months, so why now? » Read more

The plague of darkness has struck modern Israelites ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) March 29, 2010 - 12:00am One of the harshest of the 10 plagues has smitten the children of Israel this Passover, and they are stumbling about in pitch darkness, bumping blindly into anyone in their way as they head toward the edge of the precipice. Warm friends, cool friends, icy enemies: Jordan and Turkey, Brazil and Britain, Germany and Australia - it's all the same. » Read more

At a dead-end ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) March 28, 2010 - 12:00am The announcement by Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas at the Arab League summit that he will not enter into indirect talks with Israel unless it backs down on settlements, coming immediately after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected anew international calls to stop settlement building in East Jerusalem, means that the peace process has hit a dead-end. » Read more

PNA approves 3.9-bln-USD budget for 2010 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 30, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) cabinet on Monday approved its budget for 2010, which amounts to 3.9 billion U.S. dollars. The cabinet, which is chaired by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said in a statement after it held its weekly meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah that around 50 percent of the PNA budget was devoted to the Gaza Strip, ruled since 2007 by the Islamic Hamas movement, President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party's rival. » Read more

Gaza bank 'held up' in broad daylight... by police ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 29, 2010 - 12:00am When gunmen burst into Gaza's Palestine Bank on Monday and demanded a quarter of a million dollars the branch manager had to give in -- he couldn't say no to the police. The incident in Gaza City took place when police run by the Islamist Hamas movement went to impose a court order unfreezing the assets of a health charity at the heart of a bitter factional dispute. When the Friends of the Patient Society, which operates a small hospital in the impoverished territory, was taken over by Hamas earlier this year, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank blocked the assets. » Read more