West Bank settlements are Israel's nuclear meltdown ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am On quite a few occasions this week, my mobile phone vibrated with text messages from the settlers' lobby, Yesha. Once it was a quote from Minister Gideon Sa'ar (we must resume construction in Judea and Samaria ). Another time it was a quote from Minister Gilad Erdan (stop holding up the construction tenders in Judea and Samaria ). The third time it was a quote from MK Zeev Elkin (it's time to build cities in Judea and Samaria ). The fourth time it was a quote from MK Yariv Levin (I demand the cabinet and Minister Barak approve construction in Judea and Samaria cities at once! ). » Read more

Rattling the Cage: The Palestinian victim mentality ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) March 16, 2011 - 12:00am The topic of the day-long conference was torture, and Palestinians were describing the horrific methods the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) used in prison to get information out of them. Photos and illustrations of these practices were shown on a screen. Human rights activists, Palestinian and Israeli, spoke at length and in detail about the routine use of torture against Palestinian prisoners. » Read more

Washington Watch: Two can play the incitement game ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) March 16, 2011 - 12:00am You’ve got to hand it to Binyamin Netanyahu, who somehow managed to turn international outrage over the brutal massacre of a young Jewish family as they slept in their beds on Shabbat into widespread criticism of his aggressive settlement policy. The most frequent question I get in speaking to Jewish groups around the country is “why doesn’t Israel get better PR advice.” The answer is simple: The problem isn’t PR, it’s policy and the way it’s announced to the world. » Read more

Demonstrators, Security Forces Face Off in Gaza, Leaving One Dead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Omar Ghraieb - March 16, 2011 - 12:00am In a move reminiscent of early days of revolution in Cairo and Tunis, Hamas unleashed its security forces over the last two days to disperse thousands of protesters gathered to urge unity between Hamas and Fatah and ensure they don’t launch new demonstrations. At least one person, Baha Al-Ejleh, was reported beaten to death on Wednesday and another 30 were injured in clashes at Gaza Strip’s Al-Azhar University. » Read more

West bank settlers: 'We're here to stay' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - (Blog) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am On a windswept hilltop deep inside the West Bank, Noa Alvily contemplates her family's future with remarkable equanimity, unfazed by political decisions taken less than an hour's drive away in Jerusalem. » Read more

Israeli flight attendants turn diplomats ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ronen Medzini - March 16, 2011 - 12:00am A new joint initiative between the Foreign Ministry and El Al will place flight attendants at the forefront of Israeli diplomacy. They flight attendants will undertake PR assignments which will, among other places, include university campuses around the world. As part of the project, dozens of attendants will undergo a series of interviews and training program in Public Diplomacy ahead of their participation in the project, which will see them taking advantage of their stay abroad for PR missions. » Read more

Clinton: Egypt will keep the peace with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) March 16, 2011 - 12:00am Egypt's foreign policy will change, but it has an interest in sustaining its peace accords with Israel, Hillary Rodham Clinton said. "I think there will be different decisions" on foreign policy, the U.S. secretary of state told NPR on Wednesdaty after she toured Egypt. It was Clinton's first visit there since the revolution that ousted longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, who had maintained the Camp David accords with Israel. » Read more

Reckoning Wrongly in a Massacre’s Wake ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) March 16, 2011 - 12:00am “A proper revenge for the blood of a little child/Satan has not yet devised.” So wrote the revered Hebrew poet Chaim Nachman Bialik in his searing poem “On the Slaughter” in April 1903, a few days after the bloody Kishinev pogrom. The two-day rampage by townspeople in the czarist regional capital had left the Jewish quarter a smoking ruin, and 49 Jews hacked or beaten to death, while the czar’s police stood and watched. Bialik’s poem captured the outraged, horrified feelings of Jews across Russia and around the world: “The world is my gallows/And we are the select few/My blood is cheap…” » Read more

Report: East Jerusalem residents exempted from municipal taxes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz March 17, 2011 - 12:00am Jerusalem city officials have notified East Jerusalem residents living beyond the separation fence that they are no longer required to pay municipal taxes, the official Palestinian news agency reported on Thursday. Citing a report by the rights group Center for Social and Economic Rights, the Wafa Palestinian news agency said that the city of Jerusalem were notified residents of these areas that they do not have to pay municipal taxes, known as arnona tax, after years of paying it. » Read more

Netanyahu's schemes won't work ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) March 17, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took the right step in condemning in strong terms the massacre of a five-member Israeli family, including two children and an infant, living in an illegal Israeli colony in the West Bank. No one in his right mind would not abhor this callous event, whose perpetrators are still unknown. "A human being is not capable of something like that," Abbas told Israel Radio. "Scenes like these — the murder of infants and children and a woman slaughtered — cause any person endowed with humanity to hurt and to cry." » Read more