March 7th

All's quiet on the Israel-Lebanon front ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - March 6, 2011 - 1:00am Something unusual is happening along Israel's border with Lebanon: nothing. The 49-mile stretch, one of the Mideast's most volatile areas, has been uncommonly quiet since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Even as both sides continue to build up arms and make war plans, it's been one of the longest lulls in fighting since Israel's founding. Not even a brief gunfire exchange last summer or the recent restructuring of Lebanon's government by Hezbollah have substantially raised border tension, as might have occurred a decade ago. » Read more

New Egypt foreign minister likely to be tougher on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Muhammed Mansour, Liz Sly - March 6, 2011 - 1:00am Egypt on Sunday got its second new government in less than six weeks, including a new foreign minister who is expected to take a tougher line with Israel than the government of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak did. The newly appointed prime minister, Essam Sharaf, announced his new cabinet as tensions soared between pro-democracy protesters and the army in downtown Cairo, with troops firing live ammunition and civilians armed with knives and sticks dispersing demonstrators who wanted to storm a key security building. » Read more

A Way Forward for Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) March 6, 2011 - 1:00am "Is This Man Dangerous?" asks the headline on the cover of Haim Watzman's article on how the maverick Sari Nusseibeh is challenging Middle East orthodoxies (The Chronicle Review, February 4). The answer is a definite no. As a philosopher president (of Al-Quds University), he regularly floats ideas to question assumptions and authority, to think outside the box, in order to educate and to transform reality. » Read more

A Way Forward for Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) March 6, 2011 - 1:00am "Is This Man Dangerous?" asks the headline on the cover of Haim Watzman's article on how the maverick Sari Nusseibeh is challenging Middle East orthodoxies (The Chronicle Review, February 4). The answer is a definite no. As a philosopher president (of Al-Quds University), he regularly floats ideas to question assumptions and authority, to think outside the box, in order to educate and to transform reality. » Read more

March 4th

Not a clear enough incentive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - March 2, 2011 - 1:00am According to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and 2007, once Israel has made peace with all its neighbors in accordance with a specific list of conditions (1967 borders, a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue, the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem), "the Arab countries . . . consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel." This, together with "security for all the states of the region" (an important issue that warrants a separate discussion), is the Arab "payoff" to Israel in return for peace. » Read more

If not now, then when? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Elias Samo - March 2, 2011 - 1:00am The Arab Peace Initiative, unanimously approved at the 2002 Beirut Arab League summit, is divided into two operative parts. The first, paragraph 2, which represents minimum Arab demands, calls for full Israeli withdrawal and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem its capital. The second, paragraph 3, which represents the maximum Arab offer to Israel, affirms a commitment to consider the "conflict ended and enter into a peace agreement with Israel". » Read more

Netanyahu ponders peace initiatives ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 4, 2011 - 1:00am Israel has concluded that a final peace deal with the Palestinians cannot be reached at present and is weighing alternatives to try to prove that it is interested in keeping peacemaking with the Palestinians alive, officials said yesterday. With popular protests shaking the Middle East, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under international pressure to prove he is serious about peacemaking, especially after the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's West Bank settlement construction last month. » Read more

PM likely to unveil diplomatic initiative in DC in May ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new diplomatic initiative is likely to be unveiled in Washington in May, possibly during an address to Congress. In the meantime, his envoy Yitzhak Molcho is expected to ask Quartet representatives traveling to Jerusalem next week to refrain from issuing statements fundamentally changing the Quartet’s position on the conflict, until Netanyahu unveils his new initiative. » Read more

'PM told Abbas Israel demands to hold 40% of W. Bank' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post March 4, 2011 - 1:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas some five months ago that Israel demands that 40 percent of of the West Bank remain under its control for an extended period, Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaat said on Friday, according to Israel Radio. Shaat added that Netanyahu also said he wouldn't listen to one word from Abbas and not a word about borders or refugees until the Palestinians agree to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and about its security needs, Israel Radio reported. » Read more

A peek into settlers' war room ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yair Altman - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am In a small apartment on the second floor of a building in Hebron's Jewish quarter, 12 right-wing activists gathered to create plans on how best to disrupt life in Israel, or what they call their "day of rage". The protests against police violence during the razing of illegal structures in Havat Gilad Monday, for which settlers vowed payback, began at 7 am Thursday, with activists blocking major junctions near Jerusalem. But the worst was yet to come. In their war room, organizers mapped out areas in which protesters would clash with security forces. » Read more