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NEWS: The situation on the ground in the occupied territories calms somewhat, as experts say neither the PA nor Hamas are looking for an escalation. (Ha'aretz/Ma'an) Some experts believe both sides will continue to use contained, low-level disturbances to keep up the pressure until Pres. Obama's visit in March. (AFP) Israel hints that, in order to enhance credibility, it may include foreign observers in its own probe into whether a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody died due to torture. (Jerusalem Post) The Palestinian teachers union says it is calling off a planned general strike protesting non-payment of salaries. (Ma'an) The PA says it will pay the remaining half of January salaries today. (PNN) Pres. Abbas says any peace agreement must involve the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. (Ma'an) Hamas insists no rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel. (Xinhua) An Egyptian court rules that the government must destroy all smuggling tunnels to and from Gaza. (Reuters) Another Egyptian court throws out a case against the peace treaty with Israel, but the FJP says it's still wants to amend the agreement to allow more Egyptian forces in Sinai. (Al-Masry Al-Youm) Israeli officials say unexploded tank shells from Syria land in the occupied Golan Heights. (AP) Israel returns six wounded Syrians to their country after medical treatment. (AP) Palestinians welcome an EU report recommending sanctions against Israeli settlements. (Xinhua/The Media Line) Pres. Peres says he will lead an effort to urge Obama to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. (AP) A Jewish Israeli mob reportedly attacks a Palestinian woman at a rail station in Jerusalem. (Ma'an) A Palestinian American who lives in the occupied West Bank has been repeatedly denied entry into Israel despite having a valid visa. (Ha'aretz)
COMMENTARY: Yaakov Lappin says Israeli officials have concluded that ensuring Palestinian security forces are paid on time is essential for maintaining calm in the occupied West Bank. (Jerusalem Post) Dalia Hatuqa argues that, in the long run, there is an untenable tension between ongoing occupation and PA security coordination with Israel. (The National) Amira Hass asks why a third intifada hasn't broken out yet. (Ha'aretz) Paul Pilar says if there is a third intifada, the United States should take advantage of it. (The National Interest) Ben Caspit says it's not Abbas who is a weak leader, it's Israel's leadership that is weak. (Al Monitor) Carlo Strenger says Israel isn't being delegitimized, the settlements are. (Ha'aretz) Ori Nir says textbooks don't shape worldviews, lived reality of occupation does. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Zvi Bar'el looks at the role of Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen in the prisoner issue and Israeli security generally. (Ha'aretz) Asmaa al-Ghoul says among Palestinians demands are growing for third parties other than Hamas and Fatah to contest future elections. (Al Monitor) Shai Feldman looks at the tough task facing Obama, Sec. Kerry or anyone else who wants to launch a new Middle East peace effort. (The National Interest)
[5]
A senior officer in the Israel Defense Forces Central Command said Tuesday that the past week’s violence in the West Bank “hasn’t ended yet, although its intensity dropped [Tuesday] significantly compared to recent days.”
A third intifada is not likely to erupt in the occupied West Bank, neither a military confrontation is expected between Israel and the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, say Palestinian analysts.
Two local analysts highlighted Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is not interested in a third intifada, because the results would be disastrous.
Similarly, Hamas is not interested in ending the ceasefire and resuming military confrontation with Israel forces.
Clashes that flared in the West Bank after a Palestinian died in Israeli custody are unlikely to turn into a third intifada, but each side will use them when US President Barack Obama visits, commentators say.
After several days of unrest following the death of Arafat Jaradat at the weekend, a measure of calm returned to the West Bank on Tuesday, despite an early-morning rocket from Gaza.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said Wednesday that Israel is exploring the possibility of involving international agents in the investigation into the death of Palestinian prisoner [10] Arafat Jaradat in Megiddo Prison last week.
Many West Bank teachers disagreed with the teachers’ union decision to cancel a general strike announced Saturday in protest against the government’s failure to pay salaries regularly.
The teachers’ union speaker Ahmad Suhweil on Tuesday addressed about 1,000 teachers who picketed in front of office of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah telling them the union decided to end general strike after agreement has been reached with the government.
Several teachers opposed the decision, saying they won’t abide by it.
The Palestinian Ministry of Finance announced that the remaining half of the public employees' January salary will be paid on Wednesday, 27 February.
Spokesman of Finance Ministry Rami Mehdawi told Palestinian official news WAFA that 'some banks will disburse the remaining half of the salaries on Tuesday night through ATMs.’
President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that the issue of prisoners and releasing them is the central issue of the Palestinian people and its leadership.
He insisted there would not be peace with Israel side without releasing prisoners.
Abbas’ remarks came at a reception with prisoners advocates at his residence in Ramallah, where he affirmed that the leadership was doing its best to save the lives of hunger strikers and end their suffering.
He said talks were ongoing with all factions to resolve the issue.
Gaza's Hamas rulers denied Tuesday what they called "Israel [15]i claims" that a rocket was fired into southern Israel.
"No known party has claimed responsibility for firing the rocket and we are still following up on the matter," said Ihab Al- Ghussein, head of Hamas government media office.
A Cairo court ruled on Tuesday that the government must destroy all tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, removing a route for smuggled weapons and other goods.
President Mohammed Morsi’s national security adviser Essam Haddad has said Egypt will not tolerate the two-way flow of smuggled arms through the tunnels that is destabilizing the Sinai Peninsula.
The Cairo Administrative Court ruled Tuesday that it has no jurisdiction over a lawsuit demanding the cancellation of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The court said the issue involves state sovereignty, which is under the president’s purview.
The plaintiffs said Egypt should void its peace deal over ongoing destruction of Islamic holy sites and the country’s refusal to stop settlement building in Palestinian territories, which they said is a violation of United Nations conventions and treaty itself.
A mortar shell fired from Syria [19] exploded in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday, falling in an open area and causing no casualties, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli military says six wounded Syrians have been returned to their country after receiving medical treatment in Israel.
The Palestinian National Authority welcomed Wednesday an European Union [22] (EU) report which recommended sanctions on Jewish settlement constructions in Israel [15] ' s occupied land.
A non-binding report by the European Union’s (EU) consuls general in East Jerusalem and Ramallah harshly criticizes Israel for undermining the possibility of an independent Palestinian state by expanding what it calls “settlement” construction. It calls Israel’s policy “systematic, deliberate and provocative” and calls for stepped-up European sanctions.
Israel's Nobel-laureate president, backed by thousands of followers, is leading an effort to press President Barack Obama [25] during his upcoming visit to free convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, ending one of the most painful episodes between the two allies.
Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for passing classified material to Israel.
A group of Jewish women attacked a Palestinian woman Monday while she was waiting at a light rail station in Jerusalem and beat her severely, Israeli media reported.
Hebrew-language Israeli daily Maariv reported that an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman passed by the Palestinian woman and punched her all of a sudden. Other women, friends of the assailant, then joined her and together they started to beat the woman forcefully.
The victim tried to defend herself, but the number of attackers was big enough to subdue he and continue to beat her.
An American citizen who teaches English in Ramallah was denied entry to Israel at Ben-Gurion International Airport Tuesday, even though she has a valid one-year multiple-entrance visa.
The Shin Bet security service said in a statement she was turned her away for refusing to cooperate under questioning on security issues.
There are several factors behind the current wave of violence in the West Bank. Some of them stem from a return to terrorism and violent disorder by prisoners who were released under the Gilad Schalit exchange deal, and who have since been rearrested for violating the terms of their release.
As the IDF makes arrests, Palestinian elements attempt to delegitimize these security efforts, and use them as a pretext to launch disturbances.
As the IDF disperses the rioters, these efforts too become pretexts for more violence.
Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen didn't appear in the documentary "The Gatekeepers," a fact that gives us hope for next year's Oscars. Until he retires and is discovered by a filmmaker, he continues to serve as a gatekeeper. He's responsible for making sure that the decision-makers know about a danger in time, and he's responsible for preventing it.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/30592
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/30592
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/30592
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/senior-idf-officer-violence-in-west-bank-waning-but-far-from-over.premium-1.505998
[7] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=569410
[8] http://www.france24.com/en/20130227-palestinian-clashes-set-persist-until-obama-visit-0
[9] http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=304730
[10] http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=304605
[11] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=569458
[12] http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/4055-finance-ministry-to-pay-remainder-of-public-employees-january-salaries-on-wednesday
[13] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=569580
[14] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/26/c_132194175.htm
[15] http://search.news.cn/language/search.jspa?id=en&t1=0&t=1&ss=&btn=0&ct=Yemen&n1=Israel&np=content
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/egypt-gaza-tunnels-must-be-destroyed-cairo-court-rules-1.506054
[17] http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/court-throws-out-case-calling-end-israel-egypt-treaty
[18] http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/israel-mortar-shell-from-syria-lands-in-golan/nWbZR/
[19] http://www.statesman.com/s/news/syrian-uprising/
[20] http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/israel-returns-6-wounded-to-syria-after-treatment/nWbQc/
[21] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/27/c_132196870.htm
[22] http://search.news.cn/language/search.jspa?id=en&t=1&t1=0&ss=&ct=&n1=EU
[23] http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=37232
[24] http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/crime/israelis-plan-to-press-obama-to-free-convicted-spy/nWZyQ/
[25] http://www.statesman.com/s/news/politics/barack-obama/
[26] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=569412
[27] http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-denies-entry-to-american-teacher-working-in-west-bank.premium-1.506018
[28] http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=304666
[29] http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/the-spectre-of-a-third-intifada-traps-the-pa-in-israels-chains#full
[30] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/why-hasn-t-a-third-intifada-broken-out-yet-among-the-palestinians.premium-1.506112
[31] http://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/new-intifada-imminent-8153
[32] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/abu-mazen-the-strongest-weak-leader-imaginable.html
[33] http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/israel-isn-t-being-delegitimized-the-settlements-are.premium-1.506180
[34] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/26/textbooks-don-t-matter-that-much.html
[35] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-s-seventh-gatekeeper.premium-1.505973
[36] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/third-party-palestine.html
[37] http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-tough-task-middle-east-peace-8158
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