March 14th, 2013

Obama may scrap visit to Ramallah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 14, 2013 - 12:00am


US President Barack Obama could skip Ramallah during his upcoming visit to the region, a Palestinian Authority source said Wednesday. Obama will meet President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem and will spend only four hours in the West Bank during the trip, which will include a visit to the Nativity Church, said the government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A spokesman for the US consulate in Jerusalem did not immediately return a call late Wednesday.


Israel's Demographic Destiny
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am


 


The settlers will rise in power in Israel's new government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - March 14, 2013 - 12:00am


U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro probably sat down Wednesday to write a long cable to the White House ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to report on the new government in Israel. Aside from noting the obvious fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is even weaker and has become the political hostage of all of his coalition partners, Shapiro probably emphasized the dramatic rise in the power of the settlers in Netanyahu’s third government.


Obama’s Israel Itinerary Includes Some Standard Stops, but Not Others
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am


WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to visit the Church of the Nativity, but not the Western Wall, when he travels to Israel next week. He will speak at Jerusalem’s convention center, but not before the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. And he will inspect a mobile missile-defense battery, though not one in the field, where they protect Israel from enemy rockets.


March 13th

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


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).


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."


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.


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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