Fatah irate at reported indirect Israel-Hamas talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 21, 2013 - 1:00am Fatah officials expressed outrage on Wednesday over reports that Hamas and Israel are conducting indirect talks in Cairo. According to the reports, Israeli and Hamas officials who arrived in Cairo recently have been holding indirect talks about consolidating the current cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which has been in effect since Operation Pillar of Defense ended in November. » Read more

IDF trains for potential clashes with Hezbollah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Lappin - February 20, 2013 - 1:00am Reconnaissance soldiers from the the IDF’s Engineering Corps recently completed an intensive series of subterranean warfare drills to prepare them for a potential clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has placed its command and control centers in underground bunkers, and dug a maze of tunnels where commanders, fighters and weaponry can be placed out of sight of the Israel Air Force. » Read more

Hamas says not to accept any deal banning arms smuggling ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 20, 2013 - 1:00am Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip cannot accept any agreement that bans arms smuggling to the coastal enclave, a Hamas official said Wednesday. "Preventing people under occupation from getting the mechanism of fighting the occupier is meaningless," said Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official. » Read more

To Block Gaza Tunnels, Egypt Lets Sewage Flow ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram, David Kirkpatrick - February 20, 2013 - 1:00am The Egyptian military is resorting to a pungent new tactic to shut down the smuggling tunnels connecting Sinai and Gaza: flooding them with sewage. Along with the stink, the approach is raising new questions about relations between Egypt’s new Islamist leaders and their ideological allies in Hamas who control the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Morsi playing Israel’s, US’ game on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) February 20, 2013 - 1:00am It is becoming increasingly clear that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is colluding with Israel and the US to shut down the smuggling tunnels that link Gaza to Egypt and account for more than 30 per cent of the goods consumed in the besieged and blockaded coastal strip. » Read more

Commitment to a just cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Joseph A. Kechichian - (Opinion) February 20, 2013 - 1:00am President Barack Obama will no doubt get a chance to discuss with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, several sensitive issues during his upcoming visit to Israel. Logically, the two men would reconsider the use of fake western passports by Mossad agents — as the most recent revelations involving Ben Zygier, an Australian citizen involved in the Dubai operation that killed the Hamas agent, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in January 2010, confirmed. » Read more

A case for Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 20, 2013 - 1:00am Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to three key states in the Middle East — Israel, Palestine and Jordan — for the first time as president of the US has been described by his Secretary of State, John Kerry, merely as a bid to “listen” to the three leaders. » Read more

Jewish Gays Should Fight Pinkwashing But Not With Censorship ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jay Michaelson - (Opinion) February 21, 2013 - 1:00am Is censoring disagreeable speech ever a good idea? A porn star and an aging Jewish icon seem to think so. Both men, Michael Lucas and Abraham Foxman, have recently opined that speech in favor of “BDS” — boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel — is hate speech and should be banned from Jewish, LGBT, and academic community institutions. » Read more

Trial Offers Rare Look at Work of Hezbollah in Europe ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nicholas Kulish - February 20, 2013 - 1:00am LIMASSOL, Cyprus — In a little-noticed trial in a small courtroom here on Wednesday, a 24-year-old man provided a rare look inside a covert global war between Israel and Iran, admitting that he is an operative of the militant group Hezbo » Read more

Doing business – tangible peacemaking ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Paul Hirschson - (Opinion) February 20, 2013 - 1:00am The anti-Israel crowd is all gung-ho on assaulting Israel’s legitimacy. They propose advancing this through imposing sanctions, calling for divestment and implementing boycotts. Indicting Israelis for all sorts of supposed wrongs would be the ultimate thrill, turning the individual Israeli into all of Israel, facilitating the next round of assault. Isolation achieved, the undermining of the very legitimacy of Israel, they argue, is feasible. » Read more