A Gaza engineer says Israel has kidnapped him from the Ukraine, and the Palestinian ambassador urges intervention. Hamas says he is not a member of the organization. Uri Dromi says there's no need for Israel to outlaw commemorations of the Nakba. Shibley Telhami says he's hopeful for Israeli-Palestinian progress. Pres. Abbas reportedly helps free Al Jazeera journalists captured in Libya. Israel will allow more exports from Gaza. Abbas calls for a settlement freeze to allow for resumed negotiations. Israel repeats its threats to take unilateral actions in the event of UN or EU recognition of Palestine. Israel pressures Russia to help thwart European recognition of Palestine. Carlo Strenger says Israel's youth no longer values peace and freedom. Israel's Defense Ministry is ordered to release documents on its Gaza policies. A New York court says it has jurisdiction in cases filed against the PLO. Palestinians yearn for national unity. The Jerusalem Post says Israel is not a fascist state. The Israeli military prepares for multi-front conflicts. A poll suggests that 43% of Jewish Israelis are satisfied with PM Netanyahu's performance. Pres. Peres says Israel welcomes Arab uprisings. Gaza journalists accuse Hamas of harassment. Donald Rumsfeld opposes clemency for Jonathan Pollard. Yossi Alpher says the “Arab Spring” is a source of uncertainty. The National says Israel's new citizenship revocation law is a slide towards fascism. George Hishmeh says Netanyahu is digging his own political grave.

'Digging his own grave'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) April 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The wind of change that has been blowing in the Arab world, which saw the celebrated downfall of two autocratic Arab regimes, in Tunisia and Egypt, is still blowing hard in other Arab countries, especially Libya where the days of its ruler, Muammar Qadhafi, are believed numbered.

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Citizenship laws in Israel cast its future in doubt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) April 1, 2011 - 12:00am

In recent weeks, Israel's Knesset has passed a series of laws that make it clear there is only one kind of Israeli. Human Rights Watch has gone so far as to term the legislation, driven mainly by the hardline foreign minister Avidgor Leiberman, "race laws".

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This ‘Arab Spring,’ Only Uncertainty Blooms
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) March 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Observers are increasingly using the term “Arab spring” to describe the tsunami of revolution, revolt, state collapse and armed intervention that is sweeping the Arab world. The term implies that a better reality, a rebirth, is about to burst forth from the Arab world. Yet it is not obvious or certain that we are actually on the cusp of a better reality.

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Rumsfeld: No Clemency for Pollard
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
March 31, 2011 - 12:00am

Former U.S. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld said Jonathan Pollard should not be granted clemency. Rumsfeld, who served under Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, said during an interview on Israel’s Channel 10 that granting Pollard early release would send the wrong message. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) this week became the first Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives to back the latest push for clemency for Jonathan Pollard. Earlier in March, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) became the first active Republican politician to join the recent calls for Pollard’s release.

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Gaza journalists accuse Hamas of harassment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Roy Greenslade - (Blog) April 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Journalists covering protests in Gaza this week have complained that they were obstructed and harassed by Hamas security forces. Four reporters - Wissam Mohamed Yasin of Al-Hurra; Ayyad Talal Taha and Mohamad al-Hassoun of Radio Watan; and Al-Arabiya cameraman Mamdouh al-Sayyid - claim they were physically assaulted. A fifth, Wajih al-Najjar, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency WAFA, said he was beaten by police during his five-hour detention. The New York-based press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, has condemned the actions.

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We in Israel welcome the Arab spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Shimon Peres - (Opinion) April 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The Middle East has to make a historic choice: to join the new global age of democratic peace and liberal economy, or to stay clinging to its history of closed societies and autocracy. A great revolt has been initiated by young people and women, to gain freedom, bread and hope. Israel is watching with great expectation. These events are both unprecedented and unplanned.

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’Post’ poll: 43% of Israeli Jews satisfied with Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - April 1, 2011 - 12:00am

A significant majority of the Jewish Israeli public is dissatisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to a Smith Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post to coincide with Thursday’s second anniversary of the government’s formation. The poll of 500 adult Jewish Israelis representing a statistical sample of the population was taken Monday and Tuesday and had a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

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IDF prepares for multi-front war in war games
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - April 1, 2011 - 12:00am

In the face of a changing Middle East, the IDF held a set of war games this week aimed at preparing the military for all-out war against Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas. The exercise did not include soldiers or live-fire exercises, but was held to drill commanders and their decisions in the event of a large-scale war on multiple fronts. The exercise was the first overseen by new Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz. It was organized by Maj.-Gen. Gershon Hacohen, head of the IDF Colleges.

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Debunking the fascist libel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Editorial) March 31, 2011 - 12:00am

The term “fascist” has been bandied about quite freely by parliamentarians and public figures on the Left recently. MK Isaac Herzog, a candidate to lead Labor in the next elections, used the term during a conference organized by Peace Now in Tel Aviv last Friday to describe a series of legislative initiatives promoted primarily by Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beiteinu Party. Other prominent left-wing intellectuals, journalists and artists have lamented “reactionary” trends overtaking our society and being given expression in the Knesset.

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