Impatient Palestinians eye Arab world in flux ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - March 26, 2011 - 12:00am With the peace process going nowhere, the threat of new violence increasing and the Palestinians badly divided, people in the West Bank and Gaza are surveying the rapid changes in the rest of the Arab world — and growing impatient with stagnation at home. In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, officials are quietly working on a plan: Going for statehood without agreement with Israel, bypassing the moribund peace process. First mooted last fall, the notion precedes the Arab revolts but has been lent even greater urgency by them. » Read more

Terrorism in Jerusalem: Escalation or independent action? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Schachter, Yoram Schweitzer - (Opinion) March 27, 2011 - 12:00am The scene is unfortunately familiar – ambulance crews rushing toward a shattered bus, police officers establishing a safe perimeter, TV crews capturing it all and sending their reports around the country and the world. » Read more

Israel seeks Argentine clarifications over attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ian Deitch - March 27, 2011 - 12:00am Israel wants clarifications from Argentina over a report it offered Iran a deal: It would stop investigating bombings on Jewish centers there in the 1990s in exchange for better trade ties, an Israeli foreign ministry official said Sunday. The Argentine paper Perfil quoted a leaked Iranian cable on Saturday detailing the offer. Eighty-five people were killed and 200 were injured when a bomb exploded in a van outside the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association on July 18, 1994 — that country's bloodiest terrorist attack. » Read more

Israel seeks Argentine clarifications over attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ian Deitch - March 27, 2011 - 12:00am Israel wants clarifications from Argentina over a report it offered Iran a deal: It would stop investigating bombings on Jewish centers there in the 1990s in exchange for better trade ties, an Israeli foreign ministry official said Sunday. The Argentine paper Perfil quoted a leaked Iranian cable on Saturday detailing the offer. Eighty-five people were killed and 200 were injured when a bomb exploded in a van outside the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association on July 18, 1994 — that country's bloodiest terrorist attack. » Read more

Israel bulldozes Fayyad's Freedom Road, again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 27, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli authorities bulldozed "Freedom Road" in the northern West Bank district of Salfit for the second time on Thursday. Freedom Road was funded by the Palestinian Authority, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The project was part of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to build institutions and infrastructure for a future Palestinian state. The road allowed Palestinian families to access their homes, schools, land and health clinics. Fayyad inaugurated the road in September 2010, but Israel's military destroyed it in November, while the prime minister was abroad. » Read more

Israel bulldozes Fayyad's Freedom Road, again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 27, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli authorities bulldozed "Freedom Road" in the northern West Bank district of Salfit for the second time on Thursday. Freedom Road was funded by the Palestinian Authority, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The project was part of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to build institutions and infrastructure for a future Palestinian state. The road allowed Palestinian families to access their homes, schools, land and health clinics. Fayyad inaugurated the road in September 2010, but Israel's military destroyed it in November, while the prime minister was abroad. » Read more

Reality Check: Last thing we need is a 2nd round in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) March 27, 2011 - 12:00am Let’s say Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decides to unleash Operation Cast Lead 2 following the recent wave of rocket attacks from Gaza. » Read more

Arrest raid targets Beit Ummar, 14 detained ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 28, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli forces detained 14 Palestinians overnight from the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar, as construction of military road blocks and a fence surrounding one side of the residential area continue. Local activist Muhammad Ayyad Awad estimated that 150 Israeli soldiers entered the town during the campaign, which began at 2:30 a.m., as soldiers entered homes with sniffer dogs and took residents. Twelve of the 14 taken were identified, seven of them under the age of 18, one of whom was only 15 years old. » Read more

Why Israel is wary of getting into another Gaza war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am Fighting along the Israeli-Gaza border that has killed at least 11 people continued Thursday for the sixth-straight day, despite parallel pledges by Israel and Hamas to restore calm amid the worst violence since the 2009 Gaza war. Israeli aircraft on Thursday fired on low-profile targets such as border smuggling tunnels, while Gaza militants launched mortars and homemade rockets into southern Israel. One rocket even struck within 16 miles of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. » Read more

Amid violence, pen pals in Congress focus on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - March 23, 2011 - 12:00am It happens almost like clockwork: Something happens in the Middle East, and it reverberates across the Atlantic with new letters from the U.S. Congress. With so many relatively new members looking to establish their pro-Israel credentials, the reaction in Congress to the recent violence in Israel was particularly swift. » Read more