Israel extends new border fence but critics say it is a sign of weakness ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - (Opinion) March 27, 2012 - 12:00am It cuts a steel swath through the stark wilderness where Israel and Egypt meet, glinting in the desert sun as it snakes across barren hills and sandy plateaus. Wielding blowtorches at the base of the five-metre-high (16ft) barrier are some of the very men the border fence is in part designed to keep out: illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, now working as cheap construction labour for Israeli contractors. » Read more

Palestinian Prisoner Ends Hunger Strike After Expulsion Deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 29, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian prisoner suspended her hunger strike after 43 days upon a deal to be expelled for three years to Gaza, Palestinian sources said Thursday evening. Hana Shalabi, a woman from the West Bank, agreed personally to the Israeli offer of temporary expulsion, the sources added. Palestinian officials and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped forge the deal, according to the sources. » Read more

Israel’s New Kadima Leader Faces Challenges of Rescuing Party ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - March 28, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — While gliding to a surprisingly easy victory over Kadima party Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, Israel's newly elected opposition leader, Shaul Mofaz, faces an uphill battle in keeping the once-dominant centrist political party from splintering. The Iranian-born Mofaz, 64, comfortably defeated Livni in Tuesday's primary, garnering nearly 62% of the vote in the party election. Speaking Wednesday, he wasted no time in setting his sights on Israel's next national election, which is not scheduled until the end of 2013 but which many believe may be called as early as this fall. » Read more

IDF: Settlers in Hebron Building May Harm Security ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - March 30, 2012 - 12:00am Fifteen settler families who moved into a vacant Palestinian apartment building in the West Bank city of Hebron early Thursday morning could create a security risk, the IDF charged. The three-story stone structure is located by a small park near the Cave of the Patriarchs, in a Palestinian neighborhood under Israeli control. Shlomo Levinger, who moved there with his seven children, said that a number of Hebron Jews had bought the building from its Palestinian owner months ago. » Read more

Why Land Day still matters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Sam Bahour, Fida Jiryis - (Opinion) March 30, 2012 - 12:00am Every year since 1976, on March 30, Palestinians around the world have commemorated Land Day. Though it may sound like an environmental celebration, Land Day marks a bloody day in Israel when security forces gunned down six Palestinians, as they protested Israeli expropriation of Arab-owned land in the country’s north to build Jewish-only settlements. » Read more

Dozens of Hebron Settlers Stake Claim on House in Palestinian Neighborhood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oz Rosenberg - March 29, 2012 - 12:00am Dozens of residents from the Jewish settlement in Hebron occupied a three story house in a Palestinian neighborhood in the city overnight Wednesday, about one hundred meters south of the Cave of the Patriarchs. The group, which entered the house around 1 A.M. on Thursday, includes entire families, women and children. Representatives of the group claim that the house was purchased nearly four months ago after lengthy negotiations with its previous Palestinian owner. The group states that it holds documents validating its claim on the building. » Read more

Israel Police Detains 16 Soccer Fans Over Attack of Arab Workers in Jerusalem Mall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oz Rosenberg - March 29, 2012 - 12:00am The Jerusalem Police detained 16 fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer franchise for questioning on Thursday on suspicion of taking part in an attack on Arab employees in Jerusalem’s Malha mall last week. Ten of the fans were released under restrictive conditions, while the remaining six, one of whom is a minor, are being brought in front of a judge for a remand hearing later on Thursday. Beitar fans captured on security camera at the Malha shopping mall. Beitar fans captured on security camera at the Malha shopping mall. » Read more

Israel Girds for Regional Anti-Israel Protests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - March 30, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israeli security forces in riot gear prepared Friday for Palestinian and Arab demonstrations, deploying at traditional flashpoints and along Israel's frontiers and confining West Bank Palestinians to their territory. By midday, minor skirmishes had broken out between protesters and security forces in the Jerusalem area. Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli troops responded with stun grenades. No casualties were reported. Elsewhere things were calm. » Read more

Listen to Marwan Barghouti ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) March 30, 2012 - 12:00am Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Fatah leader imprisoned in Israel, this week released an unusual statement from his cell. He called on his people to start a popular uprising against Israel, to stop negotiations and security coordination and to boycott it. Jerusalem would do well to listen to him. » Read more

Palestinian Leader Drops Key Threat to Dismantle Government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 29, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Foreign diplomats say President Mahmoud Abbas has dropped a planned threat to dismantle his autonomy government to protest the deadlock in peace efforts with Israel. Abbas had been planning to deliver the threat in a letter to Israel. But, according to a copy of the letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, the language has been dropped from the text. The diplomats who provided the letter said Abbas scrapped the threat at the urging of President Barack Obama. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the letter has not yet been sent. » Read more