Israel allows $13.5 million into Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Tani Goldstein - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli authorities – the Bank of Israel and security forces – approved and facilitated the transfer of $13.5 million in cash to the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing on Wednesday, just several hours before a Grad rocket attack on the southern city of Beersheba, Ynet has learned. The money was transferred from a bank account of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Bank of Palestine in Ramallah to the organization's account in the same bank in Gaza in order to pay the salaries of UNRWA employees in the Strip. » Read more

Demand soars for Birthright trips ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews February 25, 2011 - 1:00am A record 40,108 eligible Jewish young adults in North America applied to participate in a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip this summer. Registration for the trip, which closed February 22 after only seven days, represents both the highest number of applicants from North America and the shortest registration period. » Read more

Ian McEwan donates Jerusalem Prize money to Israeli-Palestinian peace group ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Maya Sela - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am The British author Ian McEwan, who received the Jerusalem Prize at this year's International Book Fair, said he will be donating the $10,000 award to Combatants for Peace. The group was founded by Palestinians and Israelis who had previously taken an active part in fighting each other. Its representatives said they are committed to working to end the occupation and achieve a two-state solution. McEwan met Thursday with group representatives Bassem Ararmin, Muhammed Aweida, Yoni Yahav and Roi Amit to hand them the prize money. » Read more

Merkel chides Netanyahu for failing to make 'a single step to advance peace' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am A crisis erupted between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During a telephone call this week, Merkel told Netanyahu that he had disappointed her and had done nothing to advance peace, sources told Haaretz. The prime minister tried to persuade Merkel that he was about to launch a diplomatic initiative, explaining he is making a speech in two weeks in which he will outline a new peace plan. » Read more

Path of peace is Israel's only choice in new Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am President Shimon Peres, an incorrigible optimist, promised us a new Middle East. He even predicted that the day would come when Gaza would turn into the Singapore of the Middle East. He was also the first to encourage an alliance of security interests between secular Turkey and Israel. Like many of us, he too believed that so long as Mubarak stayed in power, the peace agreement would last. He was also confident that Mubarak's corrupt son would perpetuate his father's policies. After all, billions of dollars of American aid should not be taken lightly. » Read more

Path of peace is Israel's only choice in new Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am President Shimon Peres, an incorrigible optimist, promised us a new Middle East. He even predicted that the day would come when Gaza would turn into the Singapore of the Middle East. He was also the first to encourage an alliance of security interests between secular Turkey and Israel. Like many of us, he too believed that so long as Mubarak stayed in power, the peace agreement would last. He was also confident that Mubarak's corrupt son would perpetuate his father's policies. After all, billions of dollars of American aid should not be taken lightly. » Read more

Luxembourg FM visits Gaza, calls for ending Israeli blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 25, 2011 - 1:00am Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Assleborn visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday and called on Israel to lift a tight blockade that had been imposed on the enclave for more than three years. Assleborn, who is also a deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, arrived in the Gaza Strip earlier on Friday, from Israel, for a several-hour visit in the enclave. "My message to Israel is very clear. If you like your children please like and love the children in Gaza and give them a possibility to live under better and normal conditions," Assleborn told a new briefing in Gaza. » Read more

Quartet tries new Israeli-Palestinian peace bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Edith M. Lederer - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am Envoys from the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia are hoping to hold separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to try to revive peace talks, the U.N.'s Mideast coordinator said Thursday, Robert Serry said the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators has proposed meetings with the two sides on all core issues blocking a peace settlement. They include borders of a Palestinian state, security arrangements, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. » Read more

Gaza's Islamist rulers hounding secular community ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am After nearly four years of Hamas rule, the Gaza Strip's small secular community is in tatters, decimated by the militant group's campaign to impose its strict version of Islam in the coastal territory. Hamas has bullied men and women to dress modestly, tried to keep the sexes from mingling in public and sparked a flight of secular university students and educated professionals. Most recently, it has confiscated novels it deems offensive to Islam from a bookshop and banned Gaza's handful of male hairdressers from styling women's hair. » Read more

PA: Settlers vandalize Nablus villages ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 25, 2011 - 1:00am Settlers on Friday escalated attacks against Palestinians in villages south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said. Palestinian Authority settlement official Ghassan Doughlas said residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement set fire to a bulldozer belonging to Ibrahim Ishteiyah in Burin. Meanwhile in Jit, settlers sprayed racist graffiti and punctured the tires of villagers' cars, Doughlas said. The PA official added added that settlers chopped down 25 trees belonging to Hassan and Mohammad Safadi in Urif. » Read more