February 26th

Israel closes Gaza border crossings after rocket strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 26, 2013 - 1:00am


Israeli authorities closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday, after a rocket was fired from the coastal territory, a Palestinian border official said. Nazmi Muhanna, head of the crossings committee in Gaza, told Ma'an that Israel closed the borders as a security measure after a rocket landed near Ashkelon. Humanitarian cases will still be processed, he added.


Rocket explodes in Israel, first attack from Gaza since truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - February 26, 2013 - 1:00am


A rocket exploded in southern Israel on Tuesday in the first such attack by militants in the Hamas Islamist ruled Gaza Strip since a truce ended a week of cross-border fighting in November, Israeli police said. The rocket caused some damage to a road near the city of Ashkelon but no injuries, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "An explosion was heard in the Ashkelon region experts searched areas experts and found one rocket that struck, damaging a road but causing no injuries," Rosenfeld said.


Dozens injured in second day of West Bank protests
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 26, 2013 - 1:00am


Hundreds of people took to the streets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday in the second day of protests following the death of a Palestinian prisoner who PA officials say died as a result of torture. The PA Minister of Detainee Affairs said Sunday that results from an autopsy of Arafat Jadarat's body indicate that he died after being tortured in Israeli custody, and not from a cardiac arrest, as Israel's Prison Authority had claimed.


2 Palestinian Teenagers Hurt Amid Israeli Gunfire at Protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am


Palestinian teenagers were seriously injured Monday when Israeli soldiers used live ammunition to disperse a demonstration at a holy site outside Bethlehem, as clashes in the West Bank continued for a fifth day an


Peaceful protest to keep pressure on Israeli policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) February 26, 2013 - 1:00am


Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old Palestinian petrol-station attendant and father of two young children, was arrested on February 18 after a protest at an Israeli settlement near Hebron. After he died in jail on Saturday, Israeli officials said with bland effrontery that a heart attack was the probable cause of death.


February 25th

Prisoner’s death fuels Palestinian protests, as Israel braces for more
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am


  JERUSALEM – The death of a Palestinian prisoner under Israeli interrogation after a week of demonstrations for the release of four other inmates on hunger strikes triggered fresh clashes Sunday and heightened concerns in Israel about a swelling wave of unrest in the West Bank.


Palestinians Dispute Israel’s Findings on a Prisoner’s Death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Khaled Abu Aker, Jodi Rudoren - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am


 


NEWS: Palestinians say an autopsy shows Arafat Jaradat, a 30 year old prisoner who died in Israeli custody, was tortured, while Israel insists he passed away from a heart attack. (Ma'an/New York Times) Palestinians demand an international inquiry into Jaradat's death, and into conditions for Palestinians in Israeli prisons generally. (New York Times/AP) Palestinians across the occupied territories protest in support of prisoners. (Xinhua) Dozens are injured in West Bank clashes over the prisoner's death. (Ma'an) Israeli settlers shoot two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. (AP) The Israeli military says it's preparing for a potential third Palestinian uprising, as its forces go on high alert throughout the occupied territories. (Xinhua/Washington Post) Israel demands the PA suppress Palestinian demonstrations. (Reuters) A Fatah official says "Israeli arrogance" may indeed result in a third intifada. (Ma'an) Hamas calls for the capturing of more Israeli soldiers by armed Palestinian groups. (Ma'an) In a letter to its US sponsors, Palestinians protest the route of the Jerusalem Marathon. (New York Times) Hamas bans a Fatah official from leaving Gaza. (Xinhua) A Hamas court cuts in half the sentence for the murderer of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni from 10 to 5 years. (AFP) Egypt seizes 20,000 liters of fuel being smuggled into Gaza. (Ma'an) The US and Israel say they have successfully tested the Arrow anti-missile system for the first time. (AP) A Palestinian citizen of Israel in Haifa, who is a noted artist, is using his work to try to save an elderly refugee relative in Syria by finally bringing her home. (Ha'aretz) There are signs of a slow but steady reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. (The Media Line)

COMMENTARY: Chaim Levinson says West Bank demonstrations are not yet a third intifada. (Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el says the protests are in place of negotiations that were never held. (Ha'aretz) Dalia Hatuqa says the PA may be trying to use the specter of a third intifada to pressure Israel. (Al Monitor) Amos Harel says Israel is trying to calm the situation, and whether a third intifada breaks out or not depends on how the PA handles the situation. (Ha'aretz) Shlomi Eldar says Pres. Abbas is also trying to calm the situation and offers the best hope for avoiding a third intifada. (Al Monitor) Ha'aretz says Israel has no choice but to deal seriously with Palestinian issues if it wants to avoid a third intifada. (Ha'aretz) Khaled Abu Toameh says some think Abbas and other PA leaders may have an interest in escalating tensions with Israel. (Jerusalem Post) Hassan Barari says PM Netanyahu's coalition building efforts may backfire. (Arab News) Michael Ross looks at why Israel's "Prisoner X" might have committed suicide. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Sharif Nashashibi looks at how Pres. Morsi's government is much tougher on Hamas in many ways than Pres. Mubarak's was. (Al Arabiya)

Israel and Turkey Might be Headed for Reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Linda Gradstein - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am


Economic Ties Continue Despite Tensions


Arab-Israeli in Haifa uses art to help Palestinian refugee sister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - February 22, 2013 - 1:00am


  A childhood memory documented in a photo: A little boy is holding his mother's hand; his four siblings stand alongside them. The place is a refugee camp near Damascus. The year is 1950. This is where the Abdi family eventually fled to after escaping from their home in Haifa, which had been captured by the Haganah during the War of Independence.



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