February 14th

Doha Agreement valid despite Al-Zahar’s statements – Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali El-saleh - February 13, 2012 - 1:00am

London, Asharq al-Awsat- An official from the Change and Reform bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council has stated the remarks by Hamas’s Mahmud al-Zahar concerning the Doha declaration and designation of President Mahmud Abbas, to form a transitional national accord government reflects the Hamas Movement Political Bureau member’s personal opinion.

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'Split in Hamas is frustrating Palestinian unity'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
February 13, 2012 - 1:00am

Disagreement within the Hamas leadership over a reconciliation deal signed by leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Qatar is stalling the formation of a unity government, senior Fatah member Nabil Sha'ath said Monday. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is waiting to hear confirmation from Hamas that they will stand behind an interim government under his premiership, Sha'ath told Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

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Hezbollah chief's reply to Haaretz
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) February 14, 2012 - 1:00am

Is it possible that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reads Haaretz? Not the Hebrew edition, of course. But does he read the English edition online, or is the print edition smuggled to him in Beirut by one of his agents in Israel? Or is it translated to him by one of his aides?

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Hamas chiefs wrestle with split over Abbas premiership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - February 13, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- The two top leaders of Hamas failed to resolve an internal crisis over a reconciliation pact with the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas at secret talks in Qatar on Sunday, a diplomat in the region said. "(Hamas chief) Khalid Mashaal and (Gaza Premier) Ismail Haniyeh met last night in Qatar to discuss the dispute in Hamas over the Doha agreement," the diplomat told Reuters on Monday.

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The Dilemmas of Jewish Power
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 13, 2012 - 1:00am

LONDON — Peter Beinart’s “The Crisis of Zionism” is an important new book that rejects the manipulation of Jewish victimhood in the name of Israel’s domination of the Palestinians and asserts that the real issue for Jews today is not the challenge of weakness but the demands of power.

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February 13th

NEWS: Gaza Hamas leader Zahar says “no one in the organization was consulted” about the agreement with Pres. Abbas, that it “cannot be implemented,” and is “a mistake” and “a real crisis.” Hamas' de facto PM Haniya visits Tehran and insists relations remain strong. Iranian leaders urge Hamas to continue armed resistance against Israel, and Haniya agrees. Hamas bans a rally in Gaza in favor of the Syrian opposition. Settlers in an “unauthorized outpost” agree with the government they can stay for at least 2 more years despite a Supreme Court order to vacate. Israeli police block a right-wing extremist from marching on holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem. A new poll finds Palestinians are most concerned about jobs and financial security. A UN special rapporteur says Israel is enacting a discriminatory housing policy against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. An Israeli diplomat is wounded in a New Delhi car blast. PM Netanyahu blames Iran and Hezbollah for the attacks on Israeli diplomats. Israel bans 35 Palestinian doctors from taking Israeli certification exams on grounds that Al-Quds University cannot be considered a "foreign university." One Palestinian was killed and 3 injured in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza. Israeli extremists again vandalize Palestinian/Jewish school in occupied East Jerusalem with anti-Arab hate slogans. COMMENTARY: Akiva Eldar says Israelis who maintain Palestinians rejected 'generous peace offers' are playing into Hamas' hands. Yigal Caspi says Abbas has to choose between Hamas and peace. Barry Rubin says Israel is continuously “saved” by its enemies. Leonard Fein says settlement activity in Jerusalem is designed to destroy prospects for a two-state solution. Husam Itani says the Syrian regime will no longer be able to exploit the Palestinian cause. Naseem Tarawnah says for Jordan, Palestine is a domestic issue, but Hassan A. Barari says it is frustrated by the impasse at the Amman talks.

A futile exercise?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) February 9, 2012 - 1:00am

Jordan's recent efforts to hold exploratory pre-negotiation talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis could not be more surprising. Over an extended period of time, King Abdullah II has reiterated his conviction that peace, although favorable, is not yet possible. Time and again, he has blamed Israel for the impasse in the peace process. Therefore, the sudden emergence of Amman's diplomatic activism is striking.

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Jordan re-enters the fray
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Naseem Tarawnah - (Opinion) February 9, 2012 - 1:00am

While King Abdullah has managed to maneuver through the turbulent regional weather of the past decade, hardly a year passes without Jordanians such as myself forced to wonder: what would his father King Hussein have done?

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The End of the Exploitation of the Palestinian Cause
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Husam Itani - (Opinion) February 10, 2012 - 1:00am

By drawing up the facets of a new world, the revolutions are reproducing the social and political powers, as well as their structures, and introducing definitions and concepts differing from the ones which prevailed over reality and our way of thinking throughout the past stages.

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Building Barriers to Two-State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) February 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Here’s a “sign of the times” factoid: In recent commentary on Israel’s settlement policy, the number of Jewish settlers beyond the Green Line has ballooned to 600,000 from 350,000 or so. It is as if there had suddenly been a mass immigration to the West Bank. But there has been no such immigration. What there has been, more ominously, is the inclusion in “beyond the Green Line” of two venerable major neighborhoods that had long since come to be regarded as part of Jerusalem proper: Ramot and French Hill, as well as other neighborhoods, such as Gilo, Pisgat Ze’ev, Ramat Shlomo, Har Homa.

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