March 1st

PA: Israel assassination probe 'making excuses for murder' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 28, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority on Monday slammed an Israeli investigation which found the killing of 13 civilians in Gaza during an assassination was not a disciplinary offense. In July 2002, Israeli forces dropped a one-ton bomb on the Gaza City home of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh, killing 13 civilians including his wife, daughter and eight other children. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed a committee of military generals to probe the killings after a rights group petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court demanding an investigation. » Read more

Israel shuts down Jerusalem event ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 1, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli police and intelligence agents forcibly shut down two events in East Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, citing "security reasons" for the clampdown. Armed police and border guards prevented guests from entering a conference on "Defending Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem" at the Capitol Hotel on Salah Addin Street in Jerusalem, organizers said. Police handed organizers a warrant signed by minister of internal security Yitzhaq Ahronovitch addressed to the hotel administration. The warrant warned that the meeting was banned for "security reasons." » Read more

Future Cloudy As Palestinians Dissolve Peace Team ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR) by Sheera Frenkel - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am As popular uprisings continue to spread across the Middle East, Palestinian leaders have made a number of moves aimed at appeasing would-be protesters in the West Bank. Among those is the dismantling of their entire peacemaking apparatus, which has become deeply unpopular after years of failed peace talks. Palestinian officials say it is now unclear who would negotiate for them if the peace process resumes. » Read more

In Mideast, peace map is in sight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by H.d.s. Greenway - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am CONVENTIONAL WISDOM has it that with the Arab world in turmoil, this is a time for Israel to batten down the hatches, and put any talk of peace with the Palestinians on ice for awhile. But there are Israeli voices, both in and out of government, who say this is exactly the time, with the old Arab order changing, to lance the Palestinian boil and go for a two-state solution. » Read more

Netanyahu Warns on Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times February 28, 2011 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu berated leaders of his conservative-leaning Likud Party on Monday after they pressed him for more settlement construction, telling them that Israel was under international pressure and operating in a complex new reality in the Middle East. “People don’t understand the reality they are living in,” Mr. Netanyahu was quoted as telling an assembly of Likud ministers and legislators, as well as some leaders of Jewish settler councils from the West Bank, who then passed on the remarks to the Israeli news media. » Read more

February 28th

Shame on Obama and the US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) February 26, 2011 - 1:00am The US veto of the Security Council draft resolution to condemn Israeli settlement construction is a disgrace on the part of President Barack Obama and the United States. This ignominy will forever remain in the history books, and the voting records of the UN Security Council. The veto is shameful firstly because the US, by using its veto power, has adopted a stance in opposition to the entire world. » Read more

An Appeal to My Muslim Friends ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Eric Yoffie - (Opinion) February 23, 2011 - 1:00am I need your help and your reassurance. This is, I know, a time of great uncertainty in large stretches of the Muslim world. The Middle East is in turmoil. Dictators have been toppled, others cling desperately to power, and demonstrators fill the streets and the squares of the Arab world to demand freedom. » Read more

At J Street Conference, Israeli Politicians Are Scarce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - February 27, 2011 - 1:00am Although relations between J Street and the Israeli government had thawed in the past year, the group’s recent refusal to denounce a U.N. resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policy has soured relations once again. J Street’s second annual conference is, therefore, taking place without any official representatives of the Israeli government in attendance. » Read more

Palestinians Turn to Computer Technology to Avoid Israeli Roadblocks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - February 27, 2011 - 1:00am Adopting an attitude of “If you can’t beat’em, go around’em,” Palestinian computer programmers have developed a simple text-messaging system to help cope with surprise or crowded checkpoints set up by the Israeli army across the West Bank. Called “Ezma,” or Arabic for traffic, the program is sustained on a user-fed databank that ferries it to subscribers, much like a traffic monitoring system in other countries. » Read more

Netanyahu wary of new international efforts in peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 27, 2011 - 1:00am Four days before Mideast Quartet officials are planned to meet Israeli and Palestinian representatives, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still hasn't decided whether or not he will be sending his adviser and peace-talks representative Yitzhak Molcho. The forum of seven senior ministers will be meeting this Tuesday to reach a decision on the matter. Over the weekend, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Robert Serry, announced that Quartet representatives would hold separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials later in the week in Brussels. » Read more