Israel vacates Jerusalem building claimed by Russia ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Israel on Monday began vacating the premises of a Russian landmark in Jerusalem, an official said, in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit this week to Moscow. The two countries had decided several years ago that the historic 19th century stone-hewn building near the Old City, would be handed over to Russia, but there were delays in implementation. » Read more

UN: Both sides need to do more to comply with Goldstone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jordana Horn, Tovah Lazaroff - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Neither Israel nor the Palestinians has made significant progress in investigating claims of war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead, said a United Nations committee in Geneva on Monday. The committee was addressing the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which on Monday debated a report on Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the 2009 conclusions of the UN fact finding mission led by South African judge Richard Goldstone. The Goldstone panel looked into Israel’s military activity during Cast Lead and accused both Israel and the Palestinians of war crimes. » Read more

Israeli air strikes wound 19 in Gaza Strip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Israel launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday, wounding at least 19 people, after militants fired mortar shells and rockets into the Jewish state, witnesses and militant groups said. The number of raids and casualties in one evening showed the rising tension between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. Hamas has stepped up rocket salvoes into Israel after a hiatus since the two sides fought a war two years ago, claiming responsibility for firing more than two dozen mortar shells and rockets at the weekend. » Read more

Why J Street speaks to us ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Logan Bayroff, Jesse Rothman - (Opinion) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am On the heels of J Street’s Second National Conference, there have been a series of predictable – but still saddening – verbal and written attacks from the Right. Given these attacks, it would be reasonable to ask: Why did 500 students – a great number of whom, like us, grew up in youth movements, Jewish summer camps, are active in our Hillels and hang Israeli flags on our dorm room walls – travel to Washington to participate? Here’s why: because we’re tired of the relationship we were told we had to have with Israel. And we’re forging a new one. » Read more

Israeli forces re-enter Awarta ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli forces re-entered the northern West Bank village of Awarta at sunrise Tuesday, announcing via loudspeaker that the community was under curfew the for a second time this month. The village had been under a military curfew from March 12-16 as Israeli police, military and intelligence forces searched the area for evidence relating to the murder of five settlers in the adjacent illegal settlement Itamar. » Read more

Settler opens fire on funeral procession ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Two Palestinians were shot Monday afternoon when a settler disembarked from his car on the Jerusalem-Hebron road and opened fire on a funeral procession heading to the Beit Ummar cemetery. Medics said two were injured in the shooting, including 59-year-old Muhammad Ali Abu Safiyya who was in critical condition after being shot in the chest, and 32-year-old Bassam Zaq’aqiq, who was shot in his right thigh. Both were evacuated to hospital. » Read more

Settler opens fire on funeral procession ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Two Palestinians were shot Monday afternoon when a settler disembarked from his car on the Jerusalem-Hebron road and opened fire on a funeral procession heading to the Beit Ummar cemetery. Medics said two were injured in the shooting, including 59-year-old Muhammad Ali Abu Safiyya who was in critical condition after being shot in the chest, and 32-year-old Bassam Zaq’aqiq, who was shot in his right thigh. Both were evacuated to hospital. » Read more

Israeli artillery, strike injure 2 east of Gaza City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli artillery fire and a drone strike injured two Palestinians Tuesday in separate incidents east of Gaza City, after a night of heavy shelling on the Strip that injured 18. Shortly before 10 a.m. artillery fire injured one man in the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, just after witnesses reported Israeli vehicles penetrating the Gaza Strip in the area. » Read more

Palin visits Jerusalem, reaching out to Israel's right ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Following a path tread by many a US presidential hopeful, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is making her first visit to Israel. Today, she toured the Old City of Jerusalem wearing a Star of David necklace before arriving at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence for a private dinner. Though the visit is being described as private, Ms. Palin's three-day stop on the way home from India could both burnish her thin foreign policy credentials and curry favor with Jewish and evangelical constituencies back home. » Read more

Gaza Strip residents seek to join the 'Arab spring' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jon Donnison - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am A friend of mine's cat recently leapt from the tenth floor of a tower block in Gaza City, yet emerged with just a few grazes and a bit of a limp. It was a Gazan cat, I was told. On Saturday afternoon, I witnessed toughness and resilience shown by two young Gazan women who had been trying to demonstrate in one of the main squares in Gaza city. They were part of a small protest calling for political unity between Hamas, who are in power in Gaza, and Fatah, who run parts of the West Bank. » Read more