March 21st

Hamas Denies Reports of Iranian Experts Aiding Militants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 20, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A senior Hamas official on Tuesday denied media reports saying that Iranian military experts were helping Gaza militant groups to develop weapons and upgrade their capabilities for a future confrontation with Israel. "These reports are fabricated and aim to justify (Israeli) military aggression against Gaza," Mahmoud Zahar, a member of Hamas' politburo, told Xinhua. On Monday, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that some Iranian experts were in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to help the militant groups based in the coastal enclave. » Read more

J Street Hopes To Return Focus to Peace at Annual Conference ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — As J Street, the self-styled pro-peace, pro-Israel lobby, opens its annual conference this year, it does so at a time of unparalleled growth for the group, and serious setbacks for its cause. With talk of war with Iran dominating Israeli–American discourse, the dovish lobby is working hard to return the Palestinian issue to center stage. » Read more

Hamas: Fatah Prefers US Dollars to National Agreements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Fatah has not implemented any of its reconciliation commitments because it prefers American money to national agreements, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government in Gaza said Monday. Taher al-Nunu said in a statement that Fatah is trying to destroy the reconciliation agreement it signed with Hamas last May. Al-Nunu's remarks were made in response to comments by senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad, who said Hamas was responsible for the ongoing delay in forming a unity government. » Read more

Answering My Critics on Zionist BDS ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Blog) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am My New York Times op-ed proposing that American Jews boycott the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) and instead spend their money inside the green line has prompted three basic right-wing critiques. (There are plenty of left-wing ones too, but I’ll have to answer them later). » Read more

Fatah: Iran Paid Hamas to Block Unity Deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ali Sawafta - March 21, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- Iran paid Hamas to block a deal with the rival Fatah movement that would have ended a five-year rift between the two main Palestinian factions, a Fatah spokesman said Tuesday. He said Tehran recently resumed financial aid to Hamas which it had suspended six months ago over the movement's failure to back their mutual ally Bashar Assad of Syria in his military campaign to crush dissent. » Read more

Israeli Group Shows Rise in Palestinian Civilian Deaths ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 21, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces killed 115 Palestinians last year, including 18 minors, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem. The death toll of 2011 shows a marked increase on 2010, when Israeli forces killed 68 Palestinians in Gaza and 12 in the West Bank. Further, 47 of the casualties in 2011 were killed while not taking part in hostilities, an increase from 30 in 2010. » Read more

Peter Beinart calls for a ‘Zionist BDS,’ but he’s not finding many takers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - (Opinion) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Should Jews shun other Jews? And should they shun Jews who call on Jews to shun other Jews? Peter Beinart’s call in Monday’s New York Times for a boycott of goods manufactured in West Bank settlements reignited a debate not just about what works and doesn’t when it comes to advancing a two-state solution, but also about what should and should not be said during the debate. Beinart, a journalist and essayist whose book “The Crisis of Zionism” is about to come out, tried to cast his call in pro-Israel terms. » Read more

Iran’s Supreme Leader Warns of Retaliation if Israel or U.S. Strikes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Emily Alpert, Ramin Mostaghim - March 20, 2012 - 12:00am REPORTING FROM TEHRAN -- Iran will strike back with equal force if the United States or Israel attacks it over its nuclear program, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in an address from the eastern city of Mashhad in observance of Nowruz, the Persian new year. "The holy Koran states that if an enemy attacks you first, the enemy will certainly be defeated," he said. “This is divine law. We are not thinking of attacks and aggression, but we are attached to the existence and identity of the Islamic republic." » Read more

When 'pro-Israel' means comparing Israel to the Nazis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Blog) March 20, 2012 - 12:00am Question: What do you call a foreign-based activist organization which compares Israeli security policies to those of Nazi extermination camps? What do you call a not-for-profit organization that denounces Israel for its policies in Jerusalem's holiest shrine, voicing outrage that the devout endure humiliation, discrimination, draconian bars to religious expression, oppressive denial of access to holy sites, physical mistreatment, enforced thirst, arrests and beatings at the hands of Israeli police? » Read more

Israel Indicts Hamas Militant Suspected in Kidnap and Suicide Bombing Plot ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 21, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel’s internal security service says a Palestinian militant has been indicted in an alleged plot to capture an Israeli soldier and carry out a suicide bombing. The Shin Bet service said Wednesday that Mohammed Abu Adra of the militant Hamas group was arrested in February while trying to infiltrate Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. It accused him of being involved in planning the capture of an Israeli soldier and a suicide bombing in the southern city of Eilat. He was indicted Wednesday on charges including conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to kidnap.