NEWS: Israeli occupation forces shoot and kill a Palestinian protester in the West Bank. (AP) New PA taxes on foreign imports are controversial. (Ma'an) Palestinians appeal to Israel's High Court that a new settlement expansion will cut Bethlehem off from areas to its south. (Ha'aretz) Hamas threatens to begin issuing its own passports to Gaza residents. (Xinhua) Hamas says it has a list of suspected "collaborators" who must turn themselves in or be detained. (Ma'an) Seven Palestinians are arrested at Cairo airport after being found in possession of maps of Egyptian military buildings. (Ma'an) UNHCR has joined a petition to the High Court opposing Israel's "infiltration law." (Xinhua) Film producers say Egyptian authorities have moved to prevent the screening of a film about the Jews of Egypt. (AP) Pres. Peres calls on the international community to do more to pressure Iran. (Reuters) Pres. Obama plans to give only one TV interview while he is in Israel. (Ha'aretz) The consensus is the Obama trip will involve lots of listening but few concrete proposals. (JTA) The UN calls on Jordan to admit Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria and estimates 85% of its residents have fled the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. (AP/Al Arabiya) A Palestinian father rejects a UN report suggesting his son may have been killed by a stray Palestinian rocket rather than in Israeli attack last November. (The National)

COMMENTARY: Rashid Khalidi says in order to achieve peace the US must unequivocally oppose settlements and occupation and support Palestinian statehood. (New York Times) Ari Shavit says, on the contrary, a new approach to peace should be based on incremental steps that calm the immediate situation. (New York Times) Thomas Friedman says Obama needs to ask the Israelis bluntly what their vision for the future really is, and if they even have one. (New York Times) Eric Yoffie says three issues -- Iran, settlements and Jonathan Pollard -- could all pose problems during Obama's visit to Israel. (Ha'aretz) Robert Lifton says, in spite of undoubtedly heavy opposition, Obama should launch an ambitious and decisive new peace initiative. (Huffington Post) Martin Raffel says it would be better for the US to focus on incremental steps in the immediate term rather than ambitious peace proposals. (The Jewish Week) Ben Birnbaum provides an overview of the bleak prospects for achieving a two-state agreement. (The New Republic) Mortimer Zuckerman says a two-state solution is essential, but gives his opinion about why it has been so elusive. (U.S. News & World Report) Uri Misgav says Jewish Israeli social and political leaders are being shamefully silent about violent attacks against Arabs. (Ha'aretz) Ilene Prusher says Israel has to face the fact that it has a growing problem with racism. (Ha'aretz) Aviad Kleinberg says Israeli society needs to not only reject racist attacks but identify with the victims. (YNet) The Jerusalem Post says Israel cannot be accused of "apartheid" in the occupied Palestinian territories because it does not intend to keep them. (Jerusalem Post) Omar Shaban says there are few real prospects for reestablishing the Palestinian Pound. (Al Monitor) J. J. Goldberg looks at why Israel is calling for Pollard's release now. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Mira Sucharov critiques Joseph Levine's recent commentary on Israel's "right to exist." (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Hani Almadhoun says increasing numbers of married Palestinian women are enrolling in universities. (Huffington Post)

Father rejects UN report suggesting errant Palestinian rocket killed baby
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am

A British Broadcasting Corporation employee whose infant son was killed during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip in November has criticised a United Nations report that suggested the cause of the child's death may have been an errant Palestinian rocket

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Over 85 percent Palestinians fled Syria’s Yarmouk camp: UNRWA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya
March 12, 2013 - 12:00am

More than 85 percent of Palestinians living in Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp have been displaced due to the violence that has gripped the country for the past two years, said the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

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UN: Jordan Should Allow in Palestinians From Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Peter James Spielmann - March 11, 2013 - 12:00am

The U.N.'s chief relief official for Palestinians is urging Jordan to stop discriminating against Palestinian refugees fleeing the Syrian war and open its borders to them. The commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees says "all refugees should be treated equally."

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More and More Married Palestinians Women Enrolling in Universities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ABC News
by Hani al-Madhoun - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am

On Facebook, I spotted pictures of my older sister Hannah in the forefront of a peaceful protest to promote national unity and offer political prisoners some support and encouragement, as a large number of them are on a hunger strike. It was a surprise to me, because when I left Gaza years ago she was just a mother with a high school degree. She was caring for three kids and to my knowledge she showed no interest in going back to school or getting involved in political issues.

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Flawed Questions About Israel's Right To Exist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Mira Sucharov - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am

In the New York Times, Joseph Levine has set out to answer a question that is widely considered taboo within the mainstream, but which is increasingly heard as a mantra within anti-Zionist circles: does Israel have a right to exist?

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Lots of listening, no grand initiatives expected on Obama’s Mideast trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas, Ben Sales - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am

When President Obama visits Israel next week, Gavriel Yaakov wants him to jump-start the peace process. “I’m excited,” said Yaakov, 67, sitting in a Tel Aviv mall. “I want negotiations to get to an agreement on a long-term peace with the Palestinians.” Yaakov said he trusts Obama, but his friend, Yossi Cohen, is more skeptical. “I’m not excited,” said Cohen, 64, who charged that the president supports Islamists and “hasn't done anything” to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon.

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Obama hoping to reach out to Israelis, but only one lucky TV station will get an interview
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barak Obama's main goal during his visit to Israel next week will be to speak directly to the Israeli people and public opinion, over the heads of Israel's politicians. To kick-start that goal, Obama will give an interview to Israel's Channel 2 chief news anchor, Yonit Levy, who is currently in Washington. The interview will be filmed Wednesday morning, D.C. time, and will be aired in Israel Thurday nigth at 8.P.M.

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Israel's Peres tells Europe to do more to pressure Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 12, 2013 - 12:00am

Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the European Union on Tuesday to step up pressure on Iran over its ballistic missile programme, as well as trying to curb its nuclear ambitions. In a speech to the European Parliament that touched on the Jewish state's foreign policy goals, the Nobel peace laureate sought to persuade European lawmakers to act quickly on Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat.

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Egypt stops screening of film on Jewish community
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Sarah El Deeb - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am

Egyptian security agencies have stopped the screening of a documentary on the Egyptian Jewish community a day before it was due to debut in local cinemas, the film producer said in a statement Tuesday. He said no reasons were given. The "Jews of Egypt", a documentary that follows the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century until they left under duress in large numbers in the late 1950s, was screened in Egypt last year in a private film festival and had been approved by censorship, a regular procedure in Egypt.

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