March 25th

PA frees Islamic Jihad leaders arrested after bombing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 24, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority released on Thursday two West Bank leaders of the Islamic Jihad movement who were detained Wednesday in connection with a bombing that killed a British citizen in Jerusalem. Khaled Jaradat and Tareq Qa'dan were detained for several hours but released due to lack of evidence, Qa'dan told Ma'an. He said that "there was no direct reason for the arrest." Walid Badad, an official from the Islamic and national factions in Jenin, said the release came after a meeting in which factions "affirmed the prohibition against politically motivated arrests." » Read more

In Russia, Abbas asks Israel for 'peace, not war' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 24, 2011 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he hopes officials will take the Middle East Quartet meeting in April as an opportunity to push forward the peace process. Speaking from the Republic of Bashkortostan alongside his counterpart there, the president said "Palestinians are determined to achieve peace through negotiations," and that he hoped Israelis shared the sentiment. » Read more

No Spring in Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) March 24, 2011 - 12:00am Just when you thought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was in the deep freezer, things are getting hot again. Hamas and Israel are back at each others' throats; and for the first time in four years, there's been a terror attack in Jerusalem, killing one Israeli. The bombing capped a week of Israeli-Palestinian confrontation, which resulted in a number of civilian deaths in Gaza. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Israelis and Palestinians watching the historic changes in the Arab World just can't stand not to be the center of attention. » 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

GAZA STRIP: Israel tank shells kill three Gaza children, one man ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Ahmed al-Dabba - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Several Israeli tank shells landed Tuesday at a playground in Gaza City, killing three children and their grandfather and injuring 12 other children and women, hospital sources and witnesses said. Eyewitnesses said that seven tank shells slammed a playground where children were playing soccer, adding two other shells crashed through the ceiling of a nearby house, injuring six women. » Read more

Hopes and Struggles in a Difficult Land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by A.O. Scott - (Film Review) March 24, 2011 - 12:00am “Miral,” Julian Schnabel’s fourth feature film, based on an autobiographical novel by Rula Jebreal (who wrote the screenplay), recounts the linked and partial life stories of four Palestinian women, beginning in the last days of the British mandate and ending in the 1990s, when it looked as if peace between Israelis and Palestinians might finally be on the horizon. That the film, an international co-production involving France, India, Israel and Italy, has been greeted with a flurry of controversy may show just how far that horizon has receded. » Read more

U.S. Group Stirs Debate on Being ‘Pro-Israel’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am On one side were members of the Israeli Parliament and advocates who argued that there was only one legitimate way to support Israel from abroad — unconditionally. On the other were those who insisted that love and devotion did not mean withholding criticism. » Read more

In Israel, Gates Condemns Recent Attacks From Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner, Tom Shanker - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am A rocket fired by militants from Gaza overshot the Israeli port city of Ashdod on Thursday afternoon, landing in an open area to the north, as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was meeting with Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, less than 20 miles up the coast in Tel Aviv. » Read more

In Israel, Gates Condemns Recent Attacks From Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner, Tom Shanker - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am A rocket fired by militants from Gaza overshot the Israeli port city of Ashdod on Thursday afternoon, landing in an open area to the north, as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was meeting with Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, less than 20 miles up the coast in Tel Aviv. » Read more

In Israel, Gates Condemns Recent Attacks From Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner, Tom Shanker - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am A rocket fired by militants from Gaza overshot the Israeli port city of Ashdod on Thursday afternoon, landing in an open area to the north, as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was meeting with Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, less than 20 miles up the coast in Tel Aviv. » Read more