EU: Approval of East Jerusalem settlement expansion is deeply disappointing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz April 6, 2011 - 12:00am European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday that she was "deeply disappointed" by Israel's approval of new settlement building in East Jerusalem. "The actions taken by the Israeli Government contravene repeated and urgent calls by the international community, including the Quartet, and run counter to achieving a peaceful solution that will preserve Israel’s security and realize the Palestinians’ right to statehood," Ashton said in a statement released on Wednesday. » Read more

Israel was wrong to boycott Goldstone probe ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shlomo Avineri - (Opinion) April 6, 2011 - 12:00am Even after Richard Goldstone retracted his statement that Israel deliberately targeted civilians in Gaza, the diplomatic and moral damage to Israel caused by the Goldstone report will not disappear, just as the Supreme Court's acquittal of Israel Kastner back in the 1950s didn't erase the terrible things said by Judge Benjamin Halevy in the district court ruling. ("He sold his soul to the devil." ) That's the power of metaphors as opposed to dry facts. As far as Israel is concerned, the lesson is simple: It shouldn't boycott international forums, even if they are clearly biased against it. » Read more

Goldstone won't seek Gaza report nullification ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Steven R. Hurst - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am South African jurist Richard Goldstone said Tuesday that he did not plan to seek nullification of his highly critical U.N. report on Israel's 2008-2009 offensive in the Gaza Strip and asserted that claims to the contrary by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai were false. » Read more

Poll: One-third of Palestinians support Itamar attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post April 6, 2011 - 12:00am One-third of Palestinians support the attack in Itamar in March, in which an Israeli family of five was murdered while 63 percent opposed it, according to a Hebrew University poll released on Wednesday. The survey was conducted by Prof. Yaacov Shamir of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University, and Prof. Khalil Shikaki, Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR). » Read more

The bookseller of Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by B. Wasserstein - (Opinion) April 6, 2011 - 12:00am It’s often the small injustices that stab us in the heart, even in a world of monstrous tsunamis, nuclear emergencies and despotic repression. Last week, Munther Fahmi told me he is in imminent danger of deportation. Fahmi, a friend for the past 15 years, is a bookseller in Jerusalem. One might better say he is the bookseller there, since his shop is almost the only serious foreign-language one left in a city that once boasted many. » Read more

Israel to lobby Germany against Palestinian plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Josef Federman - April 6, 2011 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask Germany's leader to drop her support for a proposal endorsing a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem when he meets with her this week, Israeli officials said Wednesday. » Read more

Israelis defend threatened Palestinian bookseller ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am Leading Israeli authors have joined a campaign against the deportation of a Palestinian book shop owner, whose business in east Jerusalem has become a hub for diplomats, artists and academics from across the world. Jerusalem-born Munther Fahmi's residency was voided by Israel after he left in 1973 to study in the United States, where he acquired citizenship. For 18 years he has been living in Jerusalem intermittently, entering Israel on a tourist visa. » Read more

Obama: Mideast peace bid needed amid region's unrest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Matt Spetalnick - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday it was more urgent than ever to seize the opportunity to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts even as unrest swept the broader Middle East. Speaking after White House talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Obama pressed Israel and the Palestinians to capitalize on the wave of political change in the Arab world and seek to advance their long-stalled peace process. But Obama, whose attempts to broker a peace deal have yielded little since he took office, stopped short of unveiling any new initiative to bring the two sides together. » Read more

First Palestinian Venture Fund Bets on West Bank's Tech Potential ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Rosenberg - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am The first-ever venture capital fund to invest in Palestinian high technology opened for business on Tuesday with almost $29 million in capital and the backing of some of the world's leading technology companies. Sadara Ventures/The Middle East Venture Capital Fund will invest in Palestinian companies developing innovative, new technology in mobile, Internet content and technologies, social networks and software outsourcing, Yadin Kauffman and Saed Nashef, the fund's two managers, told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Sadara's investors include Google and Cisco. » Read more

IMF gives thumbs up to Palestinian financial policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Mohammed Assadi - April 6, 2011 - 12:00am The International Monetary Fund has given the Palestinian Authority a strong vote of confidence, saying it is capable of running a national economy just as it pushes for U.N. recognition. The Washington-based body said the Western-backed PA, which governs in the occupied West Bank, had a solid track record of financial reforms enabling it to be less dependent on donor aid. "(It) is now able to conduct the sound economic policies expected of a future well-functioning Palestinian state," said the IMF staff report released this week. » Read more