March 23rd

The myth of the Israeli unity government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National March 23, 2009 - 12:00am Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for two more weeks to form a coalition, the maximum allotted time under Israeli law, is neither surprising nor particularly encouraging. While the prime minister designate has stated that he is taking the additional time to forge a broader coalition, there is more self-interest behind the decision than any real enthusiasm for the peace process. Nor is there real reason to believe that a coalition government that embraces more than just the Right would be any greater friend of peace. » Read more

Lebanon bomb kills senior Fatah official, 4 others ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 23, 2009 - 12:00am A roadside bomb killed a senior official in the Palestinian Fatah faction and four other people in southern Lebanon on Monday, security sources said. Kamal Medhat, deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Lebanon, was killed with his companions on a road near Mieh Mieh camp outside the southern city of Sidon. The bomb, hidden under a manhole cover in the road, flipped one car off the road and badly damaged another. Television footage showed debris ablaze in a field. » Read more

A Religious War in Israel’s Army ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - March 21, 2009 - 12:00am The publication late last week of eyewitness accounts by Israeli soldiers alleging acute mistreatment of Palestinian civilians in the recent Gaza fighting highlights a debate here about the rules of war. But it also exposes something else: the clash between secular liberals and religious nationalists for control over the army and society. Several of the testimonies, published by an institute that runs a premilitary course and is affiliated with the left-leaning secular kibbutz movement, showed a distinct impatience with religious soldiers, portraying them as self-appointed holy warriors. » Read more

Car Bomb Found Near Crowded Israeli Mall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - March 23, 2009 - 12:00am A 200-pound car bomb malfunctioned near a crowded mall in the Israeli port city of Haifa on Saturday night, averting what could have been one of the largest such attacks in Israel in the past several years, police said. A bomb squad was called to the Lev Hamifratz shopping center after a small explosion, possibly a detonation charge, inside a Subaru in the mall's parking lot, according to police. » Read more

March 20th

Staring into the heart of Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Canberra Times March 20, 2009 - 12:00am The tea cup stops short of his lip, as Khalid Mishal pauses to consider the ironies of trench warfare in the Middle East: a lurch to the political right has anointed as Israel's next prime minister the man who, 11 years ago, sent Mossad agents on a bizarre mission to assassinate Mishal. » Read more

Jerusalem Police set to prevent 'Palestinian Culture Festival' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - March 20, 2009 - 12:00am Jerusalem Police announced on Friday they would prevent the so-called Palestinian Culture Festival the Palestinian Authority plans to organize in the city on Saturday. The PA is planning to fly a glider plane painted in the colors of the Palestinian national flag over the walls of the Old City as part of the festival, which is meant to declare the city to be "the capital of Arabic culture for 2009." The police said that they were determined to enforce the law, whereby any event organized and funded by the PA is prohibited within Jerusalem's municipal jurisdiction. » Read more

Soldier says rabbis pushed "religious war" in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 20, 2009 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, March 20 (Reuters) - Rabbis in the Israeli army told battlefield troops in January's Gaza offensive that they were fighting a "religious war" against gentiles, according to one army commander's account published on Friday. "Their message was very clear: we are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to expel the gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land," he said. » Read more

The Dangers of Indulging Extremism… from the Taliban to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) March 20, 2009 - 12:00am New York - Indulging extremism and adapting to it is not in the interest of the US, nor is it favorable to the future of the Middle East. What is meant here is not Islamic extremism alone, but also Jewish extremism, as it characterizes Israel's inclinations during the present phase. » Read more

Can There be Hope in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times March 20, 2009 - 12:00am With Avigdor Lieberman set to join the next Israeli government and Israel clamping down with more Hamas arrests this week, it is even less easy than usual to generate much hope for a peaceful settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. But there has been one intriguing glimmer of a more hopeful future emerging from that small fragment of popular culture that is shared by Israelis and Palestinians alike. Noa, a popular Israeli singer and peace activist, was asked last year to make a bid to represent Israel at this year's Eurovision song contest in Moscow in May. » Read more

'Shooting and crying' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - March 20, 2009 - 12:00am Less than a month after the end of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, dozens of graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory program convened at Oranim Academic College in Kiryat Tivon. Since 1998 the program has prepared participants for what is considered meaningful military service. Many assume command positions in combat and other elite units of the Israel Defense Forces. The program's founder, Danny Zamir, still heads it today and also serves as deputy battalion commander in a reserve unit. » Read more