March 19th

Hamas, Fatah deal on unity government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

Warring Palestinian factions yesterday agreed to bury the hatchet and reached an agreement on forming a unity government during the all-faction reconciliation talks in Cairo. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum informed reporters in Gaza that Hamas-allied groups and Fatah had reached an agreement on forming a transitional unity government. In a statement sent to reporters from Cairo, Barhoum said participants at the Cairo meeting have agreed on forming a government “whose specific job will be to hold elections before the end of the year.”

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More crises in the making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Analysis) March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

Two months after its war on Gaza ended, Israel continues to impose a policy of “no development, no prosperity, no humanitarian crisis” on the strip’s 1.5 million people. Food and medicines flow through the goods crossings between Israel and Gaza at a volume to provide a bare sufficiency, but a flat ban on construction materials has blocked the rebuilding of destroyed and damaged houses, commercial premises, schools and essential infrastructure.

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The right to free movement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

In observing decades-old conflicts, political spin takes overrides reality. Facts are often replaced by claims and counterclaims leaving a neutral observer confused as to who is wrong and who is right. Sometimes, a new story is much more revealing than the tonnes of arguments and counterarguments. This was the case when news of the failure of the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, which would have released soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians, many held without trial or charge.

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The Middle East shouldn’t fret about Charles Freeman’s exit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

When the former American ambassador Charles “Chas” Freeman last week decided not to accept his appointment as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, many people, particularly in the Middle East, put this down to the workings of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. Mr Freeman, in a departing salvo, substantiated that interpretation.

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Can Israel dismiss its own troops' stories from Gaza?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Analysis) March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

The statements of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Yitzhak Rabin preparatory course provide the first, uncensored look at what occurred in some of the combat units in Operation Cast Lead. It seems that what soldiers have to say is actually the way things happened in the field, most of the time. And as usual, reality is completely different from the gentler version provided by the military commanders to the public and media during the operation and after.

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IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive. The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.

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Israeli Soldiers Break Ranks over Gaza War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's military was rocked on Thursday by Gaza war veterans' accounts of the killing of civilians and allegations that deep contempt for Palestinians pervaded its ranks. The soldiers, alumni of a military academy, gathered last month to discuss their experiences in the 22-day Israeli offensive that ended in January, a campaign that Palestinians and human rights groups have said warranted war crimes probes.

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Israel seizes West Bank Hamas men
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
March 19, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel has detained 10 senior Hamas leaders in the West Bank two days after indirect talks between the two sides on a possible prisoner swap collapsed. An Israeli military spokeswomen described them as "terror operatives"; Hamas said they included four MPs, a former deputy PM and an academic. Israeli forces and the rival West Bank Palestinian leadership have clamped down on the militant group since 2007. That was when Hamas took sole control of Gaza, which is blockaded by Israel.

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March 18th

Hamas is reportedly not budging in both sets of Egyptian-brokered negotiations with Israel and Fatah, respectively (1). While Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announces that negotiations regarding the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit have failed (2). Egypt urges the United States and the European Union to reevaluate their boycott of Hamas (3). Avi Isacharoff looks at the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (4). The U.S. joins the Palestinian Authority in inaugurating a new, U.S. funded, training center for Palestinian security personnel in the West Bank (7). Egypt opens the Rafah border crossing to allow aid into Gaza (10).

Robert Fisk: Why Avigdor Lieberman is the worst thing that could happen to the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - March 18, 2009 - 12:00am

Only days after they were groaning with fury at the Israeli lobby's success in hounding the outspoken Charles Freeman away from his proposed intelligence job for President Obama, the Arabs now have to contend with an Israeli Foreign Minister whose – let us speak frankly – racist comments about Palestinian loyalty tests have brought into the new Netanyahu cabinet one of the most unpleasant politicians in the Middle East.

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