March 13th

Israel lets aid into Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yoav Zitun - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel’s Ministry of Defense has decided to leave border crossings between Gaza and Israel open despite ongoing rocket attacks, in order to allow a flow of goods and aid delivered from Israel to the people of Gaza. Following the decision, the Kerem Shalom crossing remained open on Monday even though three mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip landed on the Palestinian side of the crossing. During the latest round of fighting in the Gaza region, approximately 50 rockets aimed at Israel landed in Palestinian territory.

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Toll rises in Israel-Gaza Strip crossfire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem— The toll on civilians from violence between the Israeli military and militants based in the Gaza Strip rose Monday as three Palestinians — a 15-year-old boy on his way to school and a father and daughter walking in the street — were killed by Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian officials said.

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Hamas: Egypt offered fuel in return for calm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Egypt offered to provide fuel to Gaza if militants agree to a ceasefire with Israel, Hamas-affiliated MP Younis al-Astal said Monday. The Gaza Strip has faced up to 18-hour blackouts per day since Egypt cut fuel supplies through an underground tunnel network, and officials are negotiating an emergency route to stave the power crisis. Gaza's sole power station shut down on Saturday evening for the third time in the past month.

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Egypt-mediated truce calms Israel-Gaza border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karin Brulliard - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A reported truce mediated by Egypt on Tuesday appeared to bring a shaky calm to the most intense cross-border fighting in three years between Israel and militants based in Gaza Strip. The cease-fire, which Egyptian state media said took effect hours before dawn on Tuesday, is intended to halt a four-day cycle of more than 300 militant-fired rockets into southern Israel and dozens of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Though both sides have warned that the conflict could expand, neither has seemed inclined to escalate to all-out war.

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As Rockets Fly, New Conditions Shape Fight in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram, Isabel Kershner - March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Cross-border fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza continued for a fourth day on Monday, with the Palestinian death toll rising from Israeli airstrikes and the militants’ rockets reaching farther into Israel.

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March 12th

NEWS: Cross-border violence between Israel and militants in Gaza continues. It began with the assassination of a noted Gaza militant by Israel. 21 Palestinians have been killed in the outbreak so far. The PLO envoy at the UN condemns Israeli "terrorism." Many rockets and missiles have also been launched at southern Israel. Former Mossad head Dagan says an Israeli attack on Iran would be pointless and the response devastating. Israel is still planning to demolish Palestinian solar energy plants in the occupied territories. Settlers in a major "unauthorized" outpost seem to have agreed on a plan to leave. COMMENTARY: Akiva Eldar says PM Netanyahu needs to define what he thinks Israel is. Ha'aretz says Israel needs an anthem that can represent its Arab as well as Jewish citizens, but Michael Sussman defends the current one. Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff say the new violence between Israel and Gaza will likely wind-down by mid-week. Jeff Barak says a true friend of Israel would have acted towards it exactly as Pres. Obama has. Harriet Sherwood looks at weddings in Gaza. Jay Sekulow and Robert Ash says Israel has a legal case for attacking Iran but Adel Safty says Netanyahu has not made any convincing arguments. The National says Palestinian disunity is a crucial failure. Khaled Diab says cultural changes are making occupied East Jerusalem more livable. Rami Khouri says Israel's vision is walls and wars.

For Israel, it is about walls and war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) March 10, 2012 - 1:00am

The recent visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States received the lion’s share of publicity about Israel’s position in the Middle East and the world. However, the real story about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict rests elsewhere.

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‘Reel freedom’ helps make Jerusalem more livable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

In East Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation has affected the city’s cultural landscape. Chronic underinvestment, expanding settlements and a massive wall – which Israel says it has constructed for security purposes and Palestinians allege is a land grab – have had the effect of squeezing the life out of Palestinian quarters and shifting the cultural center of gravity to Ramallah in the West Bank. In addition, it seems many Palestinian Jerusalemites have not been able to shake off the curfew mentality of the intifada, which ended almost seven years ago.

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Political disunity of Palestinians is a critical failure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) March 11, 2012 - 1:00am

When it comes to Palestinian politics, every step forward seems inevitably followed by two steps back. On Friday, a day after Hamas had rejected the idea that it would at any point strike Israel on behalf of Iran, Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 12 and wounded a dozen others. Hamas once again finds itself on the defensive, both from Israel and from factions within the Occupied Territory.

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Netanyahu's flawed arguments for war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The Iranian crisis has given rise to another duel between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. The public platform for the confrontation of the two men was provided by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) policy conference which the two men addressed separately last week. They duelled in the past over how to achieve peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the Aipac policy conference, they publicly duelled about waging another war in the Middle East.

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