ATFP president Ziad Asali says Arab uprisings are about accountability and corruption. Philip Wilcox says UNRWA is a good investment for American taxpayers. Palestinians reject Israeli proposals for an interim agreement. Israel bombs Gaza. Hamas proposes its own reconciliation plan. Palestinian citizens of Israel are criticized for having visited Libya. Israel seems to have concluded that no deal with the Palestinians is possible under present circumstances, and DM Barak says it's because of the makeup of the Israeli cabinet. Some Fatah leaders demand the ouster of PM Fayyad. Palestinians want international pressure to halt settler violence. PM Netanyahu says a binational state would be a disaster. Jonathan Schachter says Palestinians are looking for diplomatic options beyond Washington. Aluf Benn says Netanyahu may be moving to the center. An 11 year old Palestinian boy says he was beaten by Israeli police. Militant settlers plan for confrontations. Israel may seek to retain 40% of the West Bank. Elias Samo says the Arab Peace Initiative is the right basis for ending the conflict, but Yossi Alpher says it needs to be clarified.

ATFP president Ziad Asali says Arab uprisings are about accountability and corruption. Philip Wilcox says UNRWA is a good investment for American taxpayers. Hamas steals $500,000 from a bank in Gaza, and banks close in protest. Palestinians reject Israeli proposals for an interim agreement. Israel bombs Gaza. Hamas proposes its own reconciliation plan. Palestinian citizens of Israel are criticized for having visited Libya. Israel seems to have concluded that no deal with the Palestinians is possible under present circumstances, and DM Barak says it's because of the makeup of the Israeli cabinet. Some Fatah leaders demand the ouster of PM Fayyad. Palestinians want international pressure to halt settler violence. PM Netanyahu says a binational state would be a disaster. Jonathan Schachter says Palestinians are looking for diplomatic options beyond Washington. Aluf Benn says Netanyahu may be moving to the center. An 11 year old Palestinian boy says he was beaten by Israeli police. Militant settlers plan for confrontations. Israel may seek to retain 40% of the West Bank. Elias Samo says the Arab Peace Initiative is the right basis for ending the conflict, but Yossi Alpher says it needs to be clarified.

Not a clear enough incentive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - March 2, 2011 - 1:00am

According to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and 2007, once Israel has made peace with all its neighbors in accordance with a specific list of conditions (1967 borders, a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue, the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem), "the Arab countries . . . consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel." This, together with "security for all the states of the region" (an important issue that warrants a separate discussion), is the Arab "payoff" to Israel in return for peace.

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If not now, then when?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Elias Samo - March 2, 2011 - 1:00am

The Arab Peace Initiative, unanimously approved at the 2002 Beirut Arab League summit, is divided into two operative parts. The first, paragraph 2, which represents minimum Arab demands, calls for full Israeli withdrawal and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem its capital. The second, paragraph 3, which represents the maximum Arab offer to Israel, affirms a commitment to consider the "conflict ended and enter into a peace agreement with Israel".

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Netanyahu ponders peace initiatives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel has concluded that a final peace deal with the Palestinians cannot be reached at present and is weighing alternatives to try to prove that it is interested in keeping peacemaking with the Palestinians alive, officials said yesterday. With popular protests shaking the Middle East, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under international pressure to prove he is serious about peacemaking, especially after the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's West Bank settlement construction last month.

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PM likely to unveil diplomatic initiative in DC in May
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new diplomatic initiative is likely to be unveiled in Washington in May, possibly during an address to Congress. In the meantime, his envoy Yitzhak Molcho is expected to ask Quartet representatives traveling to Jerusalem next week to refrain from issuing statements fundamentally changing the Quartet’s position on the conflict, until Netanyahu unveils his new initiative.

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'PM told Abbas Israel demands to hold 40% of W. Bank'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
March 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas some five months ago that Israel demands that 40 percent of of the West Bank remain under its control for an extended period, Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaat said on Friday, according to Israel Radio. Shaat added that Netanyahu also said he wouldn't listen to one word from Abbas and not a word about borders or refugees until the Palestinians agree to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and about its security needs, Israel Radio reported.

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A peek into settlers' war room
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yair Altman - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am

In a small apartment on the second floor of a building in Hebron's Jewish quarter, 12 right-wing activists gathered to create plans on how best to disrupt life in Israel, or what they call their "day of rage". The protests against police violence during the razing of illegal structures in Havat Gilad Monday, for which settlers vowed payback, began at 7 am Thursday, with activists blocking major junctions near Jerusalem. But the worst was yet to come. In their war room, organizers mapped out areas in which protesters would clash with security forces.

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Palestinian boy claims police beat him
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Omri Efraim - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am

An 11-year old boy arrested in east Jerusalem for throwing stones claims officers beat him while his hands were tied. Hospital tests confirm the boy sustained injuries to the eye, head, and stomach. M. was arrested on Monday in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. It was his fifth run-in with the law, and his two brothers were also arrested. The three were interrogated in the presence of their father, an imam and one of the leading figures in Silwan residents' protest against Israeli forces.

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Netanyahu may be breaking away from the far-right to the center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - March 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached the point where he needs to make a decision, something he has avoided doing for two years: choosing between the ideology he was raised on and which is part of his internal belief system, and the duties of the leader of a small country entirely dependent on international support. Like all of his predecessors, Netanyahu too has surrendered to external pressure and embarked on a political initiative that will break through the stifling isolation in which Israel finds itself.

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