March 4th

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". » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

'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. » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

Palestinians may be looking for peace beyond Washington ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Schachter - (Editorial) March 4, 2011 - 1:00am President Barack Obama has spoken more forcefully than any of his predecessors about the importance of a Palestinian state. His eagerness to advance that goal undoubtedly influenced his introduction of the unprecedented and unrealistic position ? then adopted by the Palestinian Authority ? to make a total Israeli construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem a precondition for further peace negotiations ?(though progress was scant following an earlier freeze?). » Read more

Netanyahu: Binational state would be disastrous for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 4, 2011 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in the coming weeks to put forward a peace initiative in a bid to break through the deadlock in the peace process and extricate Israel from international isolation. Netanyahu has warned in recent days during closed meetings that “a binational state would be disastrous for Israel,” and therefore it is necessary to undertake a political move that will remove this threat. » Read more

World must act on settler violence: Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) March 2, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday urged the international community to take action to halt Jewish settler violence towards Palestinians. Following a series of attacks against Palestinians across the West Bank, the Ramallah-based leadership issued a statement demanding the international community "intervene with Israel over the violent and provocative actions by settlers, which the Israeli authorities refuse to control." » Read more