Israeli leader: 'We will react aggressively, responsibly and wisely' to attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 23, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli leader: 'We will react aggressively, responsibly and wisely' to attacks.

Israel violence complicates Gates' call for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Lolita Baldor - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived Thursday in Israel, one day after an eruption in violence that has complicated his plans to urge progress in the peace process. The latest spike in attacks began Wednesday with a bus-stop bombing in Jerusalem, followed by Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. The events have heightened tensions and added to Israel's anxiety over the wave of rebellion in the region. » Read more

'PA police arrest 2 Islamic Jihad members for J'lem attack' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am Two members of Islamic Jihad were arrested by Palestinian police in Jenin on Thursday in connection to Wednesday's bombing in Jerusalem. According to a statement released by Islamic Jihad, "Palestinian security forces broke into the home of Jihad official Khaled Jaradat and arrested him. Other forces arrested organization official Tarek Kaadan near his home." On Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority condemned the Jerusalem explosion that killed a woman and wounded dozens of people, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad welcomed it as a “natural response to Israeli crimes.” » Read more

Hamas Risks Unwinnable War as It Raises Tensions with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Rosenberg - March 23, 2011 - 12:00am Hamas is ratcheting up tensions with Israel as a means of deflecting growing calls in the Palestinian street to end its feuding with the Fatah movement and form a national unity government, analysts say. But they warned that the shower of mortar shells and rockets its militants have rained on Israel risks dragging the organization into an unwinnable war. » Read more

Abbas, Fayyad condemn Jerusalem bombing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 24, 2011 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday condemned a bombing attack in central Jerusalem that killed one woman and injured dozens, the official Palestinian Authority news agency reported. Salam Fayyad, the resigned caretaker prime minister, said in a statement, "I condemn in the strongest terms possible the terrorist attack in Jerusalem today regardless of who is behind it." He also wished a speedy recovery to those who were injured. » Read more

Is J Street a Threat? Not to Most Israelis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) March 23, 2011 - 12:00am In the three years since its founding, the dovish lobby J Street has become a household name across Jewish America. But ask Israelis about it, and they are more likely to think you are asking for directions to some thoroughfare they haven’t heard of. In polling commissioned by the Forward, only 14% of Jewish Israelis said they had heard of J Street. The remaining 86% had not. » Read more

Islamic Jihad: PA detains leaders, tracking members ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 24, 2011 - 12:00am Officials from the Islamic Jihad movement said Thursday that Palestinian Authority security forces detained two of the movement's leaders from their homes in the city of Jenin overnight. In a statement, officials said PA forces raided the homes of Khalid Jaradat and Tareq Qa’dan, taking the former to an unknown location and the latter to a detention facility in the northern West Bank. Jihad officials said PA forces were tracking members in the wake of a blast in West Jerusalem that went off near the central bus station, killing one woman and injuring 30 others. » Read more

The ‘A-Word’ in Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Letty Cottin Pogrebin - (Opinion) March 23, 2011 - 12:00am You’ve probably read about the situation in the West Bank city of Hebron, where some 800 Jewish settlers live in the midst of 170,000 Palestinians. But being there is something else. Being there can make you sick to your stomach; being there you can’t help thinking of the “A-word.” » Read more

Second wave of strikes injures 1 in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 24, 2011 - 12:00am A second Israeli airstrike Thursday morning hit a group of men beside a gas station in the northern Gaza Strip around 8:30 a.m., hours after a wave of strikes targeted sites across the coastal enclave. Spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services Adham Abu Salmiya said the latest bombing targeted a site near the Jabaliya refugee camp, and injured one. A statement from Israel's military said the air force "identified a group of terrorists preparing to launch rockets at Israeli territory, and thwarted the attempt by firing at them." » Read more

Jerusalem bombing comes amid rising Israel-Gaza violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - March 23, 2011 - 12:00am The first Jerusalem bombing in years rocked a bus stop in the city center today, wounding more than 20. The explosion comes amid rising Israeli-Palestinian violence and speculation that another war with the Islamist militant group Hamas is inevitable. One Jerusalem resident who heard the explosion said it had been so long since the last attack that the bombing sounded like a crash from a nearby construction site. » Read more