March 13th

Palestinian rights group releases Cast Lead stats ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) March 12, 2009 - 12:00am Some 1,434 Palestinians were killed, including 960 civilians, during Israel's military offensive in Gaza, a Palestinian human rights group said. The dead included 288 children and 121 women, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said on Thursday. The non-civilians killed included 239 police officers and 235 "fighters," according to the group. The group said it would publish a list of the names of those killed next week in Arabic, and would follow that with an English version, according to Reuters. Some 5,303 people were injured in the fighting, according to the group. » Read more

The one-, two-, five-state solutions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times March 13, 2009 - 12:00am We enjoy the counting game when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, hypothesising about the number of states that must be created to end this conflict. The one-state solution is an idea coming from part of the Palestinian liberal elite that calls for one state for two nations: Israelis and Palestinians. The idea is rejected by Israelis as political suicide because demographic trends will mean a Palestinian-dominated state in 20 years or so. » Read more

Obama's Middle East test ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - March 12, 2009 - 12:00am Will President Barack Obama manage to resolve the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, which has held the world hostage for the past 60 years? Or will he be driven by events to revert to the more modest aim of conflict-management, which has characterised the policies of his predecessors in the White House? This question was the underlying theme of a conference at the Nato Defence College in Rome on March 4-5, attended by participants from the Middle East, the United States and Europe. » Read more

Hamas, Fatah differ over attitude to agreements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - March 13, 2009 - 12:00am Rival Palestinian factions have so far failed to overcome obstacles in reconciliation talks which they hope will lead to a unified governing body for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, officials said on Friday. President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement has insisted during Egyptian-hosted talks taking place in Cairo that rival Islamist group Hamas must "abide" by existing peace agreements signed with Israel but Hamas has refused to make such a commitment. » Read more

Some hope, much pessimism, on Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from (Editorial) March 13, 2009 - 12:00am There are many reasons to feel more pessimistic than optimistic about the possibility of any major breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year. The inaction by the international community, especially the United States, over the past few years has made the situation more complicated, with increased violence and hardened public opinions on both sides. » Read more

Sources: Israel agrees to free all 450 Hamas prisoners for Shalit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoav Stern - March 13, 2009 - 12:00am Israel has agreed to free all 450 of the prisoners demanded by Hamas in exchange for kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, and the dispute now revolves around Israel's demand that some of these prisoners be deported rather than returned home, Palestinian sources in Cairo said Thursday. Ofer Dekel, Israel's lead negotiator on the issue, was in Cairo Thursday for further talks with Egyptian mediators. » Read more

Parties aiming to increase settlements fight over Housing portfolio ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Mazal Mualem - March 13, 2009 - 12:00am Three factions are fighting over the Housing portfolio, which prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has promised the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Shas is resolved to appoint the party's MK Ariel Atias - today minister of communications - as housing minister, while United Torah Judaism, the other ultra-Orthodox party, wants the ministry mainly to be in control of the Israel Lands Administration. » Read more

March 12th

Hamas conditions dim unity gov’t prospects ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times March 12, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas said on Wednesday it would demand the right to choose the next Palestinian prime minister and a majority of Cabinet seats in any unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fateh faction. Hamas' opening position in Egyptian-mediated reconciliation talks in Cairo appeared to dim chances of a deal on a unity government acceptable to the United States and other Western powers, which shun the Islamist group for refusing to recognise Israel and renounce violence. » Read more

Israel Stance Was Undoing of Nominee for Intelligence Post ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper, Mark Mazzetti - March 11, 2009 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — When Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, announced that he would install Charles W. Freeman Jr. in a top intelligence post, the decision surprised some in the White House who worried that the selection could be controversial and an unnecessary distraction, according to administration officials. » Read more

Dramatic Shift In Diplomacy Draws Muted React, So Far ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Analysis) March 11, 2009 - 12:00am It is an Obama revolution that has gone by virtually unremarked. In the space of one week, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have knocked down no fewer than five long-standing pillars of American foreign policy from the Bush years and earlier, leaving Israel and other countries affected to confront a transformed world of diplomacy. Between March 2 and March 7, the Obama administration: • Sent two senior envoys to Damascus for high-level negotiations with Syria, ending Washington’s years-long effort to isolate the country. » Read more