Kerry's Impromptu Meeting With Abbas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Andrea Stone - March 5, 2013 - 1:00am John Kerry’s unscheduled meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Monday during his first official trip abroad was anything but a rogue moment for the new secretary of State. » Read more

Analysis: UNICEF report, gray areas and int'l law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yonah Jeremy Bob - (Analysis) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am Overall, UNICEF’s report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children in the West Bank Military Courts, despite some more positive treatment than UN reports often give, did not give Israel high marks. The 38 recommendations and the tone of the document mostly spoke of Israeli violations of international law. But reading such a report is tricky. » Read more

Israel going for one million Jews in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - (Editorial) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The election campaign season comes to its real conclusion this week with the formation of the government and an unadulterated victory for the right. » Read more

UNICEF isn’t anti-Semitic ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Editorial) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am It has already been met here with a typical shrug of the shoulders, the report by the United Nations Children Fund declaring that Palestinian children detained by the Israel Defense Forces are subject to widespread, systematic ill-treatment that violates international law. Now it’s no longer “the automatic majority” at the UN’s General Assembly, nor is it “Israel-haters” on the UN Human Rights Council. Now it’s UNICEF − and UNICEF is really another story entirely. » Read more

Parallel lives in a tragicomic mirror: Novelist Sayed Kashua is trampling every barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Boyd Tonkin - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am In January, one TV show swept the boards at the awards ceremony of the Israeli Film and Television Academy. It won five gongs. Small-screen buffs might assume that the recipient of all these accolades was Hatufim, the Israeli drama which – in its American remake – became Homeland. Not at all. Instead, honours rained on the bitingly funny and fearless sitcom Arab Labour (avoda aravit, a Hebrew idiom for a botched job). » Read more

Is Sara Netanyahu the Erratic Power Behind Bibi's Throne? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Of the many explanations for the long, drawn-out and chaotic coalition negotiations that have followed Israel’s recent election, the most intriguing is that they have more to do with Benjamin Netanyahu’s home life than with his political aspirations. According to one of Israel’s top journalists, it is his wife’s publicly known antipathy toward one of his main potential coalition partners that pitched Netanyahu into the mire of complications in which his negotiations remained stuck as of the Forward’s print deadline. » Read more

AIPAC Tries to Brand Israel as Liberal Cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am After many years of outreach to conservative evangelicals, the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, facing a liberal ascendance, is now striving to make the case for Israel as a cause for progressives. At the recent annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, advocates of the organization explored strategies for capturing this constituency, largely by looking for ways, as Israeli diplomats put it, of presenting “Israel beyond the conflict” with the Palestinians. » Read more

Foul sewage flooding raises Palestinian ire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English by Mohammed Omer - March 9, 2013 - 1:00am Gazans are crying foul after Egypt stepped up its campaign to wipe out an underground network of transportation tunnels by blasting raw sewage down them, sometimes with deadly results for Palestinian workers. » Read more

Challenges lie ahead for Netanyahu govt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Barring a last minute surprise, Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to form a working governmental coalition this week. His ability to form his third government is a slam-dunk after Yair Lapid, the head of Yesh Atid Party, relinquished his demand to assume the portfolio of foreign affairs. Lapid’s desire to be a foreign minister was the stumbling block in the path of forming a government with Bennett. » Read more

Israeli Arabs more afraid than Jews of enemy attack, poll finds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Israeli Arabs are more afraid than the Jewish public of being attacked by an enemy state, according to the annual "National Resilience" survey. Israel's Jewish population, meanwhile, is more calm than ever about the possibility of an attack by an enemy country, the survey revealed, reporting an all-time low on its so-called "fear index." This is a continuation of a previous trend that began in 2006. The Jewish population's fear of terror is also reportedly at an all-time low. » Read more