March 1st

News Analysis: Israel worried with New Arab system ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Khaled Khalefe - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli leadership is watching the latest developments in the Arab world with great concern and anxiety, and it's not clear whether the emerging Arab regimes and a new Arab world will enhance the Israeli security or not, according to analysts. Israeli officials are worried about the loss of those leaders who created the environment for the historic reconciliation with the Israeli state, such as former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said analysts. » Read more

Report: Israel to legalize tens of outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 1, 2011 - 1:00am Israel is moving to "immediately dismantle all illegal settlement outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land," Israeli media reported Tuesday citing army officials. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the decision would legalize other outposts, which were determined to be on "state lands." The announcement came hours after Israeli troops took down two sheds in an outpost near Havat Gilad, an illegal settlement in the northern West Bank near Nablus. » Read more

PA: Israel assassination probe 'making excuses for murder' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 28, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority on Monday slammed an Israeli investigation which found the killing of 13 civilians in Gaza during an assassination was not a disciplinary offense. In July 2002, Israeli forces dropped a one-ton bomb on the Gaza City home of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh, killing 13 civilians including his wife, daughter and eight other children. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed a committee of military generals to probe the killings after a rights group petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court demanding an investigation. » Read more

Israel shuts down Jerusalem event ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 1, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli police and intelligence agents forcibly shut down two events in East Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, citing "security reasons" for the clampdown. Armed police and border guards prevented guests from entering a conference on "Defending Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem" at the Capitol Hotel on Salah Addin Street in Jerusalem, organizers said. Police handed organizers a warrant signed by minister of internal security Yitzhaq Ahronovitch addressed to the hotel administration. The warrant warned that the meeting was banned for "security reasons." » Read more

Future Cloudy As Palestinians Dissolve Peace Team ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR) by Sheera Frenkel - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am As popular uprisings continue to spread across the Middle East, Palestinian leaders have made a number of moves aimed at appeasing would-be protesters in the West Bank. Among those is the dismantling of their entire peacemaking apparatus, which has become deeply unpopular after years of failed peace talks. Palestinian officials say it is now unclear who would negotiate for them if the peace process resumes. » Read more

In Mideast, peace map is in sight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by H.d.s. Greenway - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am CONVENTIONAL WISDOM has it that with the Arab world in turmoil, this is a time for Israel to batten down the hatches, and put any talk of peace with the Palestinians on ice for awhile. But there are Israeli voices, both in and out of government, who say this is exactly the time, with the old Arab order changing, to lance the Palestinian boil and go for a two-state solution. » Read more

Netanyahu Warns on Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times February 28, 2011 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu berated leaders of his conservative-leaning Likud Party on Monday after they pressed him for more settlement construction, telling them that Israel was under international pressure and operating in a complex new reality in the Middle East. “People don’t understand the reality they are living in,” Mr. Netanyahu was quoted as telling an assembly of Likud ministers and legislators, as well as some leaders of Jewish settler councils from the West Bank, who then passed on the remarks to the Israeli news media. » Read more