Blair, PM Working to Enable Continued PLO Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am Quartet envoy Tony Blair is involved in intensive talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about putting together a package of economic gestures to keep the Palestinians directly engaged with Israel in low-level talks in Jordan. Blair has met at least five times with Netanyahu over the past two weeks, including twice on Wednesday. » Read more

IDF: Soldier Left in PA Village Refused Locals’ Assistance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yoav Zitun - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am The IDF force that left one of its soldiers in the Palestinian village of Budrus near Ramallah Wednesday night belongs to the 188th Armored Brigade, where former Hamas captive Gilad Shalit served, Ynet has learned. The soldier who lost contact with his fellow soldiers during activity in the village serves as the battalion commander's signal operator and is considered his right-hand man during operational activity. » Read more

Why the US-Israel relationship is unique and critical ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Alllen B. West - (Opinion) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am The history of the Jewish people in the land of Israel stems back more than 3,000 years, unbowed by the sequential rise and fall of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Egyptians, Crusaders, Mamelukes and Turks. In comparison, the history of our own United States dates back 236 years. Although America is a young society, we have shared fundamental principles with the Jewish heritage from the time of our founding. Today, the bonds between America and Israel are stronger than ever, yet they have never been more threatened. » Read more

Shin Bet Chief: Iran Trying to Hit Israeli Targets in Response to Attacks on Nuclear Scientists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am Iran is trying to strike Israeli targets around the world in a bid to stop the assassinations of its nuclear scientists, the head of the Shin Bet security service, Yoram Cohen, said Thursday. » Read more

Abbas to Resume Negotiations For Goodwill Gestures ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 2, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an international suggestion that Israel offer a package of goodwill gestures in exchange for resuming direct peace talks, sources said Thursday. Abbas informed the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers that the economic gestures were not enough for the Palestinians to accept the resumption of negotiations, which have stopped in 2010, the sources said. » Read more

Tunisia as a model ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am In early 1994, I visited Tunisia. I was sent there by then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and then-foreign minister Shimon Peres to pay condolences to Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership in the aftermath of the horrendous Hebron massacre committed by Baruch Goldstein. It was obviously not an easy trip, but an occasion for me to get acquainted for the first time with the PLO leader, and to encounter a new Arab country. It is with the latter that this article will deal. » Read more

Israel: New Subsidies Don’t Apply to Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — New financial incentives designed to lure Israelis to poorer, outlying areas have been revised to exclude West Bank settlements, officials said Thursday. A government announcement about the Cabinet decision earlier this week identified some 550 communities that qualified for the subsidies, including 70 West Bank settlements. Many of them are deep inside the West Bank, the heartland of what the Palestinians hope will be an independent state. In the original announcement, the government said the subsidies are "meant to encourage positive migration to these communities." » Read more

U.S. Jews should put themselves before Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) February 3, 2012 - 1:00am The second-richest Jew in the world is once again in the spotlight. Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miri have together donated $10 million to Winning Our Future, the political action committee supporting Newt Gingrich's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, and the pundits are asking how one man and his wife can be allowed to sway an election with the weight of their money. » Read more

2 Hurt in Israeli Attack on North Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 3, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes fired on sites across the Gaza Strip early Friday, injuring a young man and a child in northern city Beit Lahiya, a Ma'an correspondent and medical officials said. Medical officials said the child suffered serious injuries to the head and hands. A young man was also hurt, and he was taken to hospital, said Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmiya. In southern Gaza, Israeli forces fired on a house east of Rafah and open lands near Bani Suheila east of Khan Younis, Salmiya added. » Read more

A foul smell is rising from Hebron, and it’s here to stay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) February 3, 2012 - 1:00am What did you learn in school today, dear little child of ours? Well, dear parents, I learned a lot, and you should learn, too. This tour was a real eye-opener. Someone should be ashamed of all the lies we've been fed. And we're considered a good school, the Hebrew University high school, better known as Leyada. So, yada yada, just imagine what's happening in other schools, where they don't know anything this country from a hole in the ground. » Read more