Palestinian Prisoner Ends Hunger Strike After Expulsion Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 29, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian prisoner suspended her hunger strike after 43 days upon a deal to be expelled for three years to Gaza, Palestinian sources said Thursday evening. Hana Shalabi, a woman from the West Bank, agreed personally to the Israeli offer of temporary expulsion, the sources added. Palestinian officials and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped forge the deal, according to the sources.

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Brooklyn Food Co-op Voted Against Boycott of Israeli Products
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Associated Press - March 28, 2012 - 12:00am

A New York food co-op, servicing thousands of Brooklyn residents of varying ethnicities and backgrounds, voted against a proposed boycott of Israeli goods and produce on Tuesday night. With upwards of 15,000 members, of various ethnic and religious backgrounds, including many Jews, the Park Slope Food Co-op, established in 1973, has become a meeting point of sorts for Jews of different backgrounds and religious denominations. The idea of an ideological boycott was not new to the co-op, as a general boycott of South African goods and products was held during the 1970's.

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Olmert to J Street: Abbas a partner for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON - "Don’t tell me there is no partner. There is a partner. (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) wants peace with Israel," former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during a J Street gala dinner on Monday. The former Israeli premier said Abbas was against terror during the Yasser Arafat era and was in favor of peace negotiations during Ariel Sharon's tenure as prime minister, as well as during his own.

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Fayyad Welcomes Call to Boost PA Funding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 23, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The premier in Ramallah Salam Fayyad on Thursday welcomed the call to donors to give the Palestinian Authority $1 billion, but said the funds must be received swiftly to ease the deepening financial crisis. At a donors' conference in Brussels on Wednesday, the chair of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee on Palestine, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, urged donors to pledge $1 billion to fill the PA's budget deficit. Fayyad told Voice of Palestine radio that it was crucial that at least half of the money was transferred quickly to reduce the fiscal crisis.

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If recent Israel-Gaza escalation isn't war, what is?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amiel Ungar - (Opinion) March 23, 2012 - 12:00am

The pundits are correct: The recently concluded round of hostilities in Gaza between Israel and Islamic Jihad will have sequels coming soon to a shelter near you, especially as both Islamic Jihad and Israel have claimed victory.

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Abbas to Obama: PLO ready for talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that President Mahmoud Abbas insisted Palestinians are ready to return to negotiations if Israel commits to Quartet requirements, in a conversation with US President Barack Obama. Obama called Abbas on Monday to assure him of the US commitment to Middle East peace, the White House said, in their first conversation since meeting in New York as the US vetoed Abbas' bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN six months ago.

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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."

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Backlash to Netanyahu’s Iran Speech Ignores the Holocaust’s Enduring Effect
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by David Landau - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Israelis needed, as we know, an entire generation until they were able to look the sights of the Holocaust, its refugees, the very fact of its occurrence, straight in the eye. We needed another entire generation until we began to acknowledge, or at least to consider, the claim that there was something cold and aloof in the Yishuv's response and in its conduct even during the time of the Holocaust itself.

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Israel’s Military Chief Leaves for U.S., Canada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benjamin Gantz left for his first official visit to the United States and Canada. Gantz, who left Thursday on a trip that was delayed several days due to the violence on Israel's southern border, will meet with his counterparts in both countries, as well as security, government and military officials. They are scheduled to discuss joint military cooperation and mutual security challenges, as well as participate in briefings on the region.

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Obama Help With Israeli Preemptive Strike on Iran Would Violate International, U.S. Law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by L. Michael Hager - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

If Israel should launch a unilateral attack on Iran in response to a mere threat to weaponize its nuclear program, should the United States come to Israel’s aid? Before responding affirmatively, American policymakers should consider a word that has rarely appeared in the public debates on Iran or in the media. That word is 'law': international law and US law.

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