NEWS: Report suggests that the late Prisoner X held secretly in Israel may have been part of a Mossad assassination squad that killed a Hamas operative in Dubai. (New York Times) Sources say Prisoner X is not the only "security prisoner" to have disappeared in the Israeli prison system. (YNet) Mossad appears to be becoming more secretive than ever. (The Independent) Palestinians protesting in support of hunger striking prisoners clash with Israeli occupation forces. (AP) Pres. Abbas urges international support for hunger striking Palestinian prisoners. (Oman Tribune) More Palestinian prisoners go on a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with other hunger striking prisoners (Xinhua) UN officials express concern over the fate of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners. (UN) A Swedish photographer wins the World Press Photo award for an image of the funeral of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile attack. (AP) Two Palestinians are injured by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza. (Ma'an) A Palestinian worker is stabbed to death at a construction site in Israel. (YNet) Four Israeli border guards are convicted of abusing a mentally disabled Palestinian. (YNet) Bulgaria expels a Hamas delegation from the country. (Xinhua) The Palestinian public sector employees union says the PA will pay salaries for January soon, but no exact date has been set. (Ma'an) Reports say Israeli and Egyptian officials meet to discuss security matters. (Jerusalem Post) An Israeli playing for an English soccer team is prevented from entering Dubai. (Jerusalem Post) COMMENTARY: Roger Cohen says PM Fayyad's institution-building policy has been a squandered opportunity, but created a new paradigm that will live on. (New York Times) Rami Livni says there can and should be a genuine Zionism of the Left. (Ha'aretz) Michael Cohen says the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearings show how dangerous it is to challenge the American orthodoxy on Israel. (The Guardian) The National says Egypt needs to provide Gaza with a new lifeline from the blockade. (The National) Zuheir Kseibati says Arabs were unpleasantly surprised not to hear the word Palestine or many other references to the Middle East in Pres. Obama's State of the Union address. (Al Hayat) George Hishmeh says Sec. Kerry is offering some signs of hope on American policy towards the peace process. (Gulf News) Frida Ghitis says Obama should have modest aims for his Middle East trip. (Miami Herald) Shlomi Eldar interviews Saeb Erekat, who says a settlement freeze is essential to restarting negotiations. (Al Monitor) Amos Harel says Israelis are oblivious to the very real possibility of another intifada. (Haaretz) Jennifer Jajeh profiles 1970s Palestinian militant Leila Khaled. (The National)

Leila Khaled, the 1970s Palestinian revolutionary, is still passionate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jennifer Jajeh - February 16, 2013 - 1:00am

It looks like Leila Khaled has stood me up. It's my last day in Amman, and she's arranged to meet me in front of the Sofra restaurant at noon. It's now 12:45pm. Tired of the unwanted attention I'm receiving as a woman standing alone on the street, I duck into Café des Artistes next door and order an overpriced espresso in the hope they'll let me use their phone to call her again. She answers this time and tells me she is stuck at a meeting for the Palestinian National Council, but will meet me in another 30 minutes.

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The distant drums of intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - February 15, 2013 - 1:00am

The public debate Americans have been conducting recently about the implications of the worldwide war they are waging against Islamic terror is not confined to the decade between September 11, 2001, and the assassination of Osama bin Laden, or to the two four-year terms of President George W. Bush. The Americans are also discussing and implementing far-reaching measures in that war during the second term of Barack Obama. It was the Obama administration that formulated a directive permitting the president to authorize the assassination abroad, without trial, of U.S.

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Erekat: No Settlement Freeze Means No Negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Shlomi Eldar - (Opinion) February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

Israel is waiting for President Barack Obama. Social networks across the internet are full of petitions and “likes,” pleading with the president to give a speech about peace to the Israeli masses gathered in Rabin Square.

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Israel’s Prisoner X Is Linked to Dubai Assassination in a New Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

The Australian-Israeli man recently identified as Prisoner X — found dead in 2010 in a maximum-security prison cell — may have been involved in the assassination of a Hamas leader that year, an episode that was among the most embarrassing in the history of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.

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Sources: Security prisoners 'disappear' in Israeli jails
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
February 15, 2013 - 1:00am

  Israeli-Australian Ben Zygier, the suspected Mossad operative who allegedly committed suicide at Ayalon Prison in 2010, was not the only person to be jailed by Israel under a false name.

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What Obama can achieve with Israel trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald
by Frida Ghitis - (Editorial) February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

Next month, two months into his second term, President Barack Obama will arrive in Israel, beginning a Middle East trip whose objective is muddled by the turmoil in the region. What exactly does Obama seek to achieve? Any presidential trip begins long before Air Force One leaves the hangar. While the advance travel officials work out the details of the itinerary, the policy, politics and press people are already crafting their desired narrative. Item one on the agenda this time is lowering expectations.

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Mossad: the service that's really secret
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Alistair Dawber - February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

The murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at an upmarket Dubai hotel in 2010; the killing of Gerald Bull, a Canadian scientist, on his doorstep in Brussels in 1990; the honeytrap set for Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu in Rome in 1986; the death of Ben Zygier in Israel’s most secure prison two years ago.

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Kerry says it like it is
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

Under American tutelage, history (almost) repeats itself for both the Palestinians and Israelis. President Barack Obama will be travelling next month to Israel, much like what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did four years ago when he met the American president for the first time during his first weeks at the White House.

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Obama’s Retreat in Parallel to the Arabs’ Surprise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Zuheir Kseibati - February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

The North Korean nuclear experiment was not good news for President Barack Obama, a few hours before the delivery of his State of the Union address. Indeed, now is the time for a “diplomatic solution” which would draw up the roadmap for some sort of a deal with Iran over its nuclear file. And the solution wanted by Obama and the West must guarantee Israel’s security.

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