ATFP Senior Fellow delivers Fares Lecture Series Address at Tufts
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish delivered a Fares Lecture Series address at Tufts University on February 10, 2010.


Today's news is dominated by controversy surrounding the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh: Mossad comes under fire in Israel for its tactics and competency; Dubai says it's 99% sure Israel is responsible; European states demand explanations over fake passports; accusations grow that other Hamas officials were involved; Brian Whitaker profiles the victim and Robert Fisk questions Britain's role. Israel tries to mobilize ordinary citizens for public diplomacy. Erwin Chemerinsky says shouting down is not free speech. Bill Fletcher Jr. says the world should support Palestinian nonviolent protests. The PA Economy Minister urges a boycott of settlement goods in Italy. Palestinian FM al-Maliki hints at indirect negotiations with Israel. Larry Derfner says Israeli youths are being trained to be bullies. The Red Cross condemns the occupation. Ali Ibrahim says the PA is not more corrupt than Hamas but allows more public criticism, and Daoud Kuttab says that Fatah should follow the anti-corruption example of PM Fayyad.

Fatehgate - between fact and fiction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Corruption has always been the Achilles heel of the Palestinian leadership. At the height of PLO’s popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, the relationship between revolution and money was the movement’s major weakness. Well-respected Palestinian artist Kamal Boulatta best reflected this dichotomy in his painting mixing the words thawra (revolution) and tharwa (riches).

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Corruption…The Conflict between Ramallah and Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali Ibrahim - (Opinion) February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

The decision taken by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend his chief of staff as a result of the case created by the dissident Palestinian intelligence officer who revealed violations and corruption committed by officials in the Palestinian Authority on Israeli television was most certainly the right decision. However we must take into account that a suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty and it is the task of the commission of inquiry to investigate this and this commission is scheduled to submit its report within three weeks.

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Palestinian Dubai Murder Suspects are Hamas Members – Palestinian Security Official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mohamed Al-Du'ma, Kifah Zaboun - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority police spokesman General Adnan al-Dameeri played down Hamas's accusations that the two Palestinians who have been arrested in Dubai on suspicion of participating in the assassination of senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh were working for the Palestinian Authority security forces.

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Britain's explanation is riddled with inconsistencies. It's time to come clean
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Collusion. That's what it's all about. The United Arab Emirates suspect – only suspect, mark you – that Europe's "security collaboration" with Israel has crossed a line into illegality, where British passports (and those of other other EU nations) can now be used to send Israeli agents into the Gulf to kill Israel's enemies. At 3.49pm yesterday afternoon (Beirut time, 1.49pm in London), my Lebanese phone rang. It was a source – impeccable, I know him, he spoke with the authority I know he has in Abu Dhabi – to say that "the British passports are real.

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Hamas official accused of helping Mossad hit squad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black, Kate Connolly, Paul Lewis - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

A key security operative of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas was under arrest in Syria tonight on suspicion of having helped an alleged Israeli hit squad identify Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before he was assassinated in Dubai, the Guardian has learned. Palestinian sources in the Gulf confirmed Nahro Massoud, a Hamas security official, was in detention and under interrogation in Damascus in connection with the 19 January killing, which is now widely assumed to have been mounted by Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service.

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Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's murky world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Brian Whitaker - (Opinion) February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

Murder is a serious matter but amid tales of forged passports, not to mention the suspects' use of wigs and glasses for disguise, there's more than a touch of the Hollywood thriller about Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killing. Already fingers are being pointed at the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad – and not without reason. Israel had an obvious motive (Mabhouh was a senior Hamas figure wanted by Israel but living out of reach in Syria) as well as the form (numerous assassinations and other exploits in various countries, such as the arrest of Mordechai Vanunu).

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ICRC condemns Israeli occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli restrictions make normal life "close to impossible" for many West Bank Palestinians, the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. Some Palestinians are often unable to reach a hospital or visit relatives, while 50% live in poverty, it said. They are also frequently harassed by Jewish settlers, the organisation said. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the ICRC had ignored statements by the Palestinian Authority that West Bank residents lived a "normal life".

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Training our boys to be bullies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

The main thing that drew me to Israel was that here, you put your life on the line in a great political struggle, unlike in the West, where political struggle is something you talk about from a safe distance.

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