Israeli soccer club's fans object to adding Muslim players ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ori Lewis - January 27, 2013 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Jan 27 (Reuters) - An Israeli soccer club notorious for the anti-Arab chants of its fans plans to recruit two Muslim players, fuelling protests in the stands that a senior cabinet minister condemned as shocking and racist. At a Premier League game on Saturday, Beitar Jerusalem supporters held a banner reading "Beitar will always remain pure". Other signs hoisted by fans also protested against its owner's intention to have two Muslim Chechen players join. » Read more

Group says Israel abused crowd-control methods ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press January 28, 2013 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — An Israeli human rights group on Monday accused the military of "extensively and systematically" violating its own rules of engagement in suppressing Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank, contributing to dozens of deaths in recent years. According to a report by the B'Tselem group, a total of 56 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with the Israeli military since 2005. The vast majority — 46 of them — were killed when live ammunition was fired at stone throwers. » Read more

Abbas asks Israel to let in Palestinians fleeing Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - January 25, 2013 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tried to get Israel to let 150,000 Palestinians fleeing war in Syria resettle in the West Bank, but dropped the request after the Jewish state demanded they first give up their right of return, he said. Syria is home to around 500,000 Palestinian refugees, some of whom have been fleeing the country because of civil war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and fighters seeking to topple his government. » Read more

Refugees again, Palestinians flee Syria's war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Barbara Surk - January 28, 2013 - 1:00am EIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon — When Syrian warplanes bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus last December, Umm Sami rounded up her three sons, shut the windows and locked the doors so they could neither hear nor heed the call to arms by rebels and pro-government gunmen fighting in the streets. » Read more

Israel Girds for Attacks as Syria Falls Apart ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Anne Barnard, Jodi Rudoren - January 28, 2013 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — At least one Iron Dome missile defense battery was deployed Sunday in northern Israel amid reports of intense security consultations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Syria and the possibility of chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamist rebels or being transferred to the militant group Hezbollah. » Read more