March 13th

Over 85 percent Palestinians fled Syria’s Yarmouk camp: UNRWA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya March 12, 2013 - 12:00am More than 85 percent of Palestinians living in Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp have been displaced due to the violence that has gripped the country for the past two years, said the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). » Read more

UN: Jordan Should Allow in Palestinians From Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Peter James Spielmann - March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The U.N.'s chief relief official for Palestinians is urging Jordan to stop discriminating against Palestinian refugees fleeing the Syrian war and open its borders to them. The commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees says "all refugees should be treated equally." » Read more

More and More Married Palestinians Women Enrolling in Universities ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ABC News by Hani al-Madhoun - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am On Facebook, I spotted pictures of my older sister Hannah in the forefront of a peaceful protest to promote national unity and offer political prisoners some support and encouragement, as a large number of them are on a hunger strike. It was a surprise to me, because when I left Gaza years ago she was just a mother with a high school degree. She was caring for three kids and to my knowledge she showed no interest in going back to school or getting involved in political issues. » Read more

Flawed Questions About Israel's Right To Exist ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Mira Sucharov - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am In the New York Times, Joseph Levine has set out to answer a question that is widely considered taboo within the mainstream, but which is increasingly heard as a mantra within anti-Zionist circles: does Israel have a right to exist? » Read more

Lots of listening, no grand initiatives expected on Obama’s Mideast trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas, Ben Sales - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am When President Obama visits Israel next week, Gavriel Yaakov wants him to jump-start the peace process. “I’m excited,” said Yaakov, 67, sitting in a Tel Aviv mall. “I want negotiations to get to an agreement on a long-term peace with the Palestinians.” Yaakov said he trusts Obama, but his friend, Yossi Cohen, is more skeptical. “I’m not excited,” said Cohen, 64, who charged that the president supports Islamists and “hasn't done anything” to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon. » Read more

Obama hoping to reach out to Israelis, but only one lucky TV station will get an interview ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am U.S. President Barak Obama's main goal during his visit to Israel next week will be to speak directly to the Israeli people and public opinion, over the heads of Israel's politicians. To kick-start that goal, Obama will give an interview to Israel's Channel 2 chief news anchor, Yonit Levy, who is currently in Washington. The interview will be filmed Wednesday morning, D.C. time, and will be aired in Israel Thurday nigth at 8.P.M. » Read more

Israel's Peres tells Europe to do more to pressure Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the European Union on Tuesday to step up pressure on Iran over its ballistic missile programme, as well as trying to curb its nuclear ambitions. In a speech to the European Parliament that touched on the Jewish state's foreign policy goals, the Nobel peace laureate sought to persuade European lawmakers to act quickly on Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat. » Read more

Egypt stops screening of film on Jewish community ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Sarah El Deeb - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Egyptian security agencies have stopped the screening of a documentary on the Egyptian Jewish community a day before it was due to debut in local cinemas, the film producer said in a statement Tuesday. He said no reasons were given. The "Jews of Egypt", a documentary that follows the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century until they left under duress in large numbers in the late 1950s, was screened in Egypt last year in a private film festival and had been approved by censorship, a regular procedure in Egypt. » Read more

Why Israel Is Calling For Jonathan Pollard's Release Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by J.J. Goldberg - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am In advance of President Obama’s scheduled March 20 visit, Israeli society at every level is waging an unprecedented, all-out public effort to press for the release of Jonathan Pollard, the American Jew serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. The past month has seen figures as diverse as President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin and former Hamas hostage Gilad Shalit calling on Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence to time served and set him free. » Read more

UN agency joins petition against Israeli infiltration law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 12, 2013 - 12:00am The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) joined a petition filed by human rights organizations to the Supreme Court against the Israeli law of infiltration and asked to revoke it, local media reported Tuesday. The UNHCR's unprecedented move is an attempt to overturn a law which it claims "wrongly stigmatizes and penalizes those seeking refuge." » Read more