Seized Gazan's lawyer says Israeli charges "farce" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - March 30, 2011 - 12:00am The lawyer for a Gazan engineer held under secrecy in Israel accused authorities on Wednesday of concocting charges against him after seizing the Palestinian overseas. Relatives of Dirar Abu Sisi, a manager of the Gaza Strip's main power plant, say he was abducted from a train in Ukraine last month. Israeli officials have confirmed he is in custody but declined further comment, citing court-issued gag orders. » Read more

Amos Oz: Israel will surely speak with Barghouti ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post March 30, 2011 - 12:00am Internationally famed Israeli author Amos Oz said he is sure that Israel will negotiate with former Tanzim (Fatah youth movement) leader Marwan Barghouti, in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa. "I'm sure that someday we will speak with him," Oz said. "Some day Israel will talk to Barghouti, even if he was the instigator of the second Intifada and a large number of suicide bombings and many other terrorist attacks." » Read more

Israeli minister proposes Gaza artificial island ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jeffrey Heller - March 30, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is considering building an artificial island with sea and air ports off blockaded Gaza, as a long-term solution to shipping goods into the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, the transport minister said. Yisrael Katz told Army Radio on Wednesday he wants an international force to control the island for "at least 100 years" and for unloaded cargo to be brought into Gaza along a 4.5-km (3-mile)-long bridge with a security checkpoint to prevent arms smuggling. "The Israeli military would continue the naval blockade, but in a more localised way," he said. » Read more

Early morning air strike kills 1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 30, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli forces launched an air strike on the southern Gaza Strip shortly after the dawn prayer on Wednesday, killing one militant and injuring a second. In a statement from the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, officials identified the slain man as Mohammad Abu Mu'ammer, killed by an Israeli air strike near a mosque in the An-Nasser neighborhood in northeastern Rafah, near the refugee camp. » Read more

Gaza court sentences man to death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 30, 2011 - 12:00am A military court in the central Gaza Strip sentenced a man to death by hanging on Wednesday, after a judge found him guilty of treason contributing to the death of a Palestinian. A second man was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. Both sentences were accepted unanimously by the military panel, but are appealable. Under Palestinian law, the death penalty must be accepted by the president. On April 15, 2010, however, the government in Gaza executed two men that had been found guilty of collaboration with Israel. » Read more

Despite volatility in Arab lands, Jews there stay put ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Shefler - March 30, 2011 - 12:00am Over the past several months a series of uprisings has shaken the Arab world, felling dictators and ushering in a period of great hope and fear for the future. But despite the growing political instability in the region, Jewish communities in Arab lands have so far chosen to stay. The remaining Jews in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt – tiny remnants of once-much-larger communities decimated by decades of voluntary and involuntary emigration – have turned down repeated offers to leave by Jewish organizations and Israel concerned with their safety. » Read more

New Signs of Hamas headway into Post-Mubarak Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Miller - March 29, 2011 - 12:00am A visiting Hamas leader to Cairo brought a conciliatory message amid signs ties between Egypt and the Islamist movement were beginning to thaw in the post-Mubarak era. "Hamas has not and will not tamper with Egypt's national security," Mahmoud Al-Zahar told reporters in Cairo Monday, referring to Egyptian accusations of Hamas involvement in the bombing of an Alexandria church on New Year's Eve. Hamas was cautious to comment about the Egyptian uprising that began on January 25, but was emboldened by the revolution's success to oust its arch-rival, President Husni Mubarak on February 11. » Read more

Palestinians commemorate Land Day ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 30, 2011 - 12:00am Five hundred students were chased and beaten by government security forces during a Land Day protest in Gaza City on Wednesday, an organizer affiliated with the March 15 coalition told Ma'an. Officers were said to have dispersed the gathered young people, who were calling for unity and a return to the Palestinian national project in Tayaran (Aviation) Street in the center of the city. Activist Ihsan Abu Sharkh said the forces chased and beat demonstrators, spraying what appeared to be pepper spray at their eyes, and injuring at least one young man. » Read more

Gingrich: U.S. run by “anti-Jewish” elite ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) March 28, 2011 - 12:00am The United States under President Obama is "dominated by a secular, anti-Christian and anti-Jewish elite," Newt Gingrich said. Gingrich, the onetime speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a likely presidential candidate for 2012, spoke on March 25 at a meeting in Iowa of the American Family Association, Politico reported. » Read more

Make peace between peoples ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The San Francisco Chronicle by Danny Ayalon - (Opinion) March 30, 2011 - 12:00am The recent events in the Middle East have been momentous and encouraging. No one who craves a better future for our region can be unimpressed by the resilience shown by those seeking an improved and enlightened future for its people. However, as many instill hope for progress in the Middle East, there are those who are trying to seize the revolutions to further establish their grip on parts of our region. We saw this with the Iranian revolution of 1979, when the short-lived democracy was hijacked by the Islamist theocracy that has brutalized and repressed its people ever since. » Read more