News:
Israel withholds [1] tax revenues from the PA [2] for the second month [3] in a row. (JTA/The Media Line/Jerusalem Post)
The PA urges the EU [4] to pressure Israel to release withheld tax revenues. (Times of Israel)
An unnamed international diplomat says Pres. Abbas may halt security cooperation [5] with Israel unless the state of Palestine is established. (Jerusalem Post)
Nikolay Mladenov [6], currently UN Iraq envoy, will replace Robert Serry as UN Mideast envoy. (Ha’aretz)
Three Palestinian security officers [7] are injured in armed clashes with gunmen [8] in Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. (Ma’an/Times of Israel)
Hamas leader Zahhar [9] says there will be no new prisoner swap with Israel [10] until all prisoners from the Shalit deal are released. (Ma’an/Jerusalem Post)
Israeli occupation forces raid a Palestinian high school [11] in the West Bank. (Ma’an)
PM Netanyahu rejects [12] the criticism over his upcoming Congress speech [13] and says his duty is to warn about Iran. (Ha’aretz/Times of Israel)
Israeli officials fail [14] to calm a furor [15] created by Netanyahu’s planned speech [16] to Congress and quell a “Democratic revolt” [17] that has dozens threatening a boycott. (Politico/Times of Israel/JTA/Ha’aretz)
A bipartisan group of American lawmakers [18] demands that the UN enforce all Security Council resolutions. (JTA)
The UN will appoint a panel [19] to investigate the killing of one of its peacekeepers [20] by Israeli troops near the Israel-Lebanon border [21]. (New York Times/Times of Israel/Jerusalem Post)
Hundreds of Palestinians rally in solidarity [22] with Jordan against ISIS. (Ma’an)
Jordanian fighter jets [23] carry out new airstrikes in Syria [24], after King Abdullah vows [25] to wage a “harsh war” [26] against ISIS. (AP/Reuters/The National/Jordan Times)
The UN says ISIS is systematically killing, torturing and raping children [27]and families of minority groups in Iraq. (AP)
ISIS has executed three Chinese militants [28] who tried to flee. (Reuters)
Foreign fighters reportedly keep joining ISIS in large numbers [29] despite the American-led bombing campaign. (Daily Beast)
Fox News website posts [30] the unedited ISIS execution video of a Jordanian pilot. (New York Times)
PM al-Abadi [31] says Baghdad’s decade-old curfew [32] will end on Saturday. (Reuters/AP)
Peter Greste [33], an Al-Jazeera journalist who was detained in Egypt, arrives home in Australia [34]. (Reuters/AP)
One person is killed in an attack on a restaurant [35] north of Cairo. (Reuters)
Al-Qaeda in Yemen [36] says a senior cleric was among four people killed in a recent US drone strike in the country's south. (AP)
American officials have praised the Saudi government for cracking down on terrorism, but suspicions of a past, tacit alliance with Al Qaeda [37] have resurfaced again. (New York Times)
Houthi leaders and former Pres. Saleh [38]reportedly strike a power-sharing deal in Yemen. (Asharq al-Awsat)
Sec. Kerry will meet FM Zarif [39] in Germany on Saturday. (AP)
Pres. Rouhani accuses [40] the West of distorting Iran’s nuclear policies. (New York Times)
Commentary:
Ha’aretz [41] says Israel is obliged to investigate military conduct during last summer’s Gaza war. (Ha’aretz)
Gideon Levy [42] says getting the head of the UN panel fired won't change the outcome of its probe into possible war crimes committed in Gaza. (Ha’aretz)
Roger Cohen [43] says Israel’s future is on the line in the March 17 elections. (New York Times)
Barnett Rubin [44] says Netanyahu and Speaker Boehner are wrong to think they know what Iran wants. (Washington Post)
The Jordan Times [45] says Jordanians are once again brought together as one by a tragic act of savagery. (Jordan Times)
David Kenner [46] profiles the men who support ISIS in Jordan. (Foreign Policy)
Benjamin Fishman [47] says Jordan can play a leading role in coordinating a more aggressive strategy to counter ISIS’ messages and appeal. (Al Arabiya)
Michael Young [48]says ISIS has a reached a decisive turning point with the murder of the Jordanian pilot. (Daily Star)
Joyce Karam [49] says, by murdering the Jordanian pilot, ISIS has effectively hastened its own demise. (Al Arabiya)
Alan Philps [50] says the horrific burning of a Jordanian pilot by ISIS is testing the cohesion of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (The National)
Matthew Levitt [51] looks at the search for the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh. (The Hill)
The New York Times [52] asks if anyone will be held accountable for abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. (New York Times)
Michael Young [53] says the US should be careful not to emulate traditional British policies in the Middle East. (The National)
Jamal Khashoggi [54] says the Middle East needs Saudi-American-Turkish cooperation. (Al Arabiya)
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