Israel is paranoid about pro-Palestinian activists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) April 12, 2012 - 12:00am And with what shall we frighten the Israeli public in advance of the seventh day of Passover? How will we provide the dose of fear to which it has long since become addicted? After a week of a quiet and safe vacation, we have to find something, after all. The Iranian threat has entered a negotiations freeze, terror is quiet, even the Grad missiles have diminished in number, there is no mass plague on the horizon and even the circumstances of the attack against the Jew in Kiev have not become sufficiently clear. » Read more

ATFP Praises Release of US Aid to the PA, Welcomes New Quartet Statement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from American Task Force on Palestine April 12, 2012 - 12:00am Washington DC, April 12 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today welcomed the announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States would be releasing a $147 million package in aid to the Palestinian people. The move overrides some remaining congressional holds on the US aid package to the Palestinians for fiscal year 2011 economic support. » Read more

The Peace Process Stuck in a Rut of Malaise ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, the UN, the EU and Russia - met Wednesday on the sidelines of the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Washington. But the Quartet's first high-level meeting since December passed almost without notice in the US. Neither The Washington Post nor The New York Times had a story about it in yesterday's editions. In part, say observers, the lack of interest is due to other, more pressing issues. The violence in Syria dominates the attention of the foreign-policy circuit in Washington, where Iran's nuclear programme is also a perennial concern. » Read more

Two-State Solution Loses its Champion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am The spines of the books that bear Sari Nusseibeh's name are testimony to the cause he once championed. There is Palestine: A State is Born, published in 1990. A year later, it was No Trumpets, No Drums: A Two-State Solution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. To the dismay of those who continue to support the two-state solution, Mr Nusseibeh now believes the convictions he espoused in the pages of these books are as faded and musty as the volumes. » Read more

Israeli Ambassador to New York Times: Netanyahu Does Not Interfere in U.S. Elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - April 12, 2012 - 12:00am The duel between the New York Times and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers continues. Israeli ambassador to Washington Michael Oren submitted a letter to the editor to the New York Times' editorial board, with a complaint regarding an article which was published several days ago about the close ties between Netanyahu and the likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. In the letter, which was published on Thursday, Oren rejected the allegations that Netanyahu is intervening in the presidential race in the United States. » Read more

Abbas Ready to Meet Israeli PM When Peace References Recognized ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua April 12, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is ready to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the latter recognizes the basis of the peace process, a spokesperson for Abbas said Thursday. "The Palestinian side has no problem to hold bilateral and direct meetings with the Israeli side if they were based on a clear reference so we know on what basis and mechanisms we are negotiating," Abbas' spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdineh told Voice of Palestine Radio. » Read more

Palestinian, Israeli Officials to Meet on Water Issues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua April 12, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian and Israeli officials will meet next week to discuss water issues that affect the two sides, a Palestinian official said Thursday. The meeting mainly aims to "overcome Israeli obstacles" on water projects in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, said Shadad Al- Otili of the Palestinian Water Authority. The meeting comprises members of the joint water committee which was formed after Israel and the Palestinians signed Oslo accords in 1993, Al-Otili told Xinhua. » Read more

Abbas Arrives in Japan on First Leg of International Tour ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 13, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Japan on Thursday for the first leg of an international tour. Abbas discussed the latest developments concerning Palestine with several Japanese officials, including Japan's special Middle East peace envoy Yutaka Iimura. Abbas is due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Sunday, before heading to the Maldives for two days on Tuesday.

With West Focused on Iran, Netanyahu Moves to Expand Israeli Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ben Lynfield - April 12, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank at a time when international attention is focused elsewhere, with President Obama gearing up for reelection and the West targeting Iran's nuclear program. Last week, the Netanyahu government took a variety of steps that, taken together, amount to a significant strengthening of Israel's hold in the West Bank, the biblically resonant territory occupied in 1967, which Palestinians claim as the heartland for their future state. » Read more

Once Taboo, Germans’ Anti-Israel Whispers Grow Louder ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nicholas Kulish - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am BERLIN — To judge by the outpouring of comments from politicians and writers and from the newspaper and magazine articles in response to the Nobel laureate Günter Grass’s poem criticizing Israel’s aggressive posture toward Iran, it would appear that the public had resoundingly rejected his work. But even a quick dip into the comments left by readers on various Web sites reveals quite another reality. » Read more