PM green lights West Bank settlement expansion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yair Altman - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, it what seems to be a move inspired by right-wing pressures, agreed Sunday on a new zoning plan for the West Bank settlement of Nofim. The rare move effectively enables further developments of the settlement. Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres is expected to meet with US president Barack Obama later this week in Washington. So far the defense minister and other senior officials have abstained from altering the sensitive status-quo surrounding the settlements. » Read more

PA: Goldstone caved under pressure ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - April 3, 2011 - 12:00am While Israel is overjoyed with Richard Goldstone's change of heart vis-à-vis the report that blamed the Jewish State of committing war crimes during the Gaza war, the Palestinian Authority is furious at the South African judge. In a press release published on Sunday, Nabil Abu Rodeina, the spokesperson to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that Goldstone's comments "do not change the fact that Israel committed a massacre and war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, leaving more than 1,500 Palestinians dead." » Read more

Fayyad's road to freedom runs over Israeli law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? A bulldozer destroys a cistern, with only a shepherd nearby. Is the grinding sound of cement being crushed that is heard by the driver considered a sound? A bulldozer destroys another cistern, with only Palestinian residents of the South Hebron Hills nearby and few lefties from Ta'ayush, an Arab-Jewish anti-occupation group. cooperative Israeli-Palestinian association. Has there even been a demolition, if the sound hasn't reached The New York Times? » Read more

'Goldstone retraction reduces chance of similar probe' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Judge Richard Goldstone’s retraction and new-found faith in the Israeli legal system will likely contribute to Israeli efforts to prevent the establishment of a new probe following military action in a future conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a senior IDF officer predicted on Sunday. On Friday, Goldstone published an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he said he that he no longer believed that Israel had intentionally targeted civilians during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in 2009. » Read more

Next Gaza war is getting closer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am After a week-long lull in violence along the Gaza border, the southern front is heating up once again following an Israeli assassination on Saturday of three Hamas men in Khan Yunis, one of them a senior member of the organization's military wing. According to the IDF, the three men were planning to abduct Israeli tourists in Sinai over the Passover holiday. Hamas denies the allegation. » Read more

'Israel faces threat of becoming a religious state' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ben Hartman - April 3, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is on its way to becoming a religious state – a reality that would pose a threat to its survival, according to a report released by the University of Haifa on Sunday. The report, entitled “Israel 2010-2030, on the Path to a Religious State,” examines the demographic factors set to change Israel in the coming years, through a comparison of the religious, haredi, secular and Arab birthrates in the country. » Read more

Gaza Militants Declare Truce Over; Israel Says Deterrence Holding ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Omar Ghraieb, Arieh O'Sullivan - April 3, 2011 - 12:00am Lashing out verbally following an Israeli air strike that killed three members of the armed wing of Hamas, Islamic militant groups in the Gaza Strip declared the de-facto two-year-old ceasefire with Israel null and void. But an Israel official said the threat was empty. » Read more

Israel government unveils counter-cyberterrorism unit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua April 3, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli officials have said they are set to implement a new strategy aimed at foiling the growing wave of cyberterrorism and cybertheft attacks perpetrated against its government ministries, military agencies, and major banking and commercial entities. » Read more

Despite its flaws, the Goldstone report has changed Israel's behaviour in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Since releasing his report in the September after the fighting, Judge Richard Goldstone has been Israel's most hated person. In the eyes of the Netanyahu government and its rightwing supporters, he personified the effort to "de-legitimise" the Jewish state and deprive it of its ability to defend itself. He was portrayed in the popular mediaas the quintessential self-hating Jew. Human rights groups that gave the commission information have been branded as collaborators and traitors. » Read more

Israeli tells citizens to leave Sinai immediately ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ian Deitch - April 2, 2011 - 12:00am Israel warned its citizens in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to evacuate immediately Saturday, hours after launching an airstrike that killed three Hamas militants accused of planning to abduct Israelis over the upcoming Jewish festival of Passover. The government warned its citizens to "leave Sinai immediately and return to Israel," and quoted intelligence sources about "terrorist plans to kidnap Israelis and use them as bargaining chips." » Read more