The New York Times says the confrontation over settlements reveals deeper US-Israel rifts, and calls the administration's attitude "refreshing." Tom Friedman says peace is considered a necessity by the US but a hobby by Israel. Arab leaders consider their options. The Christian Science Monitor says PM Netanyahu faces growing challenges on many fronts. Politico reports on deep divisions within the administration. Israeli settlers have taken over the front of a Palestinian home. A new poll shows Israelis concerned about their international reputation. At the urging of the PA, the Arab League reiterates commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative. Israeli officials are concerned the US may impose a settlement. David Landau says Israel is sliding towards McCarthyism and racism. Gideon Levy says Israel should thank Pres. Obama for acting like a true friend. Alon Pinkas says Obama is pro-Israel. PM Netanyahu denounces attacks against Pres. Obama by his allies in the Israeli media. Israeli posters call for the elimination of the Haram al-Sharif. The PA fires hundreds of Hamas-linked educators. The BBC says the US is considering not vetoing a UN resolution on Jerusalem.

On Passover, Israel concerned over world standing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Nearly one out of every two Israelis thinks the country's international standing is poor following Israel's most serious crisis with the United States in decades, according to a poll published Monday on the eve of the Passover holiday. As Jews around the world were making last-minute preparations for the spring festival — which marks the biblical story of the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt — a poll in the Maariv daily showed increasing concern following the open rift between the governments of the world's two largest Jewish centers.

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After US dustup, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing challenges
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - March 28, 2010 - 12:00am

On the eve on Israel's Passover holiday, which celebrates liberation from oppression, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked so mired in his mounting, multi-faceted crises that he might need a miracle to survive them.

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PNA urges Arabs to maintain peace offer with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 28, 2010 - 12:00am

he Palestinian National Authority (PNA) said Sunday that Arabs should maintain the Arab peace initiative with Israel. The Arab peace initiative "is still the strategic choice of the Arab League (AL)'s summit" that is wrapping up on Sunday in Libya, said Nabil Abu Rdineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. However, he added that the Palestinians "will be committed to any other option the summit takes."

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Israel fears Obama heading for imposed Mideast settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama's demands during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Tuesday point to an intention to impose a permanent settlement on Israel and the Palestinians in less than two years, political sources in Jerusalem say. Israeli officials view the demands that Obama made at the White House as the tip of the iceberg under which lies a dramatic change in U.S. policy toward Israel.

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Israel is sliding toward McCarthyism and racism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by David Landau - (Opinion) March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

"In every generation a man is to consider himself as if he personally experienced the Exodus from Egypt." That is the central message of the Haggadah, of the seder night and indeed of Passover itself - the Festival of Freedom. The message isn't necessarily confined to the experience of the Hebrew slaves, who were delivered from bondage. The entire epic of the Exodus is meaningful. Our generation, in particular, the generation of renaissance and occupation, might do well to consider the narrative from the Egyptian perspective.

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East Jerusalem house is a home divided
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Opinion) March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

A tiny brick house. A disputed neighborhood. And a Solomon-style court ruling that has placed two sets of strangers -- with nothing in common but hatred -- under the same flat roof. Since December, Israelis have resided in the front part of a house where Palestinians have long lived. All that separates them is a bedroom wall, a sealed door and, lately, the police, who visit regularly to break up the fights.

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PM: Remarks about Obama inappropriate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - March 28, 2010 - 12:00am

The cabinet convened on Sunday for the first time since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from his tense visit to Washington. At the opening of the meeting, the prime minister asked to soften tone toward US President Barack Obama. "I have been hearing inappropriate remarks in the media recently with regards to the American president and his administration. Even when there are disagreements – these are disagreements among friends, which are based on a longtime relationship and tradition," Netanyahu said.

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Fierce debate on Israel underway inside Obama administration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - March 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tense visit to the White House last week, an intense debate inside the Obama administration about how to proceed with Netanyahu to advance the Middle East peace process has grown more heated, even as Israeli officials are expected to announce they have reached some sort of agreement with Washington as soon as tonight.

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J’lem posters call for 3rd Temple
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Abe Selig - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

While tensions continue to simmer around the Temple Mount after riots in and around the capital’s Old City earlier this month, a new campaign calling for the construction of the Third Temple atop the holy site has made its way to the sides of 200 Egged buses in the city, which now sport posters featuring a picture of a rebuilt temple on the Mount, and nothing else.

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