March 21st

Erekat: We will seek UN recognition soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The United Nations will be asked to recognize a Palestinian state with full membership of the world body, a Palestinian official said on Sunday. The decision to go forward with the plan had been made by the Palestinian leadership and it is the "choice of president Mahmoud Abbas," resigned chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. However, Erakat said no date had been set for the move, which would request the world body recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, saying only that it would happen "as soon as possible."

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UN: Massive increase in home demolitions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The latest numbers from the United Nations show a two-fold increase in the number of Palestinian homes and agricultural buildings destroyed by Israel order this year, causing concern among officials. The UN Relief and Works Agency recorded 70 demolitions since the start of 2011, displacing 105 Palestinians, of whom 43 were under the age of 18. The demolitions were carried out across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and ordered by Israeli police, municipal officials and by mandate of the Civil Administration.

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Settlers stab Palestinian south of Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

A 32-year-old from the south Hebron hills told Ma'an he was stabbed in the chest on Monday by settlers from the Ma'on settlement. Speaking by phone from hospital, Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad said he was treated for moderate stab wounds. The father of two lives in Khirbet Toubeh. Family members told the Palestinian Authority shortly after the incident that he was attacked while riding his donkey toward the nearby town of Yatta, where he was to receive treatment for kidney problems.

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Mortar Fire From Hamas, and Israeli Tanks Respond
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - March 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamas militants fired dozens of mortar shells from Gaza into southern Israel during a 15-minute period on Saturday morning, slightly injuring two Israeli civilians and sharply escalating tensions along the Israel-Gaza border. The Israeli military responded to the unusually intense barrage with tank and helicopter fire. Gaza officials reported that five Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire directed at a Hamas security facility east of Gaza City, including three security officers and two civilians, one of them a child.

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March 18th

Hamas arrests a protester and two cameramen at a national unity rally, and another group of protesters sought refuge at a UN compound and are now on a hunger strike. PM Netanyahu condemns Palestinian national unity moves. Arrangements are being made for Pres. Abbas to visit Gaza, including seeking passage through Israel. Analysts look at the split between Fatah and Hamas. Israeli and Palestinian leaders will visit Moscow next week. Akiva Eldar says the Israeli right sees all Arabs as terrorists. Bradley Burston says the occupation means Israelis face a grim future. A Palestinian man attacked by settlers recounts his ordeal. Projectiles fired from Gaza hit western Israel. Eitan Haber says no matter how angry Israelis are, they have no choice but to seek peace. US Senators say Hamas should stay on the terrorism list. GLBT groups face controversy over pro-Palestinian sentiments. Marwan Muasher and Javier Solana say regional upheaval in the Middle East may help the peace process. PM Fayyad calls on Hamas to accept Abbas' unity overture. Naomi Chazan decries attacks on civil society in Israel.

Israeli civil society, democracy and political change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Naomi Chazan - (Opinion) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

At precisely the same time that civil society has emerged as the catalyst in democratically-driven upheavals in the Arab world, Israel's civil society is increasingly threatened. There is a direct correlation between the rising centrality of civil society as the locus of opposition to government policies and the intensified efforts of neo-nationalist groups to curtail its activities.

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Fayyad calls on Hamas to accept Abbas' initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Thursday urged Hamas to accept President Mahmoud Abbas’ initiative for reconciliation, Palestinian media reported. Abbas said Wednesday he was “ready to go to Gaza tomorrow” to end the division between Fatah and Hamas, after the Islamist group’s prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, urged “immediate” talks. Abbas also said he wanted to “form a government of independent national figures to start preparing for … polls within six months.”

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Regional upheaval may facilitate peace now for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Marwan Muasher, Javier Solana - (Opinion) March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

As revolutionary change sweeps across the Arab world, it is easy to think that now is not the time to push for peace between Israel and Palestine. Until the dust settles on the new Middle East, the old road maps seem dated, and conventional wisdom holds that to expect that progress toward a peace agreement can take place in the context of regional upheavals is an example of wishful thinking. But the opposite is true. Even with so many failed efforts in the past, there is a clear window of opportunity for the United States and Israel to urgently push for a lasting settlement.

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Gay Community Faces Rift Over Cancellation of a Pro-Palestinian Fundraiser
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

They’ve long faced off on college campuses and in the media, and now Israel’s supporters and detractors are in a pitched battle for the hearts and minds of the gay and lesbian community. This fight bubbled over earlier in March when New York’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center canceled a pro-Palestinian group’s event for which the center had rented its space. The cancellation followed complaints from supporters of Israel within the gay community.

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US Senators urge EU to keep Hamas on terror list
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

US Senators sent a letter to the EU Thursday urging that Hamas not be taken off its terror list following The Jerusalem Post’s report that the PA was lobbying for such a change. “We urge you to encourage the Palestinian Authority to put more pressure on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize the Jewish State of Israel and accept all prior agreements, rather than pursuing diplomatic schemes that undermine the peace process,” stated the letter. It was co-authored by Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) and Bill Nelson (D-Florida), and signed by 14 other colleagues from both sides of the aisle.

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