January 12th, 2012

Was Israel Behind Iran Nuclear Scientist’s Assassination?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Tel Aviv: Israel has emerged as a key suspect in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran yesterday, thought to be the latest strike in a covert war that has targeted technicians, military plants, and computer systems at the heart of Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment program.

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Hamas Sentences Palestinian to Death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Hamas official in Gaza says the militant group has sentenced a local Palestinian to death for collaborating with Israel. The official said the man was sentenced Wednesday to death by firing squad at a military court in Gaza. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak with reporters. Palestinians who collaborate with Israeli intelligence are widely loathed within Palestinian society.

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Hamas Leader to Visit Iran, Qatar in New Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An adviser to Hamas' prime minister says the leader will visit Iran, Qatar and other Muslim countries at the end of the month. Yusef Rizka says the militant group's Ismail Haniyeh will embark on his second official international trip outside the Gaza Strip. He returned this week from a tour of Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia. It was the first time Haniyeh had left Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory from the rival Fatah movement in 2007.

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Israel Upholds Limits on Palestinian Spouses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's Supreme Court upheld late Wednesday a controversial law that bans most Palestinians who marry Israelis from living inside the Jewish state. In a 6-5 ruling, the court agreed that Palestinians who gain Israeli citizenship through marriage pose a security threat. The law is believed to have prevented thousands of Palestinians from living with their spouses. Parliament passed the law in 2003, at the height of the second Palestinian uprising, a time when militants from the West Bank frequently entered Israel to carry out deadly attacks.

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PA Shares Israel's Nuclear Iran Fears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Chronicle
by Stephen Pollard - January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, has attacked the behaviour of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said that he shares Western - and Israeli - concerns with the Iranians' nuclear project. Speaking in his Ramallah headquarters, Prime Minister Fayyad said that the Palestinians were "greatly harmed" by the Iranian leader's conduct. President Ahmadinejad, he said, should stop acting as a supposed spokesman for the Palestinians. The Iranian president was concerned only with increasing Iranian influence in the region.

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January 11th

NEWS: Palestinian leaders express outrage at reports of sky rocketing Israeli settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem. Peace Now says there was a 20% increase in settlement construction in 2011. Palestinian drivers protest Israeli-only roads in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians accuse Israeli settlers of vandalizing another West Bank mosque. Egyptian activists say they will try to prevent Israeli pilgrims from visiting the tomb of a venerated Rabbi. Hamas leader Haniyyeh arrives back in Gaza. Some of Israel's new settlement plans break commitments made to the United States. Yisrael Beiteinu proposes new Israeli legislation restricting Knesset membership to military veterans, a move that would effectively eliminate Arab representation. Israel adopts a harsh new law aimed mainly at African migrants. Occupation forces arrest 10 Palestinians in the West Bank. COMMENTARY: Zvi Bar'el says the Israeli military has a long history of sharing information with extremist settlers. Donniel Hartman says Israel needs to ask itself if it is ready for peace. Sari Bashi says Gaza is still occupied by Israel no matter what anyone claims. Tony Karon says Palestinians should learn lessons from the ANC. The Jordan Times denounces FM Lieberman's proposal to expel Arab villages from Israel. The Gulf News says Israel needs to rein in such extreme comments. Yariv Oppenheimer has 2012 could be a year of dynamic resurgence of the Israeli peace camp. Imad Al-Frangi says changes in the Arab world are being led by Islamists, and this will benefit Hamas. Dan Rothem asks whether Jews should be allowed to live in a future Palestinian state. David Makovsky says there will be no diplomatic breakthrough during a US election year.

Differences within parties – not just between them
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Makovsky - (Opinion) January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

After 16 months of no negotiations, Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Amman last week and again this week. Yet, the question remains whether these talks represent a new opening or if they are merely a tactical instrument for each side to perpetuate recriminations?

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Israel Arrests 10 Palestinians in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from WAFA
January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

WEST BANK, Israeli forces Tuesday arrested 10 Palestinians from across the West Bank, according to security sources. In Jenin, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians from Jenin refugee camp after raiding their houses, searching them and tampering with their contents, according to the sources. They also raided a garage and confiscated four cars. Forces also raided several Palestinian houses in Battir, a village west of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, searched them thoroughly and arrested three Palestinians, including a 16-years-old boy.

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Israel Passes Draconian Law on Illegal Immigrants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel's parliament approved harsh new penalties on illegal immigrants yesterday in an effort to stop mainly sub-Saharan Africans seeking refuge from conflict and poverty. Although the law stopped short of enacting some of the most draconian penalties sought by the government, it has provoked widespread criticism from human rights groups. The law allows the state to imprison illegal migrants for life if they commit certain crimes and detain them and their children for three year terms simply for being caught entering Israel.

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Bill: Citizens Who Didn't Complete Army Service Can't Be MKs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel News
by Moran Azulay - January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party has introduced a bill that aims to prevent citizens who did not complete their IDF service from running for the Knesset in the next elections. Ynet learned that Knesset Member Moshe Matalon submitted the proposal on Tuesday. According to the bill, Israelis who did not serve in the IDF or complete the National Service program will not be able to run for Knesset. If passed, the bill would essentially mean that the haredi and Arab parties would be dissolved. Yisrael Beiteinu realizes it will be difficult to pass the bill into law.

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