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October 20th

ATFP News Roundup October 20, 2016

 

News:

Israeli PM Netanyahu expressed concern that U.S. President Barack Obama, during the final days of his term in office, might take diplomatic steps that could harm the fate of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. (Reuters/Times of Israel/Ha'aretz)

Palestinians urged the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to adopt a resolution with serious measures to compel Israel to halt all settlement activities and threatening “consequences” if it refuses. (Times of Israel)

Israel, U.S. spar at UN Security Council after Danny Danon calls on UN to stop funding human rights organization B'Tselem. (Ha'aretz)

growing movement of Israeli women says that now is the time to restart the peace process. (Washington Post/Times of Israel)

Israeli authorities revoked Israeli-issued exit permits for 12 senior officials in the Gaza Strip’s Civil Affairs Administration on Wednesday. (Ma'an)

Israeli forces shot and killed a young Palestinian woman at the Zaatara military checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Wednesday after she allegedly attempted to stab Israeli border police. (Ma'an)

A spokesperson for the Hamas' military wing said on Tuesday that Israel would be made to release Palestinian prisoners as part of a future deal, during a speech commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Gilad Shalit deal. (Ma'an)

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip in both directions to permit the crossing of humanitarian cases just a few days following the crossing's opening on Saturday. (Ma'an)

Pres. Hollande said on Wednesday he would do everything possible to try to extend a ceasefire in eastern Aleppo when he discusses Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin this evening. (Reuters)

Two months after driving Islamic State from this Syrian border town, the young rebel fighters patrolling its streets nurse an ambition beyond the aims of their Turkish backers: to break the siege of Aleppo. (Reuters)

Russian warships off the coast of Norway are carrying fighter bombers that are likely to reinforce a final assault on the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in two weeks, a senior NATO diplomat said on Wednesday, citing Western intelligence. (Reuters)

U.N.-mediated truce to the war in Yemen went into effect a minute before midnight on Wednesday, hours after Saudi-led air strikes hit military bases in the capital Sanaa and rival militias battled near the border with the kingdom. (Reuters)

Egypt's highest court on Wednesday quashed death sentences imposed on 14 Islamists over an attack on a police station in protest at the military's overthrow in 2013 of then-President Mohamed Mursi, the state news agency MENA said. (Reuters)

Commentary:

Marian Houk says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti wants to see agreement between Fatah and Hamas and local elections held in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. (Al-Monitor)

Akiva Eldar says PM Netanyahu prefers to ignore the fact that from a diplomatic-international standpoint, the Jewish holy sites in the Old City are under occupation. (Al-Monitor)

Ahmad Abu Amer says the Ministry of Local Governance has suggested the formation of local elections courts to prevent the Courts of First Instance from ruling on cases related to local elections. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says human rights nongovernmental organizations are confronted by an increasingly difficult battle over Israeli public opinion, which often considers them illegitimate or hostile as they criticize the elected government. (Al-Monitor)

Amira Hass says even if 100,000 Gazans receive exit permits, the Strip would remain a huge prison. (Ha'aretz)

Steven Cohen says an 'out-of-touch' rightist Israeli government further embedding the settlements and disdaining non-Orthodox Judaism? According to Pew, they faithfully reflect the will of the people. (Ha'aretz)

Michael Young says Michel Aoun may soon be endorsed as Lebanon's president – but there is one serious obstacle in his path. (The National)

ATFP News Roundup October 19, 2016

News:

The executive board of the United Nations cultural agency voted to adopt a controversialresolution that denies a Jewish connection to the Old City of Jerusalem. (JTA/Ma'an/Times of Israel)

Mexico has fired its ambassador to UNESCO, Andre Roemer, who is Jewish, for protesting against his country’s decision to vote for a resolution denying Jewish ties to Jerusalem. (JTA)

Asked about punitive action initiated by Israeli PM Netanyahu against B’Tselem, a human rights watchdog, the Obama administration said it is “troubled by instances anywhere in the world” where civil society is threatened. (JTA/Ma'an)

The European Union sent a public message of support to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem Tuesday, amid anger in Israel over a speech by the organization’s director to the United Nations Security Council criticizing Israeli settlement policy last week. (Times of Israel)

The “overwhelming majority” of Palestinian minors held in Israel’s Megiddo and Ofer prisons have been tortured during their detention and interrogation, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said Tuesday. (Ma'an)

The Egyptian army reportedly killed 19 gunmen believed to be affiliated to the Sinai Province group, after airstrikes hit more than 30 of the group’s bunkers and hideouts on Mondayafternoon. (Ma'an)

The Syrian army and its allies see a risk that Islamic State will regroup in eastern Syria as it is forced from the Iraqi city of Mosul in a U.S.-backed operation, posing new risks for President Bashar al-Assad. (Reuters)

The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the worsening situation in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday after a formal request from Britain, a United Nations statement said. (Reuters)

The United Nations said that Russia's plan for a ceasefire will not mean any supplies get into besieged eastern Aleppo because Russia, Syria and other groups fighting in the city have not yet given guarantees of safety for aid workers. (Reuters)

The International Committee of the Red Cross appealed to all sides including Islamic State on Tuesday to show humanity on the battlefield and spare civilians in the Iraqi city of Mosul as government forces close in to re-take the city of 1.5 million. (Reuters)

After losses in Syria and Iraq, ISIS moves the goal posts. (New York Times)

Yemen's Houthi-run administration welcomed a 72-hour ceasefire starting on Wednesday intended to allow aid to reach areas cut off by months of fighting and in dire humanitarian need. (Reuters)

Imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, whose public flogging in the kingdom in 2015 generated global outcry, now risks a new round of lashes, a co-founder of a Canadian foundation advocating for his release said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Commentary:

The New York Times looks at why Mosul is critical in the battle against ISIS. (New York Times)

Joyce Karam says the real hard battle for Mosul will be in charting its political course after the military operations. (Al Arabiya)

Abdul Rahman Al Rashed says the continuity of the war in Yemen only suits the strategy of Iran...but it does not suit Oman. (Al Arabiya)

October 18th

ATFP News Roundup October 18, 2016

News:

Victims of an Israeli raid that killed 10 people in 2010 on an aid flotilla fear a Turkish court is set to halt a case brought by them because of a deal to restore ties between Israel and Turkey, a lawyer representing the victims said on Monday. (Reuters)

A fierce exchange between the government and the human rights group B’Tselem has touched on arguments over patriotism and the character of Israel. (New York Times)

Israeli PM Netanyahu said he will act to amend the country’s national service law so that young Israelis will no longer be able to serve at B’Tselem. (JTA/Ha'aretz)

The governing body of international soccer, FIFA, did not reach a decision on preventing Israeli teams from playing in West Bank settlements. (JTA)

Greece’s ruling left-wing Syriza party called for the Greek government to recognize the state of Palestine at the party’s second congress held in Athens, after months of delay in implementing a Greek parliament decision to recognize Palestine. (Ma'an)

The Supreme Military Court in the Gaza Strip sentenced a 54-year-old man to death by hanging on Monday after he was accused of collaborating with Israel, according to a statement released by the court. (Ma'an)

UNESCO chief Irina Bokova has received “death threats” after expressing reservations about an Arab-backed resolution denying Israel’s history in Jerusalem, Israel’s ambassador to the UN agency said on Monday. (Times of Israel)

The director of operations for UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, Bo Schack, warned on Monday of what he described as increasing desperation, frustration, and the absence of opportunities in the besieged coastal enclave. (Ma'an)

Defying political pressure, Israeli Arab rapper to perform at festival, despite culture minister's opposition. (Ha'aretz)

At least five Palestinian minors have been imprisoned by Israel without being charged in recent months, for Facebook posts that Israeli authorities alleged amounted to “incitement” to commit violence. (Ma'an)

The European Union on Monday condemned Russia's air campaign in Syria, saying it may be guilty of war crimes, and it vowed to impose more sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's government. (Reuters)

Fourteen members of one family were killed in an air strike in rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Monday, emergency service workers said, as the Syrian government pursued its drive to capture opposition-held areas of the city. (Reuters)

Russian and Syrian forces will pause their offensive on Oct. 20 to allow civilians and rebels to leave the city and to provide humanitarian relief, a Russian military official said. (New York Times)

Iraqi government forces launched a U.S.-backed offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, a high-stakes battle to retake the militants' last major stronghold in the country. (Reuters)

Shi'ite irregulars will help storm a smaller city in northern Iraq while government troops launch their upcoming offensive against Islamic State's biggest stronghold Mosul, raising fears among Iraqi officials and aid workers of sectarian retribution. (Reuters)

72-hour ceasefire in Yemen is due to start on Wednesday night, the U.N. envoy for Yemen said on Monday after he received commitments from all of the country's warring factions. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia is prepared to agree to a ceasefire in Yemen if the Iran-allied Houthis agree, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday, adding that he was skeptical about efforts for peace after previous ceasefire attempts had failed. (Reuters)

The Pentagon declined to say on Monday whether the USS Mason destroyer was targeted by multiple inbound missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday, as initially thought, saying a review was under way to determine what happened. (Reuters)

Commentary:

Hagai El-Ad explains why he spoke against the occupation at the UN. (Ha'aretz)

Shmuel Rosner says with the United States abdicating its leadership role, Netanyahu has to play along with Russian plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. (New York Times)

Uri Savir says both Israelis and Palestinians object to a diplomatic move by US President Barack Obama: the Palestinians object to a presidential speech, while the Israelis object to a UN General Assembly resolution. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says the arrest of a Palestinian government employee critical of President Mahmoud Abbas is indicative of the constraints on freedom of expression that Palestinian journalists face. (Al-Monitor)

Adnan Abu Amer says Jordan is boosting its strategic ties with Israel based on their mutual economic interests, while Palestinians sound the alarm against normalization of relations with their enemy. (Al-Monitor)

Josh Rogin says the Obama administration is debating the wisdom of rushing to retake Raqqa. (Washington Post)

Michael Knights says Mosul is going to embrace the United States as liberator. (Fpreign Policy)

Faisal Al Yafai says taking Mosul back from ISIL will be hard, but winning the peace will be harder still. (The National)

Hassan Hassan explains why the fight against ISIL in Iraq is critical for the region. (The National)

 

Andrew Bowen says Yemen’s challenges are not purely a problem from the Kingdom, but for both the broader region and the US. The commentary that Washington faces a moral dilemma in Yemen for supporting the GCC intervention is a distraction from the real issues. (Al Arabiya)

October 14th

ATFP News Roundup October 14, 2016

News:

Israeli President Rivlin hosts a quiet meeting of Muslim and Jewish leaders. (New York Times)

The Palestinian Authority welcomes the passing of a UNESCO resolution that sharply criticizes Israeli policies. (Ma'an\Times of Israel)

The United States, Israeli officials and Jewish groups reacted with outrage to a preliminary vote by the United Nations cultural agency that denies a Jewish connection to the Old City of Jerusalem. (JTA\Ha'aretz)

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel would suspend its cooperation with UNESCO, because of the UN agency’s decision to ignore Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem. (JTA\Times of Israel)

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov expressed concerns over the situation in Gaza, and urged Israel to understand that its policies on the besieged enclave only “escalates violence.” (Ma'an)

Anti-occupation groups Americans for Peace Now, B'Tselem to address UN Security Council session on settlements. (Ha'aretz)

DIY submachine guns are popping up across the West Bank. (Washington Post)

The number of terrorist attacks perpetrated in Israel dropped in August to 93 — the lowest monthly tally on record since March 2015 and the first dip since then below the 100-incident mark. (JTA)

Israeli soldiers raided a “mourning tent” dedicated to Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was killed by Israeli forces Sunday after carrying out a deadly shooting attack in occupied East Jerusalem, in the the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. (Ma'an)

Egyptian authorities decided to open the Rafah crossing on both sides this week on Saturdayand Sunday. (Ma'an)

Islamic State has crushed a rebellion plot in Mosul, led by one of the group's commanders who aimed to switch sides and help deliver the caliphate's Iraqi capital to government forces, residents and Iraqi security officials said. (Reuters)

Forces trained by the Turkish military at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq will take part in the planned operation to drive Islamic State out of the city of Mosul, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Friday. (Reuters)

Syria's Pres. Assad said that the Syrian army's capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey. (Reuters)

At least 20 people, mostly Syrian rebel fighters, were killed after a car bomb exploded on Thursday near a checkpoint close to the Bab al Salama crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in northern Syria, two witnesses said. (Reuters)

In Aleppo, a drone video reveals a destruction so complete that it obliterates even a sense of time. (New York Times)

Yemen sees U.S. strikes as evidence of hidden hand behind Saudi air war. (New York Times)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied on Thursday Ethiopian accusations that his country was supporting the opposition after a wave of violent protests that left hundreds dead. (Reuters)

Turkey could hold a referendum on changing the constitution and introducing a presidential system before the spring, its justice minister said on Friday, days after the government revived plans that would hand incumbent Tayyip Erdogan greater powers. (Reuters)

Commentary:

Akiva Eldar says new data shows that the settlements in the West Bank are not an irreversible situation, and that most of the population growth in settlements is due to births — not immigration of Israelis into the settlements. (Al-Monitor)

Ahmad Melhem says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' attendance at the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres has angered the Palestinian public and political factions, increasing the chance of violence in the streets. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says when the wave of Palestinian violence broke out, most of the assailants were youngsters who believed that their acts would bring closer Palestinian statehood; but recent attacks seem motivated largely by religious beliefs. (Al-Monitor)

Raphael Ahren says outrageous as it may be, UNESCO’s Jerusalem vote has a silver lining. (Times of Israel)

Shlomo Sand says all those who don’t understand why it was so difficult for the Palestinian-Israelis’ political representatives to show their final respects to Shimon Peres, should recall Arafat’s funeral and the 'respect' shown him by the Israelis. (Ha'aretz)

Abdul Rahman Al Rashed says France is playing a key role in the Syrian conflict at a time when most countries have preferred to avoid confrontation. (The National)

Anna Lekas Miller writes that the Left can’t afford to ignore the facts on the ground in Aleppo. (The National)

Michael T. Klare says “take the oil” isn’t just an applause line — it’s a policy that has been discussed in Washington for decades. (Foreign Policy)

October 13th

ATFP News Roundup October 13, 2015

 

News:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday pardoned a military officer sentenced to a year in jail for criticizing him for attending the funeral of Israeli statesman Shimon Peres, an official said. (Reuters\Ma'an\Times of Israel)

Dore Gold resigns as director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. (Ha'aretz)

Thirty-nine U.S. Congressmen and Senators have urged a United Nations agency to oppose a resolution that diminishes Jewish and Christian ties to the Old City of Jerusalem. (JTA)

Palestinian child was allegedly killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday evening in the southern Gaza Strip, while Israeli authorities denied responsibility in his death. (Ma'an)

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem faced criticism Thursday for its scheduled participation in a United Nations Security Council forum debate on Israeli settlements, where it says it will “lay out the reality of the occupation.” (Times of Israel)

Palestinians say they’ll go to court unless FIFA suspends settlement teams. (Ha'aretz)

The Israeli navy opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the northern Gaza Stripon Thursday, locals said. (Ma'an)

Billionaire Saban advises Clinton to differentiate herself from Obama on Israel. (Ha'aretz)

Renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo has killed more than 150 people this week, rescue workers said on Thursday, as the Syrian government steps up its Russian-backed offensive to take the whole city. (Reuters)

Britain and France are leading EU efforts to impose more sanctions on Syrians close to President Bashar al-Assad in response to the devastating bombing of Aleppo, diplomats said, signaling that Russians may eventually be added to the list. (Reuters)

Britain is looking at its military involvement in Syria but any action would need to be part of a coalition involving the United States and is not likely to happen soon, foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday. (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart in Switzerland on Saturdayto discuss Syria, officials said on Wednesday, as a devastating bombing campaign of the city of Aleppo intensified. (Reuters)

The U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said. (Reuters\New York Times)

Low crude prices and the war in Yemen have sent a shock through the kingdom’s budget and forced it to revise its social contract even as it seeks to diversify its businesses. (New York Times)

Commentary:

Adnan Abu Amer says Hamas' Interior Ministry in Gaza has appointed several new officials to top security positions, raising questions about its motives. (Al-Monitor)

Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani says the world must not stand by while the Assad regime massacres Syrian civilians and here is a plan. (New York Times)

Afshon Ostovar says the war won’t end until Assad’s most powerful backer has a seat at the table — and that isn’t Putin. (Foreign Policy)

Diana Moukalled looks at the White Helmets and the Syrian conflict. (Al Arabiya)

April Longley Alley says the bombing of a funeral has empowered the country's worst forces and could drag America into the fray. (Foreign Policy)

 

The Washington Post says if Saudi Arabia continues to target civilians in Yemen, the Obama administration should pull its support. (Washington Post)

October 12th

ATFP News Roundup October 12, 2016

News:

20-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces Tuesday night during clashes that erupted in the town of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem just south of the Old City, amid ongoing violent police raids in the Jerusalem area. (Ma'an)

The Palestinian Authority decided that municipal councils that had resigned from office in order to run in local elections would return to their original offices until the recently postponed elections were resumed. (Ma'an)

Dozens of Palestinians were shot and injured by live ammunition or rubber-coated steel bullets in the town of al-Ram in the Jerusalem district of the occupied West Bank Wednesday morning.  (Ma'an)

Residents of the Palestinian refugee camp Khan al-Shih in war-torn Syria southwest of Damascus city held a protest Tuesday condemning the bombardment of the camp and threats of heavier siege conditions. (Ma'an)

Israeli forces announced a series of closures and heightened security operations throughout the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the larger Jerusalem district in anticipation of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, according to Israeli police. (Ma'an)

German politicians called on Wednesday for the 'hero refugees' who captured a fellow Syrian migrant suspected of planning a bomb attack on a Berlin airport to be honored with a prestigious award, describing them as a model of integration. (Reuters)

Pope Francis, in his strongest appeal to date on the conflict in Syria, on Wednesday called for an "immediate ceasefire" to allow for the evacuation of civilians. (Reuters)

Turkish troops will remain at a military camp in northern Iraq until Islamic State is driven out of the nearby city of Mosul, Turkey's deputy prime minister said on Wednesday, signaling no respite in a row with Baghdad over the deployment. (Reuters)

Islamic State militants have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the jihadists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and U.S. officials said. (Reuters)

Turkey has fired hundreds of senior military staff serving at NATO in Europe and the United States following July's coup attempt, documents show, broadening a purge to include some of the armed forces' best-trained officials. (Reuters)

The United States is seeing growing indications that Iran-allied Houthi rebels, despite denials, were responsible for Sunday's attack on a Navy destroyer off the Yemen coast, U.S. officials told Reuters. (Reuters)

Commentary:

Akiva Eldar says if Israeli PM Netanyahu insists on defying the US president and building a new West Bank settlement, Barack Obama could respond by abstaining in a UN Security Council vote on Palestinian Statehood. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says Salafi groups have adopted the tactic of firing rockets at Israel in an attempt to weaken Hamas by pushing it into a military confrontation with Israel. (Al-Monitor)

Entsar Abu Jahal says earlier in September, the Palestine Trade Center announced the Palestine Exporter Award for 2016, a national recognition to promote an export culture among Palestinian firms, encourage diversification in exports and support access to new markets in a bid to achieve national economic development. (Al-Monitor)

Oliver Bullough says the Kremlin wants to bomb Aleppo into submission and impose peace via a local strongman, just like it did in Grozny a decade and a half ago. (New York Times)

Sulome Anderson says ISIS brutalizes women in the name of Islam — and it still has thousands of female slaves in its grasp. (Foreign Policy)

 

Rauf Baker puts a spotlight on the plight of the Syrian middle class, five years and counting into the civil war. (The National)

ATFP News Roundup October 12, 2016

News:

20-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces Tuesday night during clashes that erupted in the town of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem just south of the Old City, amid ongoing violent police raids in the Jerusalem area. (Ma'an)

The Palestinian Authority decided that municipal councils that had resigned from office in order to run in local elections would return to their original offices until the recently postponed elections were resumed. (Ma'an)

Dozens of Palestinians were shot and injured by live ammunition or rubber-coated steel bullets in the town of al-Ram in the Jerusalem district of the occupied West Bank Wednesday morning.  (Ma'an)

Residents of the Palestinian refugee camp Khan al-Shih in war-torn Syria southwest of Damascus city held a protest Tuesday condemning the bombardment of the camp and threats of heavier siege conditions. (Ma'an)

Israeli forces announced a series of closures and heightened security operations throughout the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the larger Jerusalem district in anticipation of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, according to Israeli police. (Ma'an)

German politicians called on Wednesday for the 'hero refugees' who captured a fellow Syrian migrant suspected of planning a bomb attack on a Berlin airport to be honored with a prestigious award, describing them as a model of integration. (Reuters)

Pope Francis, in his strongest appeal to date on the conflict in Syria, on Wednesday called for an "immediate ceasefire" to allow for the evacuation of civilians. (Reuters)

Turkish troops will remain at a military camp in northern Iraq until Islamic State is driven out of the nearby city of Mosul, Turkey's deputy prime minister said on Wednesday, signaling no respite in a row with Baghdad over the deployment. (Reuters)

Islamic State militants have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the jihadists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and U.S. officials said. (Reuters)

Turkey has fired hundreds of senior military staff serving at NATO in Europe and the United States following July's coup attempt, documents show, broadening a purge to include some of the armed forces' best-trained officials. (Reuters)

The United States is seeing growing indications that Iran-allied Houthi rebels, despite denials, were responsible for Sunday's attack on a Navy destroyer off the Yemen coast, U.S. officials told Reuters. (Reuters)

Commentary:

Akiva Eldar says if Israeli PM Netanyahu insists on defying the US president and building a new West Bank settlement, Barack Obama could respond by abstaining in a UN Security Council vote on Palestinian Statehood. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says Salafi groups have adopted the tactic of firing rockets at Israel in an attempt to weaken Hamas by pushing it into a military confrontation with Israel. (Al-Monitor)

Entsar Abu Jahal says earlier in September, the Palestine Trade Center announced the Palestine Exporter Award for 2016, a national recognition to promote an export culture among Palestinian firms, encourage diversification in exports and support access to new markets in a bid to achieve national economic development. (Al-Monitor)

Oliver Bullough says the Kremlin wants to bomb Aleppo into submission and impose peace via a local strongman, just like it did in Grozny a decade and a half ago. (New York Times)

Sulome Anderson says ISIS brutalizes women in the name of Islam — and it still has thousands of female slaves in its grasp. (Foreign Policy)

 

Rauf Baker puts a spotlight on the plight of the Syrian middle class, five years and counting into the civil war. (The National)

October 11th

ATFP News Roundup October 11, 2016

News:

PM Netanyahu tells Sec. Kerry he expects the U.S. won't advance UN resolution on Israeli-Palestinian conflict before Obama leaves office. (Ha'aretz)

A Palestinian resident of eastern Jerusalem has been arrested for planning terror attacks in the Jerusalem area. (JTA\Times of Israel)

Israeli forces raided the city of Nablus and demolished the home of Amjad Aliwi, who Israeli intelligence accused of being one of the masterminds of a shooting attack on Oct. 1, 2015, which left two Israeli settlers dead. (Ma'an)

Having criticized the government five months ago for its handling of security, the hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman has not done much to reshape Israeli policies. (New York Times)

A group of Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family and damaged their car while they were picking olives on their private land south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank on Monday. (Ma'an)

Undercover Israeli forces detained eight Palestinian children from Aida refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. (Ma'an)

Whoever occupies the White House next, he or she will inherit one of the most complex and brutal crises in the world: the war in Syria. (AP)

Russian Pres. Putin will not come to Paris next week after declining to meet President Francois Hollande only for talks on Syria, a source in Hollande's office said, the latest deterioration in ties between Moscow and the West. (Reuters)

A senior British lawmaker has accused Russia of targeting civilians in Syria in the same way the Nazis behaved at Guernica during the Spanish civil war of the 1930s. (Reuters)

Turkey and Russia signed an agreement on Monday for the construction of a major undersea gas pipeline and vowed to seek common ground on the war in Syria, accelerating a normalization in ties nearly a year after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. (Reuters)

Close allies and Arab powerhouses Egypt and Saudi Arabia are having their first public spat since Egyptian Pres. Sissi took office two years ago, a quarrel over Syria that points to a wider, but mostly muted, divergence in the handling by Cairo and Riyadh of regional issues. (AP)

The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition helping the Iraqi military defended recent pronouncements that the operation to retake Mosul is imminent, saying the advanced warning gives civilians hope they will soon be liberated and encourages defections of extremist fighters. (AP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country is determined to take part in a possible operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul despite objections from Iraq, adding to tensions between the two neighbors. (AP)

The Islamic State is releasing fewer propaganda items and has shifted its message away from that of a well-run caliphate. (New York Times)

Yemen's Houthi movement launched a ballistic missile deep into Saudi Arabia and may have also fired on a U.S. warship, two days after an apparent Saudi-led air strike killed 140 mourners at a funeral attended by powerful tribal leaders. (Reuters)

Updated guidelines published by the U.S. Treasury Department ease restrictions on foreign companies attempting to do business with Iran in what is being called a “loosening of sanctions.” (JTA)

Commentary:

Ha'aretz says precisely because Israel wants to be a home for the Jewish people demands that its leaders show empathy for the impossible situation of the Arab minority. (Ha'aretz)

Ahmad Abu Amer interviews Hamas leader Ahmad Yousef. (Al-Monitor)

Ben Caspit says Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman seems to have realized that attacking Hamas targets in retaliation for rocket fire from rogue groups could damage the organization’s efforts to contain those elements. (Al-Monitor)

Entsar Abu Jahal says a heavy budget deficit — though lighter than those of other Palestinian universities — led Birzeit University to call for a tuition hike, sparking a protest movement by the student council that closed the school's gates for a month. (Al-Monitor)

Raphael Ahren says as Turtle Bay observes its first-ever Yom Kippur, Israel’s envoy discusses his effort to bring more Judaism to the UN, clandestine meetings with Arab officials, and concerns about Palestine-related moves at the Security Council. (Times of Israel)

The New York Times says President Obama must cut off military aid to Saudi Arabia unless it ends the carnage and returns to peace talks. (New York Times)

October 10th

ATFP News Roundup October 10, 2016

News:

A Palestinian who was due to begin a prison term in Israel next week went on a shooting spreeon Sunday, killing a pedestrian and a police officer in Jerusalem before being shot dead by police, medical and law enforcement officials said. (Reuters\Washington Post\Times of Israel\Ha'aretz)

The U.S. State Department strongly condemned a terrorist attack in Jerusalem that left two people dead. (JTA)

Israeli PM Netanyahu reportedly told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone call that settlers from the Amona outpost would be relocated to an authorized settlement only as a last resort. (JTA)

In the wake of a deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli forces carried out massive raids across different neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, where they detained some 39 Palestinians, at least nine of whom were minors, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources. (Ma'an)

A senior Israeli government minister is due to visit Turkey this week in the first such trip since the Jewish state and Ankara normalized relations after a six-year crisis over Israel’s deadly storming of a Gaza-bound ship, an official said. (Times of Israel)

Israeli forces shot and lightly wounded an Associated Press photographer with a rubber-coated steel bullet while he was covering clashes in the occupied West Bank village of al-Ram on Sunday, the global news agency reported. (Ma'an)

A Palestinian man died after being accidentally electrocuted inside a smuggling tunnel between Egypt and the southern besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday. (Ma'an)

Israeli authorities sentenced Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi to seven months in prison on Sunday, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. (Ma'an)

Russia intends to establish a permanent naval base on the site of an existing facility it leases at the Syrian port of Tartus, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Monday, Russian news agencies reported. (Reuters)

Debate over the merits and risks of America’s role as a moral authority has raged for decades, from the war in Vietnam, to Iraq, and now to Syria. (New York Times)

France's foreign minister is calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate Russia for possible war crimes in Syria. (AP)

A Syrian man who came to Germany during a migrant influx into the country last year was arrested on Monday after a weekend manhunt on suspicion of planning an Islamist bomb attack, Saxony state police said. (Reuters)

Yemen's Houthi movement fired ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia, and the United States said a failed missile attack from Houthi-controlled areas targeted one of its warships, two days after an apparent Saudi-led air strike killed 140 Yemenis. (Reuters\New York Times)

An Arab coalition intercepted two missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi group at targets in Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Marib province on Sunday, Saudi Arabian official media reported. (Reuters)

AT&T’s partnership with an Iranian company suggests that promises President Hassan Rouhani made long ago of welcoming Western businesses may at last be coming true. (New York Times)

Commentary: 

Ahmad Abu Amer says Palestinians are not convinced by the Palestinian Authority's justifications for delaying a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity. (Al-Monitor)

Uri Savir says the late President Shimon Peres is irreplaceable, but one of three people — his son Chemi Peres, former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi or former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz — could go on from where Peres left off. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says despite a boycott of late President Shimon Peres' funeral by Arab Knesset members, several Arab-Israeli regional council heads and mayors paid a condolence visit to his family, to wide public approval. (Al-Monitor)

Josh Rogin says Putin and Assad could face justice for war crimes in Syria. (Washington Post)

Hassan Hassan looks at the fragmentation of rebel groups around Aleppo. (The National)

James Traub looks at the mess Pres. Obama left behind in Iraq. (Foreign Policy)

October 7th

ATFP News Roundup October 7, 2016

News:

UN Security Council to hold special meeting on Israeli settlements next week. (Ha'aretz)

Vice President Joe Biden said Shimon Peres’ legacy should be one of tolerance at a time of rising bigotry. (JTA/Times of Israel)

The 81-year-old Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, underwent an emergency heart procedure on Thursday after suffering exhaustion and chest pains, but was given a clean bill of health and quickly discharged from the hospital. (AP)

Israeli police escorted by Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet, raided and closed several institutions in Nazareth and Um al-Fahem in northern Israel allegedly affiliated with the Islamic Movement, reportedly confiscating equipment and computers. (Ma'an)

Israeli forces closed all the stores in the village of Huwwara in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, and prevented residents from the town from passing through the Beita crossroads after Palestinians allegedly threw rocks at Israeli settler vehicles on the main road. (Ma'an)

Israeli naval forces opened live fire at Palestinian fishing boats of the coast of Gaza city on Friday, before detaining two Palestinian fishermen and confiscating their boat. (Ma'an)

Hundreds of supporters of Mohammed Dahlan, a dismissed leader of the Fatah movement in Gaza exiled from the occupied Palestinian territory, marched on Unknown Soldier square in central Gaza on Thursday and burned pictures of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Ma'an)

The British government’s Department for International Development has reportedly frozen part of its aid to the Palestinian Authority over concerns the aid was being used to fund salaries for convicted Palestinian terrorists. (Times of Israel)

Groups representing liberal streams of Judaism appealed to Israel's Supreme Court Thursday to force the government to implement its decision on equal prayer at a key Jewish holy site. (AP)

Rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms, President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday, vowing to press on with the assault on Syria's largest city and recapture full control of the country. (Reuters)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Russia on Friday to use its influence with the Syrian government to end the devastating bombardment of Aleppo, as her government opened the door to possible sanctions against Russia for its role in the conflict. (Reuters)

In Lebanon, getting Syrian children in school a huge task. (Reuters)

Modern technology is used to reproduce artifacts that were destroyed in Iraq and Syria; the results are on display at the Colosseum in Rome. (New York Times)

Involving Shi'ite militias in an operation to drive Islamic State out of the Iraqi city of Mosul will not bring peace, Turkey's foreign minister said on Friday, adding that Turkish-trained forces should be involved. (Reuters)

Some former officials and aid groups worry that President Obama will begin a ground campaign in Iraq without a comprehensive plan for what happens afterward. (New York Times)

The implementation of a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers is still fragile, the head of the U.N. agency that polices Iran's side of the deal has said, warning that small mistakes could have grave consequences. (Reuters)

Millions of Moroccans headed out to vote Friday, with worries about joblessness and extremism on their minds as they chose which party will lead their next government. (AP)

Commentary:

The New York Times says the latest Israeli settlement in the West Bank makes it more urgent for the United Nations to help forge a peace agreement with the Palestinians. (New York Times)

Akiva Eldar says American presidents have made historic speeches about the Middle East, and have delivered inspiring eulogies at the funerals of PM Rabin and Pres. Peres — but all that has not brought peace any closer. (Al-Monitor)

Ahmad Abu Amer says Palestinians are not convinced by the Palestinian Authority's (PA) justifications for delaying a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity. (Al-Monitor)

Adnan Abu Amer says Hamas might be issuing a document soon detailing its stances toward various aspects of the Palestinian cause, as well as its ties with local parties and foreign countries. (Al-Monitor)

Rasha Abou Jalal says Fatah’s Central Committee announced the holding of the movement’s seventh conference after a seven-year absence, which would help unite Fatah’s ranks and prepare it for any future elections. (Al-Monitor)

Raphael Ahren says while empathizing with Gazans during 2014 war, Antonio Guterres has mostly stayed mum on the Palestinian question. (Times of Israel)

Abdul Rahman Al Rashed says everyone wants to have the honor of defeating ISIS. There are high expectations as they are all confident that they will finally liberate Mosul, even if there are no estimates about the duration of the war and its human cost. (Al Arabiya)


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