Iran missile experts set up camp in Gaza to aid Hamas and Islamic Jihad, report says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz February 26, 2013 - 1:00am Representatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have set up a presence in the Gaza Strip, senior Palestinian security forces told the Israeli media outlet Walla! News in a report published Tuesday. These representatives are expert missile builders who moved to the coastal territory to help Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants develop long-range missiles. Israel security and diplomatic sources have confirmed the Iranian presence, but would not release any more information. This is not the first instance of Iranian emissaries in Gaza, Walla! quoted the sources as saying. » Read more

As Lincoln abolished slavery, Israel must abolish occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 26, 2013 - 1:00am I've been hearing people say lately, that if they hear one more negative thing about Israel, it will drive them nuts. I've heard this from people who hate Israel to death, from people who adore Israel all but uncritically, and from the group I belong to, people who love this place and find it maddening in every sense of the term, painful to love, painful to leave, terrifying in prospect, an indelible, at times miraculous shadow sewn to the soul. » Read more

Israel closes Gaza border crossings after rocket strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 26, 2013 - 1:00am Israeli authorities closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday, after a rocket was fired from the coastal territory, a Palestinian border official said. Nazmi Muhanna, head of the crossings committee in Gaza, told Ma'an that Israel closed the borders as a security measure after a rocket landed near Ashkelon. Humanitarian cases will still be processed, he added.

Rocket explodes in Israel, first attack from Gaza since truce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - February 26, 2013 - 1:00am A rocket exploded in southern Israel on Tuesday in the first such attack by militants in the Hamas Islamist ruled Gaza Strip since a truce ended a week of cross-border fighting in November, Israeli police said. The rocket caused some damage to a road near the city of Ashkelon but no injuries, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "An explosion was heard in the Ashkelon region experts searched areas experts and found one rocket that struck, damaging a road but causing no injuries," Rosenfeld said. » Read more

Dozens injured in second day of West Bank protests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 26, 2013 - 1:00am Hundreds of people took to the streets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday in the second day of protests following the death of a Palestinian prisoner who PA officials say died as a result of torture. The PA Minister of Detainee Affairs said Sunday that results from an autopsy of Arafat Jadarat's body indicate that he died after being tortured in Israeli custody, and not from a cardiac arrest, as Israel's Prison Authority had claimed. » Read more

2 Palestinian Teenagers Hurt Amid Israeli Gunfire at Protest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Palestinian teenagers were seriously injured Monday when Israeli soldiers used live ammunition to disperse a demonstration at a holy site outside Bethlehem, as clashes in the West Bank continued for a fifth day an » Read more

Peaceful protest to keep pressure on Israeli policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) February 26, 2013 - 1:00am Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old Palestinian petrol-station attendant and father of two young children, was arrested on February 18 after a protest at an Israeli settlement near Hebron. After he died in jail on Saturday, Israeli officials said with bland effrontery that a heart attack was the probable cause of death. » Read more