March 22nd

PA says funds needed to reverse water crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2012 - 12:00am BRUSSELS (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday said he hoped donors would fund a desalination plant to ease the water crisis in the Gaza Strip. Speaking from Brussels in a weekly interview to the official Voice of Palestine radio, Fayyad said the plant would cost almost half a billion dollars. Over-pumping of the coastal aquifer has reduced the quality and quantity of water in Gaza, Fayyad said. According to a 2009 World Bank report, between 90 and 95 percent of the water available in Gaza is not fit for human consumption. » Read more

PA 'spent $7 billion' in Gaza since split ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority has spent over $7 billion in Gaza since 2007, Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf said Wednesday. The Fatah-led government in Ramallah has continued to meet its obligations in Gaza even though Fatah was ousted from the coastal enclave by Hamas in 2007, Assaf said in a statement. The PA spends around $120 million each month on the Gaza Strip, paying the salaries of around 80,000 civil servants, the Fatah official said. » Read more

Israeli defense minister says Israel and US disagree on timetable for effective Iran action ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 22, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel and the US disagree on what would be a realistic timetable for stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Israel’s defense minister said Thursday, but stopped short of threatening unilateral Israeli action. Ehud Barak reiterated concerns that Iran is trying to make its suspected nuclear weapons program immune from attack before taking a decision on assembling atomic bombs. Israel “cannot afford” to wait in such a situation, Barak told Israel Radio. » Read more

March 21st

Targeted-Killing Policy is Backfiring on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Roni Shaked - (Opinion) March 11, 2012 - 1:00am No one in Israel was surprised by the blizzard of rocket fire [on the western Negev, in the southern part of the country] that followed the killing of [Popular Resistance Committees leader] Zuhair al-Kaisi. There is no single focused foiling or targeted prevention – as such operations are known in Israel – carried out in the Gaza Strip in the past decade that has not provoked a massive rocket barrage on Israel. » Read more

Hamas May Become Viable Negotiating Partner ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Nachman Shai - (Opinion) March 14, 2012 - 12:00am In the present confrontation between Israel and the Popular Resistance Committees, Israel has been treading very carefully. As of the writing of these lines, we have been very fortunate. The cutting-edge technological systems developed by Israel have been doing their jobs in the best possible manner. Regarding the offensive-attack perspective, Israeli drones have struck targets on the ground with surgical precision based on reliable intelligence information. They have succeeded in stopping missiles from being fired with minimal harm to innocent bystanders. » Read more

The Golan Heights are Waiting for the Revolution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Husam Itani - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am An important progress was achieved with respect to studying the Syrian society, its constituents, and the factors that affected it throughout the year that has elapsed since the revolution started. On the other hand, the issue of the conflict with Israel remains a taboo and a prejudice. » Read more

Toulouse Tragedy Shows Depth of Hatred ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Robert Zaretsky - (Opinion) March 21, 2012 - 12:00am France, and the rest of the world, is still reeling from the shock of events in Toulouse, where a lone gunman killed a teacher and three children at a local Sephardic Jewish school on March 19. In the coming days, all of us ardently hope that we will learn not about another massacre, but instead of the capture of the killer. But in the confusion and uncertainty of the moment, it is important to recall what we know, and what we don’t know, about this event. » Read more

Study: Israel’s Social Protests Caused Drop in Racist Incidents Against Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jack Khoury - March 20, 2012 - 12:00am Incidents of racism and intolerance between across Israeli ethnic groups are on the decline, a new report published on Monday concluded. According to data compiled by the Coalition against Racism in Israel, is composed of Jewish and Arab human rights groups, the number of reported incidences of racism committed by Jewish Israelis against Arab Israelis fell from 91 in 2009 and 68 in 2010 to only 20 in 2011. » Read more

Abbas Meets Family of Hunger Striker Held by Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 20, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday received at his office the family of a hunger striking woman held in Israel, accusing Israel not respecting the lives of Palestinian detainees. The parents of Hana Shalabi came to Abbas' office in the West Bank city of Ramallah after reports said their daughter was taken to the hospital due to her deteriorated health. 30-year-old Shalabi, who has been hunger striking for 34 days, demands an end to her administrative detention, an Israeli rule under which detainees can be held for years without a trial. » Read more

The Curse of the Straw Man: Reflections on How we Argue About Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Shalom Hartman Institute by Tal Becker - (Analysis) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am What would we do without the straw man, without the ability to make a caricature of the position we want to argue against? How many op-eds, debates and political speeches count on the ability to present a dumbed-down version of the position we contest, and then revel in knocking it down? » Read more