February 26th

An Israeli folly to the fore ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Philip Stephens - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Israel and Australia are involved in a spat over the death of a young man held in an Israeli prison. It is a cloak-and-dagger tale. Ben Zygier, who is said to have hanged himself in 2010 after being detained in conditions of great secrecy, held dual citizenship. Media reports in the two countries suggest the former Mossad employee had threatened to reveal details of the way Israeli intelligence agents carry other nations’ passports on overseas operations. » Read more

Amid mounting pressures, some see potential for new Palestinian uprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor by Christa Case Bryant - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Less than a month before President Obama is to visit Jerusalem and Ramallah, raising hopes he will help bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the peace table, some see the West Bank heading in a very different dir » Read more

Wrong Cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) February 24, 2013 - 1:00am Many injustices plague Palestinian society, few of which can be blamed on the Jewish state, even by the farthest stretches of the imaginations of Israel’s enemies. These are self-inflicted injustices. In the Gaza Strip, an Islamic quasi-state ruled by the totalitarian regime of Hamas has in the past few weeks arrested or summoned for interrogation at least 16 journalists as part of a campaign aimed at intimidating the local media, as reported by The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh. » Read more

My Journey From Palestine to Hollywood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Emad Burnat - (Opinion) February 22, 2013 - 1:00am My wife and I had seen that look before -- on the faces of our kids, mostly. After all, like all Palestinian children living in the West Bank, ours have grown accustomed to the humiliation of ID checks and interrogations. But we had never seen our youngest son, Gibreel, as disappointed as he was on Tuesday, when American immigration officials threatened to deny us entry to the United States and to the 85th Academy Awards for which we had traveled two days to attend. » Read more

Israel fears prisoner death may spark Palestinian uprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Masked Palestinian gunmen fired in the air on Monday as thousands marched at the West Bank funeral of a prisoner whose death in an Israeli jail has raised fears in Israel of a new uprising. Arafat Jaradat's death on Saturday and a hunger strike by four other Palestinian inmates have raised tension in the occupied territory after repeated clashes between stone-throwers and Israeli soldiers in recent days. » Read more

Iran missile experts set up camp in Gaza to aid Hamas and Islamic Jihad, report says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz February 26, 2013 - 1:00am Representatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have set up a presence in the Gaza Strip, senior Palestinian security forces told the Israeli media outlet Walla! News in a report published Tuesday. These representatives are expert missile builders who moved to the coastal territory to help Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants develop long-range missiles. Israel security and diplomatic sources have confirmed the Iranian presence, but would not release any more information. This is not the first instance of Iranian emissaries in Gaza, Walla! quoted the sources as saying. » Read more

As Lincoln abolished slavery, Israel must abolish occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 26, 2013 - 1:00am I've been hearing people say lately, that if they hear one more negative thing about Israel, it will drive them nuts. I've heard this from people who hate Israel to death, from people who adore Israel all but uncritically, and from the group I belong to, people who love this place and find it maddening in every sense of the term, painful to love, painful to leave, terrifying in prospect, an indelible, at times miraculous shadow sewn to the soul. » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more