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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Israel says improved crossing procedures for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli military department in charge of civil affairs in the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday it has made a number of improvements to Palestinians' quality of life, Israeli media reported. The Israeli Civil Administration told Voice of Israel radio it had improved procedures at a number of military checkpoints in the West Bank. A Palestinian official, speaking to Ma'an on condition of anonymity, said there was nothing new in the announced improvements.

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Fatah official: Assassinations kill 2-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The head of Fatah in the Gaza Strip hit out at Israel's assassination policy on Monday, a week after factions in Gaza said a truce to halt recent violence would stop targeted killings by Israel. Abdullah Abu Samhadanah told reporters the killings had "assassinated the possibility of reaching a political compromise, leaving no room for the two-state solution."

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Obama calls Abbas to discuss Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time in six months on Monday to discuss the long-stalled Middle East peace process, the White House said. White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement that Obama called Abbas and told him the United States was committed to Middle East peace. He told Abbas both sides need to reinforce the efforts that have brought an end to recent fighting and to avoid provocative actions.

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Abbas Meets Family of Hunger Striker Held by Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 20, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday received at his office the family of a hunger striking woman held in Israel, accusing Israel not respecting the lives of Palestinian detainees. The parents of Hana Shalabi came to Abbas' office in the West Bank city of Ramallah after reports said their daughter was taken to the hospital due to her deteriorated health. 30-year-old Shalabi, who has been hunger striking for 34 days, demands an end to her administrative detention, an Israeli rule under which detainees can be held for years without a trial.

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Palestinians ask for U.N. human rights investigation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

GENEVA, March 19 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority has asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to conduct a formal inquiry into the impact of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said on Monday. The probe should look into "attempts to confiscate land and settler violence along with the impact of settlement expansion on Palestinian life and basic human rights," he said, adding that the proposal for an inquiry was formally tabled on Friday.

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Protecting civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Navi Pillay - (Opinion) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

My visit to Israel and Palestine a year ago left me with a profound sense of the difficult human rights situation faced by many Palestinians and Israelis. Still, the openness of representatives on all sides to engage seriously on the human rights challenges I identified was encouraging. Taking this spirit of constructive engagement as our point of departure, I and my staff have been watching closely for progress on the issues I raised with Israeli and Palestinian authorities in Gaza, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv.

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Decisions in the Interregnum in Palestine and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ziad Asali - (Blog) March 19, 2012 - 12:00am

The year 2011 will go down in history as the year when the two-state solution went into deep freeze. Yet even during this hibernation there is much that can, and indeed must, be done to prevent an even graver crisis.

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Arafat’s Widow Considers Role in Politics to ‘Continue Legacy’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

The widow of the late Yasser Arafat has said the resistance leader sacrificed their marriage and a relationship with the couple's only daughter for the Palestinian cause. In a rare interview with CNN, Suha Arafat shed light on the difficulties of being married to a man she described as the "Nelson Mandela of the Arab world", and said he pushed her away to focus on achieving an independent state.

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'Israeli restrictions deepen PA's fiscal crisis'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - March 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority’s fiscal crisis has grown worse due to a decline in donor funds and continued Israeli restrictions, the World Bank warned in a report it published on Thursday. The report was prepared in advance of a meeting in Brussels next Wednesday of a donor forum for the Palestinian Authority known as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee. “Stabilization of the PA’s fiscal position compels immediate action by the donor community,” said Mariam Sherman, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza.

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