March 11th

The New York Times calls Israel's new settlement announcement, "a slap in the face to Washington." VP Biden's trip is entirely overshadowed by the development. The LA Times says a two-state agreement is still the only way to achieve peace. PLO officials say proximity talks will be on hold until the settlement expansion is canceled, and Arab states may have withdrawn their support. Pres. Abbas says Arabs must intervene. Hamas frees a British journalist in Gaza. A 35-year-old woman becomes governor of a key district in the West Bank. Ha'aretz says Israel is planning 50,000 new settlement units in Occupied East Jerusalem, more construction bids are issued in the West Bank, and a commentary says the US can no longer turn a blind eye. Large percentages of Israelis say they don't want equality for Arabs. A British witness recounts the killing of an American activist by Israeli forces. The Independent says Israel may get away with its latest behavior. Michael Young looks at four years in Gaza following Hamas' parliamentary victory. The National says Israel has damaged prospects for peace. Daoud Kuttab analyzes the settlement issue.

The problem with illegal settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

The embarrassment the US vice president faced this week when, during his visit to Israel, the creation of a new settlement was announced should not have surprised him. The list of Israeli slaps in the face of US officials is endless. The situation has become such that many believe calls for a freeze of settlement activities should stop because they resulted in a frenzy to build even more Jewish settlements.

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Israel provokes and damages push for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

During the Middle Ages, intellectuals endlessly debated the question: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? To this we add a contemporary version: How often will Israel kick Washington in the teeth before it says “Enough!” Our question, of course, is occasioned by the visit of the US vice president, Joe Biden, to Jerusalem and Ramallah this week. Mr Biden was dispatched by the White House to assure Israelis of America’s commitment to their security.

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What has Gaza gained since Hamas won four years ago?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

As Israel and the Palestinian Authority prepare to resume indirect talks, through American mediation, some are insisting that the Islamist movement Hamas must be brought into the process. Hamas, the argument goes, is capable of obstructing progress in negotiations, so that only by engaging the group can the United States and the international community avoid such an outcome. The rationale is naive.

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Israel shows what it really thinks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
(Opinion) March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel apologised for the embarrassment it had caused its most important ally by announcing it would build 1,600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem at the very moment the US vice-president, Joe Biden, was in the country for a visit. But no apology – nor the implausible explanation that the announcement was a "procedural" matter of which Benjamin Netanyahu had not been informed in advance – can obscure the truth that this episode has revealed.

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'I saw Israeli bulldozer kill Rachel Corrie'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

The final moments of Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist crushed to death beneath a pile of earth and rubble in the path of an advancing Israeli army bulldozer, were described to an Israeli court by an eyewitness yesterday. The parents of the 23-year-old, who was killed by the bulldozer in March 2003, were present to hear the harrowing account on the first day of hearings in a civil lawsuit they have brought against the state of Israel. The country has never acknowledged culpability over Ms Corrie's death.

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Poll: 46% of high-schoolers don't want equality for Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yaheli Moran Zelikovich - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Racism and refusal to evacuate alongside support for a democratic system of government – these are the jumbled sentiment of Israel's high school students, according to a recent poll. They support a democratic form of government, but more than half of them believe that Arabs should not be allowed to vote in Knesset elections. One out of every six students would not want to study in the same class with an Ethiopian or an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and 21% of them think that "Death to Arabs" is a legitimate expression.

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Construction bids issued in West Bank settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shmulik Grossman - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

On the backdrop of the US-prompted construction moratorium imposed on West Bank settlements and the recent embarrassment over construction in east Jerusalem during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit, the Elkana Local Council issued a tender on Thursday for the building of new residential neighborhoods in the West Bank settlement. According to the council-issued tenders, proposals are sought by entrepreneurs interested in erecting new residential neighborhoods. The local council will leave arranging all the necessary political and planning permits up to whoever makes the winning bid.

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The U.S. will no longer turn a blind eye to Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Even Mahmoud Abbas would have been hard put to dream up a greater victory for Palestinian diplomacy than the one handed to him Tuesday on a silver platter by the Israeli Interior Ministry. The condemnations have been pouring in since the plan to build 1,600 homes in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was announced. Not only from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but from the United Nations, the European Union and world leaders, all of them slamming the decision.

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Biden to Israelis: Mideast status quo unsustainable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

United States Vice President Joe Biden warned Israelis in a direct address from Tel Aviv on Thursday that the status quo in the Middle East was not sustainable, and vowed that the United States would do everything in its power to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He also urged both Israelis and the Palestinians look toward direct negotiations to end the long-standing conflict.

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