Report: Israel demolished 19,000 Palestinian homes since 1967 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 2, 2009 - 12:00am At least 19,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by Israel, Limes magazine, the Italian geopolitical review publication, reported on Tuesday. The bi-monthly periodical ran a several-page feature on the current upsurge in home demolitions ordered by the Israeli government. The article begins with a look into the Al-Kurd family, who were evicted from their Sheikh Jarrah home. The father of the family was critically ill at the time, and the article describes him as “abandoned at the door of his neighbors.” » Read more

Bat Ayin rabbi: We're not seeking revenge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews April 3, 2009 - 12:00am srael Defense Forces soldiers on Thursday night continued searching for the terrorist who murdered 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ in the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin in the Gush Etzion communities. While the forces went from house to house in the Palestinian villages adjacent to the settlement, the residents of Bat Ayin gathered Thursday evening for a meeting with the community's rabbi, Daniel Cohen, in an attempt to deal with their pain. » Read more

New Israeli Foreign Minister Questioned by Police ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am Avigdor Lieberman, the new foreign minister of Israel, was questioned by the national fraud squad for more than seven hours on Thursday, according to a police spokesman, as part of a longstanding investigation into suspicions of bribery, money laundering and breach of trust. Also Thursday, a Palestinian wielding a pickax killed an Israeli boy, 13, and wounded another, 7, in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank before fleeing, witnesses and the Israeli authorities said. » Read more

Working out a response ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am Attempted and actual terror attacks in the last month seem random, with no obvious pattern. There was an abortive bulldozer rampage in Jerusalem (the third in a year), two policemen were murdered in the Jordan Valley, a booby-trapped car was left at a Haifa mall, and the most horrific of all came yesterday with the ax-murder of a child in the Bat Ayin settlement. » Read more

A Ripe Opportunity for Obama to Intervene in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am The Arab Summit in Doha obliterated its chances of putting forth serious stances before the G-20 Summit - which brings together the world's twenty largest economies - and did not formulate any sensible strategies that could be taken into consideration. Indeed, the summit of "reconciliations" took pride in defying the International Criminal Court (ICC) and demanding the annulment of the warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, allying itself with one accused of committing war crimes in Darfur and dealing with international justice as if it was the new enemy. » Read more

US Affairs: Unsettling buzz Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Jerusalem Post - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am » Read more