March 22nd

Settler opens fire on funeral procession ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Two Palestinians were shot Monday afternoon when a settler disembarked from his car on the Jerusalem-Hebron road and opened fire on a funeral procession heading to the Beit Ummar cemetery. Medics said two were injured in the shooting, including 59-year-old Muhammad Ali Abu Safiyya who was in critical condition after being shot in the chest, and 32-year-old Bassam Zaq’aqiq, who was shot in his right thigh. Both were evacuated to hospital. » Read more

Settler opens fire on funeral procession ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Two Palestinians were shot Monday afternoon when a settler disembarked from his car on the Jerusalem-Hebron road and opened fire on a funeral procession heading to the Beit Ummar cemetery. Medics said two were injured in the shooting, including 59-year-old Muhammad Ali Abu Safiyya who was in critical condition after being shot in the chest, and 32-year-old Bassam Zaq’aqiq, who was shot in his right thigh. Both were evacuated to hospital. » Read more

Israeli artillery, strike injure 2 east of Gaza City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli artillery fire and a drone strike injured two Palestinians Tuesday in separate incidents east of Gaza City, after a night of heavy shelling on the Strip that injured 18. Shortly before 10 a.m. artillery fire injured one man in the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, just after witnesses reported Israeli vehicles penetrating the Gaza Strip in the area. » Read more

Palin visits Jerusalem, reaching out to Israel's right ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Following a path tread by many a US presidential hopeful, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is making her first visit to Israel. Today, she toured the Old City of Jerusalem wearing a Star of David necklace before arriving at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence for a private dinner. Though the visit is being described as private, Ms. Palin's three-day stop on the way home from India could both burnish her thin foreign policy credentials and curry favor with Jewish and evangelical constituencies back home. » Read more

Gaza Strip residents seek to join the 'Arab spring' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jon Donnison - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am A friend of mine's cat recently leapt from the tenth floor of a tower block in Gaza City, yet emerged with just a few grazes and a bit of a limp. It was a Gazan cat, I was told. On Saturday afternoon, I witnessed toughness and resilience shown by two young Gazan women who had been trying to demonstrate in one of the main squares in Gaza city. They were part of a small protest calling for political unity between Hamas, who are in power in Gaza, and Fatah, who run parts of the West Bank. » Read more

Bethlehem a step too far for Palin's Israel visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Catrina Stewart - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Sarah Palin, the US former vice presidential candidate, yesterday appeared to make an aborted trip to Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, when her vehicle approached an Israeli checkpoint before turning back. » Read more

WEST BANK: Palestinian who went missing in Ukraine describes abduction by Mossad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am A Palestinian who went missing last month in Ukraine after boarding a train in Kharko headed to Kiev, was kidnapped by agents of Mossad, the Israeli spy agency and brought to Israel against his will, according to a report published Monday by the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The report says one of its lawyers was able to visit Derar abu Sisi, 42, in his Israeli prison cell, and learn the truth behind the Gaza resident's sudden disappearance. » Read more

Israel US woo Latin America after neglect leads to tilt away ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am The United States and Israel appear to be heading toward increasing their focus on the area following years of neglect that has resulted in closer ties between Latin America and Iran -- and gains for the Palestinians. The shift comes amid Iran’s deepening influence in the region, as well as the successes of a Palestinian diplomatic offensive that has seen eight Latin American nations agree to recognize a Palestinian “state” in recent months. » Read more

WEST BANK: Palestinians ask for international protection citing rise in attacks by Israeli settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority asked for international protection Monday citing a sharp rise in Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The call came after three Israelis from the Havat Maon settlement allegedly stabbed and seriously injured 33-year-old Mahmud Ibrahim Awad of Khirbat Tuba, a tiny village south of the West Bank city of Hebron, as he was walking home Monday morning. Awad was stabbed in the head, chest and arm. » Read more

March 21st

What if Arabs had recognized the State of Israel in 1948? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim - (Opinion) March 19, 2011 - 12:00am When I was attending New York-based SUNY Maritime college (1975-1979), I read a lot of books about Palestinians, Arabs and the Israelis. I have read every article about the many chances the Palestinians had and missed to solve their problem, especially the Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel. » Read more