FM Lieberman may be indicted on corruption charges. Palestinians gain crucial international support for independence at a Brussels donor meeting. Fatah officials say there are no political prisoners being held in the West Bank. PM Fayyad says Palestinians have received the international “birth certificate” for their state. Fatah wins student elections at Bethlehem University. Palestinians say a new US peace effort must come soon. Analysts say a possible plan by PM Netanyahu for a partial West Bank pullout is an effort to avoid a diplomatic “tsunami” in September. The Palestinian FM says he doesn’t expect talks to resume soon. Some of Judge Goldstone’s co-authors don’t agree with his reconsiderations. The EU grants Palestinian produce duty-free status. 1,000 American Christians are asking to become West Bank settlers. Palestinians say settlers cut down 150 trees. Larry Derfner says Israelis are blind to realities in Gaza. D. Bloomfield says both sides are wasting time on peace. Jewish Voice for Peace is reportedly isolated by its refusal to endorse a two-state solution. The State Department annual human rights report criticizes Israel, the PA and Hamas. The Israeli military will move towards “smart warfare.” George Hishmeh says Netanyahu has been caught flat-footed by the wave of international support for Palestinian independence. Daoud Kuttab says US diplomacy is suffering because it’s not doing enough on Palestine. Ghada Karmi says Israel’s narrative about Palestinian refugees is bogus.

Rattling the Cage: We got out of Gaza, didn’t we?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Do people here know that we’ve prevented trucks from delivering cooking oil, flour or sugar to Gaza since last Thursday, when Hamas fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus, gravely injuring a 16- year-old boy? Do people here know or care what we do to Gaza’s civilians?

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Washington Watch: Playing ball at the peace table
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

If the Palestinian-Israeli peace process were a basketball game, both sides would be called for stalling. There’s a lot of trash talk going on, but no serious action. But it isn’t a basketball game, it’s a blame game. Neither side seems seriously interested in returning to the peace table, just in going through the motions to impress the fans. It’s a lot like last week’s budget battle between Republicans and Democrats; the real issue wasn’t what good we can achieve for the country, but who is going to get blamed when it all goes south.

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Palestinian says 150 trees cut by settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian villager Ibrahaim Salah faced a rude welcome after arriving at his olive grove Tuesday, claiming that his trees were cut down by settlers. "I arrived at my land Tuesday morning and couldn't believe my eyes," said the Samaria resident, who is allowed to access his grove only a few times a year with a security escort. "We found some 150 olive trees that are dozens of years old cut down." Salah says that only 60 trees remain in his plot of land at this time, yet most of them are too young and do not produce commercial quantities of trees.

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Goldstone report: Statement issued by members of UN mission on Gaza war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Christine Chinkin, Hina Jilani, Desmond Travers - April 14, 2011 - 12:00am

In recent days some articles and comments appearing in the press with respect to the report of the United Nations (UN) fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict of 2008-2009 have misrepresented facts in an attempt to delegitimise the findings of this report and to cast doubts on its credibility.

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The new Christian settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yair Altman - April 14, 2011 - 12:00am

About 1,000 Americans have signed a document requesting to convert to Judaism, move to Israel, and settle in Samaria. The group members are seeking to serve in the IDF and later establish communities based on the Kibbutz movement model. The document was presented to Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset Member Lia Shemtov, who met with the group's representative last week and promised to offer her help in facilitating the initiative. The Christian group's representative, Baruch Abramovich, said he was hopeful that MK Shemtov would be able to elicit the government's support for the initiative.

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JVP, Harsh Critic Of Israel, Seeks a Seat at the Communal Table
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gal Beckerman - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

On a recent Wednesday night in New York City, Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that critics label anti-Israel, made the case for her group’s main protest tactic: a targeted campaign of boycott, divestment and sanction — or BDS, as it has become known — against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

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EU grants Palestinian produce duty-free access
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The European Union announced Wednesday it would grant duty-free access to produce from the West Bank and the Gaza strip in a bid to support Palestinian state building. The deal was announced during a visit by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who was in Brussels for a meeting with international donors. "Facilitating Palestinian trade is a crucial element of the state building process which the EU is supporting both politically and financially," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

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U.S. Report Details Rights Abuses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

An annual report by the U.S. Department of State on human rights in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza paints a stark picture of human rights conditions among minority populations in Israel, and Palestinian populations in the West Bank and Gaza. “Principal human rights problems were institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Arab citizens, Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip… non-Orthodox Jews, and other religious groups,” begins the segment dealing with Israel and the Golan Heights.

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Gaza war report co-authors reject Goldstone's retraction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 14, 2011 - 12:00am

The three co-authors of the damning United Nations report on the 2008-2009 Gaza war rejected on Thursday an op-ed by the fourth member and chairman Richard Goldstone in which he retracted key conclusions of the report – in particular saying that Israel had not intentionally targeted civilians during the war.

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