Hamas urges Egypt to ease movement of Gazans through Rafah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 10, 2011 - 1:00am Gaza's Hamas on Thursday urged Egypt to ease the movement of Palestinians to Egypt through the Rafah crossing point. In a letter to Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of the deposed Hamas government said that Egyptian authorities at Rafah prevent some Gazans from leaving the Gaza Strip. Earlier this week, Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian territories Yasser Othman said that Egyptian officials are considering a package of steps to facilitate the situation in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Amidror appointment could signal change by Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - March 10, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that he had decided to appoint Major General Yaakov Amidror to head the National Security Council following the resignation of the current head Dr. Uzi Arad. Amidror has served as head of research for the Military Intelligence branch of the Israeli army and until recently served as vice president of the Lander Institute in Jerusalem. » Read more

Gaza crossing still shut amid transport strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 10, 2011 - 1:00am A transport workers strike as kept Gaza's Kerem Shalom crossing for a fifth day Thursday, as truck drivers take the wheel of a protest demanding an end to the closure of Gaza's only bulk goods crossing, announced the week before. The strikers were demanding that the PA retract its agreement on the closure of the bulk goods crossing, saying the new arrangements would mean not only a reduced flow of goods into Gaza, but also increased risk to drivers making the trek from the southenmost tip of Gaza to the northern population center of Gaza City over what drivers say are dangerous roads. » Read more

Israel needs new type of leadership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald by Uri Dromi - March 10, 2011 - 1:00am Pressure is growing on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a move on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Israeli press, world media and heads of states are prodding him to jump-start the failed negotiations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israel’s best friend in Europe, said some solid words in his ears when they spoke recently. One Israeli diplomat, Ambassador Ilan Baruch, even resigned because of the lack of diplomatic progress. » Read more

Envoy: Israel welcomes Mideast democratization ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Ben Birnbaum - March 9, 2011 - 1:00am Israel’s ambassador to the United States offered a welcoming hand to democracy movements in the Middle East on Tuesday, after weeks in which senior Israeli officials fretted that Egypt’s revolution could produce another Islamic republic. “I want to say here unequivocally - unequivocally, categorically - that Israel welcomes the democratization process in the Middle East, that if democracies arise in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, we will be the first to embrace them,” Ambassador Michael Oren said. » Read more

Netanyahu faces test of political survival skills ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - March 11, 2011 - 1:00am In a country where most prime ministers lose power after about three years, Benjamin Netanyahu's political survival skills have impressed many. Heading a fractious coalition, he has stood up to American pressure to halt West Bank settlements, diverted blame for collapsed peace talks and deftly navigated challenges from his right flank. But though his coalition is viewed as stable for now, the Israeli leader, nearing the two-year mark, is starting to show signs of vulnerability. » Read more

Israel Holds Gaza Engineer, Relatives Say ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram - March 10, 2011 - 1:00am Relatives of an engineer from Gaza who disappeared last month in Ukraine said Thursday that he had been kidnapped by Mossad agents and transferred to an Israeli prison. The engineer, Derar Abu Sisi, is the operating manager of the only power plant in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave that is controlled by Hamas, the Islamic militant group. He is married to a Ukrainian woman and was in the country applying for citizenship, relatives said. » Read more

The Myth of the Arab Street ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bookforum.com by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) March 11, 2011 - 1:00am With the recent wave of popular uprisings in the Middle East, Western observers have had the chance to face up to an important realization: that the oldest of clichés about Middle Eastern politics, "the Arab street," is both a pernicious myth and a dynamic reality. For decades, Orientalist stereotypes about Arab culture and attitudes imbued this so-called street—a crude and monolithic metaphor for Arab public opinion and popular political sentiment—with almost uniformly negative connotations, which would then segue into dire warnings about the consequences of its eruption. » Read more