Israel is becoming a footnote in the eyes of the U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am 1. President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will both be visiting Washington at the same time. Each of them will speak separately with U.S. President Barack Obama, each of them will march proudly on red carpets, and journalists will swoop down on them separately or together. They will be interviewed on television, and Sara Netanyahu will be a star with her finery and her smiles. Although we didn't win the Oscar, there's no question that we are gradually managing to become a footnote in the eyes of the U.S. administration. » Read more

Israeli FM Says Military, Civilians Must Stay in Jordan Valley ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 1, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that upheavals in the Arab world prove the need for Israel to retain a military and civilian presence in the Jordan Valley, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. "I am looking at what is happening in Syria and the whole region," Lieberman said, adding that "We can not secure the state of Israel without maintaining control of the Jordan Valley." The Jordan Valley has been under Israeli military and civilian control according to the 1993 Oslo Accords. » Read more

Israel to Soon Test Next-Generation Missile Defense System ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 2, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is ready to conduct the first test of the Arrow 3 missile defense system, the state-owned defense contractor announced in a statement released Thursday evening. "The initial trial of the advanced Arrow 3 will be performed in the near future to confirm the interceptor's effectiveness," Itzhak Kaya, head of the Arrow Missile Program at IAI, said in a military and aviation exhibition earlier Thursday near Tel Aviv, according to the statement. » Read more

Arab judge, Jewish words ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Noah Klieger - (Opinion) March 1, 2012 - 1:00am I just cannot understand the major assault on Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran, who refrained from singing our national anthem, HaTikva, in an official ceremony at the courthouse earlier this week. What do they want from him? After all, he is not Jewish, and the thing about our anthem is that its words are “blatantly Jewish.” How can an Arab Israeli, regardless of whether he is Muslim or Christian, sing about a “Jewish soul?” After all, Naftali Herz Imber wrote the words of our national anthem many years before the State of Israel’s inception as an anthem for the Zionist movement. » Read more

Gaza Marathon Draws Hundreds in Rainy Weather ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - March 1, 2012 - 1:00am KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Some 2,200 school children and 300 adults ran a relay race Thursday traversing the Gaza Strip north to south, roughly the distance of an Olympic marathon, to raise money for U.N. summer camps. The race, sponsored by the U.N. aid agency for Gaza refugees, was held in rainy and unusually cold weather. The children ran segments of one kilometer (0.6 miles), while some of the adults ran full marathons, said Adnan Abu Hassna, a spokesman for the U.N. agency. » Read more

Seeking a new horizon for Palestinian prisoners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Shawqi Issa - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am The thorny issue of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has numerous angles. First, it is a humanitarian cause. Many of the prisoners have spent decades, some more than 30 years in jail, with all the resulting social and economic ramifications for Palestinian society as a whole. Additionally, Palestinian leaders bear the moral responsibility for the fact that these activists have remained behind bars for periods far longer than logically acceptable. A full 121 of them have languished in prison since before the 1993 signing of the Oslo agreements with Israel. » Read more

Hamas Deputy: Political Operations Out of Damascus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 2, 2012 - 1:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Speaking from Cairo, the deputy head of Hamas' politburo said Thursday that Hamas' offices would remain in Syria despite the relocation of all political and media activities out of Damascus. The violent crackdown on protests by Syria security forces have prompted Hamas to review its headquarters in Syria, and the movement's leaders-in-exile have steadily moved out of the country. » Read more

Hamas Deputy: Political Operations Out of Damascus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Speaking from Cairo, the deputy head of Hamas' politburo said Thursday that Hamas' offices would remain in Syria despite the relocation of all political and media activities out of Damascus. The violent crackdown on protests by Syria security forces have prompted Hamas to review its headquarters in Syria, and the movement's leaders-in-exile have steadily moved out of the country. » Read more

Israel should consider altering its anthem to include non-Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran has the right not to sing the national anthem, "Hatikva." The law doesn't oblige him to do so, and the song's lyrics don't enable him to do so. As a loyal citizen of his country, the justice did not want to betray his conscience during the new Supreme Court president's inauguration by singing a song whose words are alien to every Arab citizen of Israel. And the uproar that erupted following Joubran's refusal damaged the delicate fabric of Israeli democracy far more than his silence did. » Read more

Israeli President to Protect Christian Sites ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 1, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Israel's President Shimon Peres has promised the Roman Catholic Church that the country will step up efforts to combat the vandalism of Christian holy sites by suspected Jewish extremists. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who is the Vatican's custodian of religious sites in the Holy Land, asked the president earlier this week to intervene following the spraying of graffiti on two Christian churches in Jerusalem in February. » Read more