February 25th

Young Palestinians seek to bridge national divisions, and call for protests on March 15. Deputy FM Ayalon denounces the concept of “linkage.” Palestinians are injured by an Israeli attack on Gaza. Palestinians in Ramallah rally for change. Settlers vandalize Palestinian villages. Secularists are hounded by Hamas in Gaza. The Quartet launches a new peace bid. Luxembourg’s FM visits Gaza, calls for ending the Israeli blockade. Yoel Marcus says peace is the only way forward for Israel. Chancellor Merkel chides PM Netanyahu for not making “a single step to advance peace.” Ian McEwan donates his Jerusalem Prize money to an Israeli-Palestinian peace group. Israel allowed $13.5 million into Gaza. A spike is reported in interest in “Israel Birthright” trips. J street plans 2,000 people at this weekend’s conference. Noted Journalist Jerold Kessel passes away. Palestinians are worried Qaddafi will attack them in Libya. The Forward profiles Palestinian entrepreneur Bashar Masri. Rami Khouri says the US has a new chance to amend its Middle East policies. ATFP President Ziad Asali says stability cannot come at the price of injustice.

Stability not at cost of injustice
In Print by Ziad Asali - Arab News - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am

One would expect the usual demands for democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and regularly scheduled elections as well as a heightened commitment to the people of the region, that their rights and aspirations will be reflected in this new vision. Furthermore, it would not be surprising if all these were packaged as part of an initiative to address the Palestine-Israel conflict and a commitment to the establishment of a state of Palestine.

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Stability not at cost of injustice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Ziad Asali - (Editorial) February 24, 2011 - 1:00am

One would expect the usual demands for democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and regularly scheduled elections as well as a heightened commitment to the people of the region, that their rights and aspirations will be reflected in this new vision. Furthermore, it would not be surprising if all these were packaged as part of an initiative to address the Palestine-Israel conflict and a commitment to the establishment of a state of Palestine.

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Second chance in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - (Editorial) February 25, 2011 - 1:00am

Sometimes in life you get a second chance to get something right, after getting it wrong the first time. The perception I get from discussions in Washington, with independent analysts and people in and close to the administration, is that the Obama team remains caught and wavering between two approaches: to forge ahead with a bold new policy that responds to the historic changes now rippling through the Middle East; to broadly maintain established old patterns of American policy, especially vis-à-vis Arab autocrats and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Palestinian-American Entrepreneur Re-Envisions West Bank Development
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - February 23, 2011 - 1:00am

In his chic office in Ramallah, Bashar Masri, believed to be the richest person in the Palestinian territories, is in high spirits. It’s February 3, his 50th birthday, and the past year has been a particularly good one. It is a year that has seen him start construction on the first planned Palestinian city, an $800 million development that will have more homes than Ramallah. And he nearly achieved in the boardroom what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose office is just a few blocks away, hasn’t managed in negotiations.

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Young Palestinians call for protests on 15 March
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Their movement has no name and no leaders. Just a goal, and a tool. The goal is to force an end to the political divisions among Palestinians by stirring the youth of Gaza and the West Bank to emulate their brothers and sisters in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Their tool – as elsewhere – is the internet, specifically Facebook. "End The Division", a page in both Arabic and English, calls for protests across the Palestinian territories and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon on 15 March. It has already got thousands of supporters, and is growing by the day.

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Jerrold Kessel, journalist, author, filmmaker, dies at 66
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Leslie Susser - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am

Jerrold (Yoram) Kessel, who died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, was one of Israel’s leading English-language journalists, with a career that spanned over four decades in radio, print and television, including stints as Jerusalem correspondent for the London Jewish Chronicle, news editor at The Jerusalem Post, Israel reporter for CNN and sports columnist for Ha’aretz. He was 66. We first met at the Hebrew University in the 1960s, as part of a group of young ex-South African immigrants studying subjects like literature, history, politics, economics and philosophy.

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PA, Hamas fear Gaddafi will attack Palestinians in Libya
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinians on Thursday expressed fear that Muammar Gaddafi would turn against thousands of Palestinians living in Libya under the pretext they are helping his opponents. The concern came in response to charges made by Gaddafi and his son Seif al-Islam to the effect that Arabs living in Libya were involved in the fighting against the government. Both the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government have called on neighboring Arab countries to intervene to prevent Gaddafi from carrying out “massacres” against Palestinians in Libya.

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J Street aims to have 2,000 at weekend conference in DC
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am

More than 50 members of Congress are expected to attend J Street’s second-annual conference here this weekend, with 200 offices receiving the progressive group’s lobbyists during its visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, according to the organization. The number of federal lawmakers coming to the conference gala on Monday night are slightly more than the 44 who came last year, but well under the 148 lawmakers who served as a host committee at the last conference. This year J Street has no host committee.

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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.

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