A government united by its disagreements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) March 26, 2009 - 12:00am The new government of Israel has finally taken shape. Likud will lead a hodgepodge of right wing and left wing, secular and religious as well as capitalist and socialist. This, Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners tell us, is the unity government that the Israelis want. But while the government appears to represent the full spectrum of the Israeli electorate, there is little to unify the coalition partners. » Read more

Report: Significant progress on Shalit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roee Nahmias - March 26, 2009 - 12:00am Significant progress ahs been made on the release of Israeli captive Gilad Shalit, a senior Palestinian official told Hizbullah's al-Manar television. The official said that "an Egyptian envoy arrived in Israel Tuesday evening and met with senior Israeli officials, including Ofer Dekel, who have been appointed by the government to handle the Shalit case, and Amos Gilad. "Great progress was registered during the meeting," he added. » Read more

The Last Chance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) March 26, 2009 - 12:00am It would appear that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister-designate, has struck a secret agreement with Avigdor Lieberman, head of the ultra-right wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, to continue construction on the so-called E1 settlement plan, which will sever occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. » Read more

The Lobby Falters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from London Review of Books by John Mearsheimer - (Opinion) March 26, 2009 - 12:00am Many people in Washington were surprised when the Obama administration tapped Charles Freeman to chair the National Intelligence Council, the body that oversees the production of National Intelligence Estimates: Freeman had a distinguished 30-year career as a diplomat and Defense Department official, but he has publicly criticised Israeli policy and America’s special relationship with Israel, saying, for example, in a speech in 2005, that ‘as long as the United States continues unconditionally to provide the subsidies and political protection that make the Israeli occupation and the high-hande » Read more

Israeli Crimes and the Opportunity for Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) March 26, 2009 - 12:00am Arab observers can rightly ask about the reaction of the western world, its media, and pro-Israeli groups if Arab soldiers had committed the crimes that Israeli soldiers have acknowledged during the war against Gaza. » Read more

Hamas: We've resumed Shalit talks with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - March 26, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas resumed indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at exchanging abducted Israel Defense Force soldier Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli jails, Hamas official Ali Barakeh said Wednesday. Shalit was kidnapped by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June, 2006. Efforts to secure his release in a prisoner exchange with Hamas have so far yielded no results. Barakeh said that a delegation from Hamas is in Cairo to pursue a deal. » Read more

IAF Sudan strike / 'Two planes hit convoy' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Barak Ravid - March 26, 2009 - 12:00am Two senior Sudanese politicians confirmed Thursday that unidentified aircraft attacked a convoy of suspected arms smugglers as it drove through Sudan toward Egypt in January, killing almost everyone in the convoy. An American news network said that the attack was carried out by the Israel Air Force. CBS reported that the IAF carried out the attack on a convoy of trucks in Sudan carrying arms for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, 39 people riding in the 17-truck convoy were killed, while a number of civilians in the area were injured. » Read more