April 3rd

Report: Israel demolished 19,000 Palestinian homes since 1967 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 2, 2009 - 12:00am At least 19,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by Israel, Limes magazine, the Italian geopolitical review publication, reported on Tuesday. The bi-monthly periodical ran a several-page feature on the current upsurge in home demolitions ordered by the Israeli government. The article begins with a look into the Al-Kurd family, who were evicted from their Sheikh Jarrah home. The father of the family was critically ill at the time, and the article describes him as “abandoned at the door of his neighbors.” » Read more

Bat Ayin rabbi: We're not seeking revenge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews April 3, 2009 - 12:00am srael Defense Forces soldiers on Thursday night continued searching for the terrorist who murdered 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ in the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin in the Gush Etzion communities. While the forces went from house to house in the Palestinian villages adjacent to the settlement, the residents of Bat Ayin gathered Thursday evening for a meeting with the community's rabbi, Daniel Cohen, in an attempt to deal with their pain. » Read more

New Israeli Foreign Minister Questioned by Police ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am Avigdor Lieberman, the new foreign minister of Israel, was questioned by the national fraud squad for more than seven hours on Thursday, according to a police spokesman, as part of a longstanding investigation into suspicions of bribery, money laundering and breach of trust. Also Thursday, a Palestinian wielding a pickax killed an Israeli boy, 13, and wounded another, 7, in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank before fleeing, witnesses and the Israeli authorities said. » Read more

Working out a response ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am Attempted and actual terror attacks in the last month seem random, with no obvious pattern. There was an abortive bulldozer rampage in Jerusalem (the third in a year), two policemen were murdered in the Jordan Valley, a booby-trapped car was left at a Haifa mall, and the most horrific of all came yesterday with the ax-murder of a child in the Bat Ayin settlement. » Read more

A Ripe Opportunity for Obama to Intervene in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - April 3, 2009 - 12:00am The Arab Summit in Doha obliterated its chances of putting forth serious stances before the G-20 Summit - which brings together the world's twenty largest economies - and did not formulate any sensible strategies that could be taken into consideration. Indeed, the summit of "reconciliations" took pride in defying the International Criminal Court (ICC) and demanding the annulment of the warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, allying itself with one accused of committing war crimes in Darfur and dealing with international justice as if it was the new enemy. » Read more

April 2nd

Palestinian Authority warns on dissolution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck, Roula Khalaf - April 1, 2009 - 12:00am The new Israeli government was warned on Wednesday that a refusal to continue serious peace negotiations intended to establish a Palestinian state could force the Palestinian Authority to dissolve itself. The warning, by a senior PA official, came only a day after Israel’s new rightwing government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, took office. It also came as Israel’s new foreign minister said the government did not feel obligated by the commitments made during the US-sponsored Annapolis peace initiative. » Read more

In Israel, Netanyahu and super-sized Cabinet sworn in ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux - April 1, 2009 - 12:00am Benjamin Netanyahu, taking office as Israeli prime minister amid heckling by leftist and Arab lawmakers, offered Tuesday to seek a "permanent arrangement" for limited Palestinian self-rule. "We do not wish to rule another people," the conservative leader declared in a speech to the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Without endorsing the goal of sovereignty for the Palestinians, he said he favored an accord giving them "all the powers necessary to rule themselves, except those that would threaten Israel's existence and security." » Read more

Mr. Netanyahu, Show Us Your Courage and Declare Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times (Editorial) April 2, 2009 - 12:00am Peace is often harder to declare than war. It takes an instant to declare war, but generations to make peace. In the case of Israel and the Arabs it's been three generations. More than enough time. It also takes a brave and strong individual to declare peace. Israel has had many brave leaders, but only two – so far – brave enough to venture on the road to peace: Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon. » Read more

World wants Palestinian state, Peres tells Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters April 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli President Shimon Peres told new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that the world backed the Palestinian quest for a state, a goal the incoming right-wing leader has not endorsed. "The government you lead must make a supreme effort to move the peace process forward on all fronts," Peres said at the state ceremony at which former prime minister Ehud Olmert handed over formally to Netanyahu, who was sworn in on Tuesday. » Read more

In Defense of Genocide: An Arab Summut Embraces the Butcher of Darfur ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post (Editorial) April 1, 2009 - 12:00am FOR DECADES, summit meetings of the Arab League have resounded with rhetoric about the alleged "double standards" of the West in enforcing U.N. resolutions or respecting international law. No communique of the group -- including the one issued from its summit this week in Doha, Qatar -- has been complete without a demand that conflicts be resolved "within the framework of international legitimacy." » Read more