March 14th

Lieberman: Hamas can take over West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - March 14, 2011 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that "the Foreign Ministry believes, in contrast with other authorities, that Hamas is currently stronger than Fatah in Judea and Samaria". "Hamas does not currently desire to take hold of power there," he told a debate at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "They are waiting for the day after Abbas and Fayyad extract the maximum they are able to get out of the international community, and then they will seize power." » Read more

Settlement attack could trigger terrorism by Jewish extremists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Blog) March 13, 2011 - 1:00am The horrific act perpetrated in Itamar late Friday night turns the clock back to a darker time in the West Bank. The two Palestinian terrorists who murdered five family members - a father, mother and their three children - provided a jolt whose impact is likely to be far-reaching. Its consequences will cast a pall over Israelis' and Palestinians' sense of security in the northern West Bank, the intelligence cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian security services, and perhaps the lofty goal of restarting the diplomatic process. » Read more

Palestinians honour highjack leader, defying Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - March 13, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinians from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction named a town square on Sunday after the leader of a 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis were killed. The ceremony, in Al-Bireh, a town near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, was held while Israelis mourned five members of a Jewish settler family knifed to death on Saturday in a West Bank settlement in an attack Israel blamed on Palestinians. Many Palestinians see Dalal al-Mughrabi, a member of the then-underground Fatah movement, as a heroine for her role in hijacking the bus on Israel's Haifa-Tel Aviv highway. » Read more

Hamas: No connection between Gaza groups and West Bank murdering ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 13, 2011 - 1:00am Hamas on Sunday denied any connection between the Gaza-based militant groups and the murdering of five Israelis in a West Bank settlement. Taher Al-Nounou, spokesman for Hamas' government that controls Gaza, said that Israel tries to implicate Gaza in the attack that happened in Itamar settlement "to justify an aggressive act against the Gaza Strip." Al-Nounou said that the killing might be a result of a criminal act, while some Israeli officials said there was a connection between Hamas and the attackers. » Read more

No major policy changes expected in Israel following deadly attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - March 13, 2011 - 1:00am The Israeli government on Saturday night responded to the murder of five settlers in Itamar neighborhood by allowing the construction of about 500 new homes in settlements across the West Bank. During Sunday's cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Palestinian National Authority's tolerance of "incitement" for the Itamar tragedy. "We expect much more unequivocal condemnation, but even more than that, we want to see unequivocal action by the Palestinian National Authority to stop allowing this incitement," Netanyahu said in a statement. » Read more

Abbas: PNA would have prevented deadly attack if it had early information ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 14, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian National Authority would have prevented a deadly attack on a Jewish settlement if it had information in advance, President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday. "If we had known, we would have prevented it using all our ways, " Abbas said in an interview with Israel Radio. "We want to know who committed the operation," Abbas added, referring to the stabbing of five Israeli settlers, members of one family, to death in the West Bank settlement of Itamar early Saturday. » Read more

Settlement killings inhuman, Abbas tells Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 14, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday the killing of a Jewish settler couple and three of their children was "inhuman", telling Israel he was determined to help catch those responsible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had complained that Abbas's administration insufficiently condemned the attack and even encouraged such bloodshed through "incitement" in official Palestinian forums. "This was inhuman and immoral. We deplore this incident, without a doubt. It is an abomination," Abbas told Israel Radio. » Read more

US criticizes Israeli settlement construction plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Amy Teibel - March 14, 2011 - 12:00am The U.S. Embassy said Monday it was "deeply concerned" by Israel's plans to build hundreds of new homes in the West Bank following a deadly attack on a settler family, calling Israeli settlements "illegitimate" and an obstacle to peacemaking. In a rare interview to the Israeli media, the Palestinian president reached out to the Israeli public, decrying the weekend attack in the settlement of Itamar as "despicable, immoral and inhuman." But he rejected the Israeli suggestion that his government was indirectly to blame. » Read more

Gaza govt: Settler attackers may not be Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 14, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinians may not be responsible for killing a family of five Israelis in Itamar settlement overnight Friday, the Gaza government said Sunday. Israeli authorities immediately blamed Palestinians for the attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority of "daily incitement" against Israel in his response to the killings. However, Gaza government spokesman Taher An-Nunu said the Israeli government should not rule out the possibility that the attack was perpetrated by Israeli criminals. Hamas has denied any involvement in the attack. » Read more

Settler violence continues across West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 14, 2011 - 12:00am ettlers were seen setting fire to an agricultural field north of Ramallah overnight, while a mob entered a town east of Qalqiliya and set fire to civilian vehicles as Palestinians in the West Bank remain fearful. Palestinian security had been warning residents against travel to areas of settler violence on Sunday afternoon, but drivers continue to fear roadside attacks on shared settler roads, while Palestinians living near settlements fear attacks from roving mobs of settlers seeking vengeance for the murder of a family in the northern West Bank in Friday night. » Read more