NEWS: PM Erdogan is meeting with Hamas leaders. Africans in Israel unite to lobby for better treatment. Intermittent attacks continue between Israel and militants in Gaza, with no injuries reported. Palestinian national unity activists ponder their next moves. The Syrian regime threatens to raid Yarmouk refugee camp due to Fatah's support for demonstrations against Pres. Assad. Israeli soldiers kill a man trying to cross the border with Egypt. The PA calls on the international community to pressure Israel to lift economic restrictions. Controversy follows comments from Gilad Shalit's father that, were he a Palestinian, he might want to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Suha Arafat says she is considering a role in Palestinian politics. IDF Chief of Staff Gantz will visit the US and Canada. COMMENTARY: L. Michael Hager says any US support for an Israeli attack on Iran would violate US and international law. David Landau says PM Netanyahu's speech at AIPAC reflected the lingering effects of the Holocaust on Jewish thinking. Ron Gerlitz says foreign donors are pushing to rid Israel of Arabic as an official language. Sari Hanafi says Lebanon must stop humiliating Palestinian refugees. Mkhaimar Abusada looks at the impact on Palestinians of the US-Israeli confrontation with Iran. Gershon Baskin says rather than lurching from crisis to crisis, Palestinians and Israelis need to look for opportunities to move forward. Lara Friedman outlines the dangers she sees in Jewish-American groups taking the lead on pushing for war with Iran. Naomi Paiss critiques the BDS movement. George Hishmeh says that if Israel allowed the Palestinians to live in dignity, it would not have to live in fear. Carlo Strenger says Hamas bears direct responsibility for the fate of Palestinians living under its control.

Stop Humiliating Palestinian Refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Sari Hanafi - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

In a recent talk at the American University of Beirut, Chile’s former president, Michelle Bachelet, described how her country’s parliament was forced to issue a general amnesty in 1978, as a condition imposed by the dictator Augusto Pinochet to abandon power. Yet Chilean judges have refused to implement the law. Along with a vibrant civil society, they refuse to grant immunity to those who violated human rights.

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Jewish Donors Can Influence Israel’s War on Arabic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ron Gerlitz - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week, I had to spend some time at the new children's wing of Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. The hospital serves Arabs as well as Jews, and it was my impression that all its patients are treated professionally and with equality. But Arabic-language signs are almost nonexistent in this brand-new and impressive wing.

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Backlash to Netanyahu’s Iran Speech Ignores the Holocaust’s Enduring Effect
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by David Landau - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Israelis needed, as we know, an entire generation until they were able to look the sights of the Holocaust, its refugees, the very fact of its occurrence, straight in the eye. We needed another entire generation until we began to acknowledge, or at least to consider, the claim that there was something cold and aloof in the Yishuv's response and in its conduct even during the time of the Holocaust itself.

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Obama Help With Israeli Preemptive Strike on Iran Would Violate International, U.S. Law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by L. Michael Hager - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

If Israel should launch a unilateral attack on Iran in response to a mere threat to weaponize its nuclear program, should the United States come to Israel’s aid? Before responding affirmatively, American policymakers should consider a word that has rarely appeared in the public debates on Iran or in the media. That word is 'law': international law and US law.

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The impact of the US-Israeli confrontation with Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Mkhaimer Abu Sada - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The debate over Iran's nuclear program has been at the forefront of official US-Israel deliberations. The recent meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama at the White House was overshadowed by Iran's nuclear program and whether an attack should be used to derail it. The debate is not over whether or not to attack, but rather when.

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From crisis to crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

A few weeks ago, when the "attack Iran chatter" in Israel took an upgrading shift in quality (of the people doing the chatter) and in quantity (the amount of times the chatter focused on operational options), I was convinced that a decision had been taken to hit Iran. In thinking about the consequences of that attack, I immediately pondered the unintended consequences as well.

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Israel’s Military Chief Leaves for U.S., Canada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benjamin Gantz left for his first official visit to the United States and Canada. Gantz, who left Thursday on a trip that was delayed several days due to the violence on Israel's southern border, will meet with his counterparts in both countries, as well as security, government and military officials. They are scheduled to discuss joint military cooperation and mutual security challenges, as well as participate in briefings on the region.

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Don't Prove Walt and Mearsheimer Right
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

A recent Saturday Night Live episode opened with a sketch that said a lot about America’s views on war with Iran. In the sketch, Andy Samberg, playing Rick Santorum, tells the audience that the coming presidential campaign is about two things: “One, making the family once again the center of our nation’s public policy, and two, starting a war with Iran, as a favor to Israel, whether Israel asks us to or not.” Samberg forgot to add: “and whether or not it’s actually good for the U.S., Israel or the Jews.”

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Arafat’s Widow Considers Role in Politics to ‘Continue Legacy’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

The widow of the late Yasser Arafat has said the resistance leader sacrificed their marriage and a relationship with the couple's only daughter for the Palestinian cause. In a rare interview with CNN, Suha Arafat shed light on the difficulties of being married to a man she described as the "Nelson Mandela of the Arab world", and said he pushed her away to focus on achieving an independent state.

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