The best option ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) March 15, 2010 - 12:00am Under prevailing circumstances, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's unilateral state-building plan is the best option available for all those truly concerned with advancing a two-state solution that maintains Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Not only must Fayyad succeed in the coming year, but the international community must endorse and recognize his achievement and encourage Israel to follow suit. » Read more

A pillar of state-building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) March 15, 2010 - 12:00am The program of the 13th Palestinian government, entitled "Ending the Occupation and Establishing the State", might have been similar to the programs of previous governments were it not for its political context. The two-year program, which has become known as the Fayyad Plan, is meant to prepare the ground for statehood through the necessary developments and improvements in building the institutions of a state. The plan gained political momentum, first on the international level, because it was received as a possible alternative to the decaying peace process. » Read more

MIDEAST: U.S.-Israeli Tensions Escalating Quickly ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jim Lobe - (Interview) March 15, 2010 - 12:00am The crisis touched off by last week's announcement of Israel's plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jews in Arab East Jerusalem during a high-profile visit by U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden appears to be escalating rapidly. Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington and a historian who has written widely on ties between the two nations, called the growing contretemps "the worst (bilateral) crisis in 35 years" in a teleconference with other U.S.-based Israeli diplomats Saturday night, according to a number of published accounts. » Read more

US-Israel crisis - this time it's serious ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Barbara Ferguson - March 16, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON: Tension between the United States and Israel went up a notch on Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said construction in occupied East Jerusalem would continue as usual. "Construction will continue in Jerusalem as has been the case over the past 42 years," Netanyahu told members of his Likud party. » Read more

U.S.-Israel crisis: This time, it's serious ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - March 15, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Last summer, when the relationship between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations was getting off to what appeared to be a rocky start, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was at pains -- twice -- to deny that he had been "summoned" to the State Department for a dressing down. One such "meeting" was actually a friendly phone call, he said, and the other was a routine getting-to-know-you meeting. The distinction was key, he told journalists: When the State Department actually "summons" an envoy, "That's serious." » Read more

US waiting 'formal' Israeli response ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews March 15, 2010 - 12:00am The US State Department said Monday it was waiting for a "formal" Israeli response to its concerns, declining comment on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks in support of settlements. Netanyahu earlier Monday indicated that construction of Israeli settlements would continue in east Jerusalem, despite a tense phone call last week from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging him to stop. » Read more

U.S. confident Mideast peace talks to continue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - March 16, 2010 - 12:00am The U.S. is confident proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians will continue, despite recent tension over Israel's plan to construct 1,600 new housing units in an East Jerusalem neighborhood, State Department official Philip J. Crowley said on Monday. "They have begun," Crowley said referring to indirect peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. "I'm confident that there will be another round of proximity talks." He added, however, that the administration wants to make sure that both sides are committed to making progress. » Read more

Row with U.S. questions Netanyahu's fitness to lead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - March 16, 2010 - 12:00am When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares at a cabinet meeting that the media exaggerated in describing the grave crisis with the United States and throws in a few more phrases from the "it'll all be fine" department, it is clear that he has neither learned nor forgotten anything. You didn't have to read Thomas Friedman's devastating column in The New York Times to know that there is a limit to the Americans' patience and their willingness to let us pour mud on their heads and call it rain. » Read more

Police chief: Jerusalem violence won't spark third Intifada ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Fadi Eyadat, Jack Khoury, Liel Kyzer - March 16, 2010 - 12:00am Police Commissioner David Cohen on Tuesday toured Jerusalem's Old City after clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, and said he did not believe the recent violence would spark a third intifada. Dozens of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem after Hamas declared a "day of rage" to protest Israel's consecration of an ancient synagogue in the city one day earlier. Palestinians hurled stones at police and burned tires and trash bins in several areas of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured along with the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War. » Read more

U.S.-Israel flap: What comes next? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Laura Rozen, Ben Smith - (Opinion) March 15, 2010 - 12:00am Bibi can hear us now. A drumbeat of angry statements from senior administration officials has produced a domestic crisis for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a sense of crisis in the U.S.-Israel relationship. The unusually angry words from Cabinet members and top White House officials – including “insult” and “affront” – were a rare public display of unresolved tensions over the question of settlements and what some U.S. officials see as Netanyahu’s attempts to sabotage a peace process. » Read more