Christians mark Good Friday in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
April 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Hundreds of Christian clergymen, worshippers and pilgrims are marking Good Friday at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christian tradition says Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Brown-robed Roman Catholic friars filed into the ancient church after its doors were unlocked this morning. Pilgrims knelt to kiss a stone believed to mark the spot where Jesus' body was placed after he was crucified. Processions following Jesus' footsteps through the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City are planned for later in the day.

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'Jerusalem should be capital for the Palestinians and Israel'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Jordan's King Abdullah II pressed on Britain the need for "serious negotiations" between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the Palestinians over a two-state solution on Thursday, in a meeting with the British Foreign Secretary. David Miliband, speaking at a joint press conference following the meeting, expressed Britain's concerns at Israeli plans to demolish scores of houses in East Jerusalem, leaving around 1,500 Palestinians homeless.

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The Gaza War & What All Sides Must Do
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Encylopaedia Britannica Blog (Opinion) - March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

The recent war in Gaza proves yet again what all reasonable people understood about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for many years: there is no military solution for either side, and both peoples’ hopes for a better future depend on reaching a peace agreement with each other.

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Driver Shot Dead After Rampage in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian driver of a construction vehicle flipped over an Israeli police car and rammed an empty bus here on Thursday, injuring two police officers before he was shot dead, police said. Police later identified the assailant as a Palestinian resident of Beit Hanina, a predominantly Arab neighborhood in northeast Jerusalem. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man, Mari al-Radeideh, 26, was married and the father of one child. Jerusalem’s deputy police commander, Niso Shahar, told reporters: “We have no doubt that it is a terror attack.”

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Clinton's caution in Israel has some Palestinians grumbling
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

On her first visit as secretary of state to the de facto Palestinian capital, Hillary Clinton publicly chided Israel on Wednesday for demolishing dozens of Arab homes in East Jerusalem, a move that's undermining anemic peace talks with the Palestinians.

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Hillary Clinton shores up weakened Palestinian leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Hider - March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Hillary Clinton pledged her full support yesterday to the ailing Palestinian Administration of President Abbas, whose efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Israel have brought little progress, and whose standing among his own people has slipped dramatically. Speaking in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority, the US Secretary of State said that Mr Abbas's Administration was the only legitimate government of the Palestinian people - yet another snub to Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip and which the US regards as a terrorist organisation.

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Israel to let more aid into Gaza in gesture to Clinton
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Nir Hasson, Avi Issacharoff, Barak Ravid - March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel will increase the range of goods permitted into the Gaza Strip as a gesture to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who concluded her visit to the region Wednesday. In recent weeks, Israel has prevented such products as jam, pasta and paper from reaching the besieged coastal territory. "We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to alleviate the suffering of the people," Clinton said, but stopped short of calling for a full opening of the crossings.

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The monumental folly at Sharm el-Sheikh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) March 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The international pledges at Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday of some $4.5 billion in aid to the Palestinians to rebuild the Gaza Strip and promote the development of the West Bank seem like a monumental folly in view of the surrounding political context of this gesture. The financial generosity of the donors was largely offset by their political cowardice on two fronts: in challenging Israel to live according to the norms of law in its treatment of the Palestinians under its occupation; and in coming to grips with Palestinian political realities, especially the legitimacy and role of Hamas.

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Clinton: Israel's demolition of East Jerusalem homes harms peace efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - March 4, 2009 - 1:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday blasted Israel's plans to demolisg Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem as a violation of its international obligations and "unhelpful" to Middle East peace efforts. "Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the 'road map'," Clinton said, referring to the long-stalled peace plan.

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Housing Min. slams 'baseless' report of 73,000 new settlement homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
March 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim on Wednesday called a report released earlier this week over a government plan to build more than 73,300 new housing units in the West Bank "delusional and baseless." "There are a total of 11,530 housing units in Judea and Samaria that were approved by Housing and Construction institutions," Boim told Knesset. "The report about 73,000 housing units is delusional and baseless."

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