NEWS: Upcoming meetings between Pres. Obama and PM Netanyahu will focus on Iran. Pres. Peres says the US should put all options on the table regarding Iran and promises the Catholic Church to protect Christian sites in Jerusalem. Hamas again confirms its political headquarters is no longer in Damascus. Another hunger striking Palestinian prisoner held without charge by Israel says she will not stop until her demands are met. Hundreds participate in a marathon race in Gaza. Israel is preparing to test a next-generation missile system. FM Lieberman says Israel's military and settlers must stay in the Jordan Valley. Most Americans see Iran as a threat, but most Israelis oppose a military attack. Experts are seeking ways to both calm Israel and contain Iran. UNRWA faces much skepticism and misunderstanding in the United States. COMMENTARY: Aaron David Miller says Iran, Israel and Turkey are the driving powers in the Middle East now. Ha'aretz says Israel should consider amending its national anthem to include non-Jewish sentiments, and Noah Klieger says it's unreasonable to expect any Arab, even the most loyal citizen of Israel, to sing a song about Jewish national aspirations. Yoel Marcus says Israel is becoming a footnote in American politics. Aluf Benn says Netanyahu's Washington trip will be the most momentous of his career. Alex Fishman says Israel should be very concerned about growing Palestinian despair. Jill Jacobs says the Jewish National Fund is involved in human rights abuses in the occupied territories, but its CEO, Russell Robinson, denies this. George Hishmeh says Israel's policies are a dangerous course of action. Ahmad Nagi says Palestinians face a bleak future. Shawqi Issa says the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is important and complex. Yossi Alpher says it behooves Israel to treat all suspected terrorists equally.

Netanyahu and Obama play high-stakes poker over Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming trip to Washington will be the most important one in his long career as ambassador, politician and national leader. On Monday, Netanyahu will meet President Barack Obama in the White House for a game of diplomatic poker, where the greatest gamble of all will be right on the table: an attack on Iran's nuclear installations. Each of the two players will try to push the other to act. Netanyahu would prefer to see the American superpower, with its vast range of military capabilities, pulverize Iran's nuclear project.

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Shalabi 'patient, steadfast' until demands met
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi said Thursday from Hasharon prison that she is continuing her open hunger strike and remains patient and steadfast until her demands are met. A Palestinian prisoner society lawyer, Fawaz Shalludy who visited Shalabi, said the prisoner had suffered as the Israeli prison administration put her in an open area in the cold in Ofer detention center. Shalludy pointed out that the prisoner’s spirits are high although there are signs of fatigue and weakness on her because of the strike. She thanked everyone who is supporting her, he said.

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JNF should plant trees, not uproot families
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Jill Jacobs - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

As a child, I proudly brought my spare change to Hebrew school to drop in the little blue boxes. With this money, my teachers told me, the Jewish National Fund would plant trees in Israel. I never imagined that these nickels and dimes would also help to evict Palestinians from their homes. Last week, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America called on the Jewish National Fund and its partner organizations to issue a public statement that they will no longer evict Palestinians from their homes in eastern Jerusalem.

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Calm Israel, Contain Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Barbara Slavin - (Analysis) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Foreign policy experts and politicians will be scrutinizing US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week for signs of disagreement as they sequentially address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington. Will Obama sound sufficiently hawkish to placate the audience at the annual conclave of the Israel lobby, or will he leave a gap that will frustrate some Israeli supporters and be exploited by US Republican presidential candidates?

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Tough Sell For U.N. Palestinian Agency
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Washington — Twice a year Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, comes to Washington to make the case for continuing funding for his organization, and the job only gets tougher. The U.N. agency, which is the primary provider of education, healthcare and housing for Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East, was never an easy sell on Capitol Hill and UNRWA has been working hard to convince lawmakers and administration officials that the cause is worthy.

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The campaign against JNF is misplaced
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Russell Robinson - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

The Jewish National Fund plants trees, builds a nation and unifies a people. As a child growing up in a small town in Texas, I dropped my coins in the Blue Box in Hebrew school. My parents and grandparents raised me on the importance and the power of the Blue Box. My grandfather would say to me, “If only we had been stronger and more unified, we could have bought more land and had a place for 6 million Jews to go home to.”

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Israel on a dangerous course
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

President Barack Obama appears likely to win a second term since his Republican competitors seem, if nothing else, hopelessly disjointed. Regrettably, however, he remains treading softly on the Middle East, obviously fearing that any pronouncement on any of the key issues in this region — Iran, Syria, Israel and the Palestinians — might tip the balance against him in the nine months before the presidential election, in November.

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Beware Palestinian despair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Alex Fishman - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

“The last chance” – this is how we can characterize the letter sent in recent days by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to the International Quartet members. In his letter, Abbas complained that the PA is expected to conduct itself like a government without being allowed to govern. He further detailed what he views as Israeli failures during the negotiations and finished with a warning: Should Israel fail to commit to genuine actions in March, “all options are open.”

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Polls: Most in U.S. See Iran as Threat; Majority of Israelis Against Iran Strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A poll showed 87 percent of registered American voters believe that Iran’s suspected illegal nuclear weapons program is a threat to the United States. The poll commissioned by The Israel Project also found that 88 percent of respondents believed that Iran is a threat to Israel.

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