Sitting Down With Amos Oz
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Interview) January 28, 2013 - 1:00am


AMOS Oz, the novelist whose stories and tales have probed the soul of Israel with an intimate insistence, greeted me to his book-lined apartment with a quick Hebrew lesson. I must understand that the key word, Yiddish really, is “fraiers” — or suckers.


Palestinian, Israeli officials 'to discuss tax transfers'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance officials will meet with their Israeli counterparts on Wednesday to discuss resuming the transfer of taxes withheld by Israel since November, an official said. Rami Mahdawi, PA finance ministry spokesman, told Ma'an Tuesday that the meeting will discuss Israel's position to resuming the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues, which have been withheld as punishment for the UN's acceptance of Palestine as a non-member state in November.


Medics: Israeli forces shoot, injure man in north Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


Israeli forces shot and injured a man in north Gaza on Tuesday, medics said. Medical sources told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers stationed near the border opened fire at a laborer collecting scrap metal near Beit Hanoun. The man was transferred to hospital for treatment. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that "Palestinians gathered near the security fence and damaged it in the northern Gaza Strip. Security forces first fired warning shots in the air, and the suspects distanced themselves."


'Hamas leader Mashaal seeking presidency of PLO'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is seeking to take over the presidency of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, currently chaired by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the London-Based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Monday. According to the report, Mashaal's desire to chair the PLO is behind his decision not to stand for reelection to his position as chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau.


Egypt’s MB Pressuring Hamas Chief to Continue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
January 28, 2013 - 1:00am


The Hamas movement has postponed selecting a new Political Bureau chief in a clear bid to persuade incumbent, Khalid Mishal, to nominate himself for a fifth term. An Informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that delaying the convening of the Hamas Shura Council is meant to give Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic parties’ more time to pressure Mishal to change his mind.


Putting Bibi and Barack on the Couch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - January 27, 2013 - 1:00am


As Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama look toward new terms in office, their long, tense relationship will now feature a new twist: The re-inaugurated American leader launches his second term greatly emboldened, while the Israeli prime minister emerges from a jolt of an election that has greatly weakened him. Nevertheless, psychiatrists and political analysts alike believe that the impact on their forced marriage will be four more years of pretty much the same thing — pronounced disagreements alongside pragmatic attempts to prevent their relationship from falling apart.


'PM said he'd okay provisional Palestinian state'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Sam Sokol - January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


While not ready to sign a comprehensive peace deal, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is willing to establish an interim Palestinian state without a final agreement, former deputy foreign minister Yossi Beilin said on Monday. Speaking during a debate with outgoing settlement council head Danny Dayan, Beilin stated that he had heard from Netanyahu that he would be ready for establishing a “provisional border with the Palestinians.” “This is something that I heard from him that he would be ready to do it,” he stated.


Palestinian villagers take IDF to High Court over military drills
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


The army has been carrying out training exercises for about a week near three Palestinian villages in south Hebron, in violation of a High Court of Justice order that also forbids the villagers' eviction from their homes, said local farmers backed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. The farmers of a-Tabban, Mirkez and Jinba reported that military drills in a "firing zone" adjacent to their villages started last Monday with no warning, damaging their fields, pasture areas and wells.


Murdoch apologizes for ‘offensive’ cartoon of Netanyahu using blood-red mortar to build wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


Media baron Rupert Murdoch has apologized for a Sunday Times cartoon depicting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall using blood-red mortar, an image Jewish leaders said was reminiscent of anti-Semitic propaganda. The political cartoon, which was published on Holocaust Memorial Day, shows Netanyahu wielding a long, sharp trowel and depicts agonized Palestinians bricked into the wall’s structure. It was meant as a comment on recent elections in which Netanyahu’s ticket narrowly won the most seats in the Israeli parliament.


Israeli PM meets with Mideast Quartet envoy Blair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the international Quartet's envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair on Monday evening. Netanyahu told Blair, who represents the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union, that he looks forward to continuing working with Blair regarding the challenges Israel is facing.



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