Borderline outcast?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck, Roula Khalaf - (Analysis) April 13, 2009 - 12:00am

It has been a tough few months for Israel's diplomatic corps. At the start of the year, diplomats were fending off accusations that Israel was using excessive force in its offensive against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. After that conflict they faced a torrent of allegations that their actions had amounted to war crimes, claims that they deny.

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Washington Watch: Might Lieberman be the Arab world's best friend?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) April 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Even those who expected friction between the Obama and Netanyahu governments over pursuing Israeli-Arab peace were surprised that it came so quickly. About 20 minutes, by one count. Tzhat's how long it took Israel's new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to scrap the US-led Annapolis peace talks on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, take the Golan Heights off the negotiating table with Syria, and reject the long-standing concept of land for peace, threatening a US-Israel rift if his government turns that rhetoric into policy.

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Restoring tranquility to a wild West Bank town
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Globe and Mail
by Patrick Martin - April 10, 2009 - 12:00am

By day, this northern West Bank community – once considered the Tombstone, Ariz., of the Palestinian territories – is the picture of calm, its old market bustling, farmlands in full production and a friendly policeman on every corner. By night, however, it becomes vulnerable to raids and targeted assaults, not by the Palestinian militants who once ruled the streets, but by Israeli military patrols that invade the town and nearby villages at will.

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Netanyahu's 2nd Chance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Alon Ben-meir - (Analysis) April 9, 2009 - 12:00am

ew Israeli government led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu has raised many conflicting feelings among those concerned about the fate of the Arab-Israeli peace process. Will Netanyahu scuttle the little progress that was made under his predecessor Olmert, or will he engage the Palestinians anew?

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Palestinian lightly wounded after trying to snatch IDF soldier's gun
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

An Israel Defense Forces soldier shot and lightly wounded a Palestinian in the West Bank Wednesday after he tried to snatch a soldier's weapon at a checkpoint near Ramallah. Ambulances arrived on the scene and evacuated the Palestinian to a hospital in Ramallah. No soldiers were wounded in the incident. Earlier on Wednesday, at least 17 people were wounded during clashes between dozens of settlers from a settlement where a terrorist killed an Israeli teenager last week and Palestinians in a nearby West Bank village.

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Hamas Calls on PA to Cut Security Ties with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas urged the Palestinian Authority to halt all security coordination with Israel following Wednesday's clash between settlers and residents of the West Bank village of Khirbat Safa, near the Bat Ayin settlement. The violent riot saw 16 Palestinian suffer various injuries with one of the wounded said to be in critical condition.

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Mapping the possible Netanyahu-Obama fault lines
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - (Analysis) April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

There are no fissures yet between the young Obama and Netanyahu administrations, but political geologists are mapping the fault lines. So far, two major potentials for quakes have emerged, both having to do with timing: One concerns the pace of negotiating Palestinian statehood; the other has to do with projections about when Iran's alleged nuclear program becomes irrevocably dangerous.

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