Mortars are fired from Gaza and shells from Israeli tanks on the border region. Settlers stab a Palestinian near Hebron. The UN says there has been a major increase in Palestinian home demolitions. PLO officials say they may seek UN recognition soon. Israel admits to having kidnapped a missing Palestinian engineer. Analysts say the Hamas attacks on Israel are a political statement. Pro-unity rallies continue in Gaza. Akiva Eldar says PM Netanyahu has provoked Hamas. The leader of J Street is in Israel to lobby against a Knesset investigation, as the military has been investigating left-wing NGOs. A Palestinian says he was stabbed 10 times by Israelis. Israel says Hamas is building more tunnels. Analysts say border clashes show Israel’s deterrence against Hamas is waning. Fabio Fiallo says Arab uprisings may be good for Israel and democracy. Hamas seems to pullback from its invitation to Pres. Abbas. Israel builds a wall around an occupied Lebanese village. A Palestinian youth denied entry into Israel dies in hospital. Abdulateef Al-Mulhim says it would have been better if the Arabs had recognized Israel in 1948.

What if Arabs had recognized the State of Israel in 1948?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim - (Opinion) March 19, 2011 - 12:00am

When I was attending New York-based SUNY Maritime college (1975-1979), I read a lot of books about Palestinians, Arabs and the Israelis. I have read every article about the many chances the Palestinians had and missed to solve their problem, especially the Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel.

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Ill youth from Gaza, who for 16 days was denied entry to Israel to receive treatment, dies in East Jerusalem hospital, January 2011
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from B'Tselem
March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

On 4 December 2010, Mahmoud a-Najar, 15, from Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, was diagnosed as having leukemia. Physicians at a-Shifaa Hospital, in Gaza City, referred him to Augusta Victoria Hospital, in East Jerusalem, where he was given an appointment for 28 December.

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Israel builds fence around village of Ghajar
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel erected up to 200 meters of barbed wire fencing and several observation posts around the occupied village of Ghajar Sunday, according to reports from the south. “Israeli soldiers of occupation pursued their laying of barbed wires around the occupied village of Ghajar in south Lebanon with the apparent purpose of strengthening their hold on the occupied section of the village,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

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Hamas and Israel in border clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel yesterday, while Israeli troops killed two Palestinians along the volatile border with Gaza. It came a day after Palestinian militants fired about 50 mortar bombs into Israel – the heaviest assault since an Israeli offensive two years ago. Both Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel have largely honoured an informal ceasefire since the 2009 war. The Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for yesterday's rocket attack. No one was hurt.

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Hamas Invites Abbas to Gaza, Then Rolls Up Welcome Mat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by David Miller - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am

As Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas prepares an historic visit to the Gaza Strip, heeding an invitation by his arch-rival, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, doubts have begun to arise as to whether there will be anyone to greet him upon arrival. Haniyeh invited Abbas on March 15 to Gaza to take part in reconciliation talks. Abbas responded the following day by saying he was prepared "to go to Gaza tomorrow." But on Saturday a Hamas official in Damascus poured cold water on Abbas' eagerness, comparing him to Arab dictators who are being challenged by the masses across the Arab world.

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Hamas split over Abbas offer to visit Gaza for unity talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s offer to visit the Gaza Strip has sparked a dispute within Hamas, sources there said on Sunday. Last week, Abbas announced his readiness to travel to the Gaza Strip, for the first time since 2007, to hold talks with Hamas leaders on the formation of a Palestinian unity government. The announcement came shortly after Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh invited Abbas to urgent talks in the Gaza Strip to discuss ways of ending the feud between the two sides.

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Why the Arab revolt may be good for democracy – and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Fabio R. Fiallo - (Opinion) March 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Concerns have been voiced over the possibility that today’s turmoil in the Arab world might be hijacked by Islamist movements with totalitarian designs, among them the destruction of Israel. The toppling of Iran’s shah in 1979 is given as a salient example of an autocracy being replaced by an even more despotic regime. Legitimate as they undoubtedly are, these concerns should not overlook the fact that the Arab region may be ripe for a democratic turn averse to Islamic fundamentalism.

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Analysis: Gaza escalation shows IDF deterrence eroding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - (Analysis) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

When Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz took up his post as Israel’s 20th chief of General Staff in mid-February, the Egyptian revolution had only recently succeeded in toppling Hosni Mubarak – and concern was mounting in Israel over a possible takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood. That concern has not disappeared, and will likely manifest itself in the new multiyear plan that Gantz quickly drafted since taking office, to be presented next week to the cabinet for approval. But like many of his predecessors, Gantz has found himself facing a far more immediate threat from the Gaza Strip.

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Hamas digging ‘terror tunnels’ along border with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Facing a possible new conflict against Hamas, concern is growing within the IDF regarding increased efforts by Palestinian terrorist groups to dig tunnels under the border that could be used to infiltrate into Israel and perpetrate attacks. According to IDF sources, the number of tunnels has grown in recent years. Hamas is under orders to dig “terror tunnels” along the border. Hamas has split into five different regional brigades – north, Gaza City, central Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah. The exact number of tunnels is unknown to the IDF.

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