NEWS: A classified US wargame reportedly suggests an Israeli attack on Iran could draw the United States into a wider regional conflict, possibly including hundreds of American deaths. Another hunger striking Palestinian prisoner is said to be in mortal danger. PLO officials say they are ready to resume talks with Israel. Israel says it is making several improvements to the quality of life for Palestinians living under occupation. Fatah officials denounce Israel's policy of assassinations. Palestinians are to ask for a UN investigation of settler abuses. The EU pledges €35 million for a Palestinian infrastructure project. Israeli officials are set to claim that the Palestinian economy is not ready for independence. Pres. Obama has a telephone conversation with Pres. Abbas. Israel continues to deny Palestinians access to their own water. Israel's military is accused of abusing Palestinian children. COMMENTARY: ATFP President Ziad Asali suggests practical steps that can be taken by all sides during the political interregnum on Israeli-Palestinian peace. Richard Cohen says Israel needs to buy time on Iran. Sefi Rachlevsky says Iran has started a Cold War between the United States and Israel. Yakir Elkariv says an Israeli attack on Iran would reveal a death wish. Navi Pillay says indiscriminate shooting of rockets between Israel and Gaza is illegal and unjustifiable. Gershon Baskin says Israel must not cut off electricity to the Palestinians. Donald Macintyre says Einstein considered the problem of how Jews and Arabs could live together in Palestine and could not find a solution. Yossi Alpher says violence has not only failed, it has undermined a two-state solution. Ghassan Khatib says violence is only increasing the Palestinian determination to end the occupation. Ephraim Sneh says the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has no military solution. Bernard Avishai says informed Chinese are predicting that the occupation will ultimately turn global opinion against Israel.

Decisions in the Interregnum in Palestine and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ziad Asali - (Blog) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

The year 2011 will go down in history as the year when the two-state solution went into deep freeze. Yet even during this hibernation there is much that can, and indeed must, be done to prevent an even graver crisis.

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Don't Shut the Switch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

One of the items not transferred to the Palestinian Authority with its creation in 1994 was electricity generation. With the exception of the Jericho area, the PA is not permitted to generate any of its own electricity. In fact, even the PA’s creation of distribution companies in the West Bank is not in accord with the agreement. In terms of electricity for the Palestinians, the Israeli Civil Administration is fully in charge.

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Protecting civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Navi Pillay - (Opinion) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

My visit to Israel and Palestine a year ago left me with a profound sense of the difficult human rights situation faced by many Palestinians and Israelis. Still, the openness of representatives on all sides to engage seriously on the human rights challenges I identified was encouraging. Taking this spirit of constructive engagement as our point of departure, I and my staff have been watching closely for progress on the issues I raised with Israeli and Palestinian authorities in Gaza, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv.

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Protecting civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm

My visit to Israel and Palestine a year ago left me with a profound sense of the difficult human rights situation faced by many Palestinians and Israelis. Still, the openness of representatives on all sides to engage seriously on the human rights challenges I identified was encouraging. Taking this spirit of constructive engagement as our point of departure, I and my staff have been watching closely for progress on the issues I raised with Israeli and Palestinian authorities in Gaza, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv.

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Iran strike a death wish
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yakir Elkariv - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

The sanctions against Iran may accelerate the Ayatollah regime’s end. Once the economic pressure grows heavier, social unrest would grow and may develop into a popular uprising. However, such processes take time, and it’s uncertain whether officials around here would have the patience to wait. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – with the encouragement of loyal journalists – is determined to enter the annals of history as the leader who saw farther than anyone else and saved Israel from the Iranian nuclear threat. However, his eagerness may turn out to be fateful.

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Iran already started a war, a cold one between Israel, U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

Who said the home front isn't protected? People who have spoken in recent years with Defense Minister Ehud Barak know he's well aware of the suggestion that he take care of two things before a war with Iran: The return of Gilad Shalit and the sale of his home in the luxury Akirov Towers.

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Playing for time through a strike on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Nations have doctrines. The Soviet Union had the Brezh­nev Doctrine and the United States had the Monroe Doctrine, among others. Even little Israel has one. I call it the Maybe the Dog Will Talk Doctrine, and it is based on a folk tale of the rabbi who makes a preposterous deal with a tyrant: If the tyrant spares the lives of local Jews, the rabbi will teach the tyrant’s dog to talk. When the rabbi tells his wife what he has done, she calls him a fool. But, he says, “A year is a long time.

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Israeli military accused of mistreating children
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

The Israeli military is accused of a "pattern of systematic ill treatment" of children and teenagers detained in the West Bank in a report by an international non-government organisation published today. It alleges that minors between the ages of 12 and 17 have been arrested at night, bound and blindfolded, and interrogated without their parents or lawyers present. The arrest and transfer are "often accompanied by verbal abuse and humiliation, threats as well as physical violence", the Defence for Children International [DCI] adds.

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In the West Bank, Springs of Contention
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Ein Ariq, West Bank -- A convoy of white United Nations jeeps pulls into the olive-tree laden valley below the Jewish community of Eli. They are greeted by Jamal Deragmeh, the mayor of the nearby Palestinian town of Lubban Al-Sharkiya, who points out the cement pool around the spring and complains. “If you weren’t here,” he says to the representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “The [Jewish] settlers would come and put a bullet in my head.”

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