February 13th

'No place in Israel for Palestine,' says Naftali Bennett in maiden Knesset speech ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - February 13, 2013 - 1:00am In his first address to the Knesset, Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett on Tuesday rejected any possibility of an agreement that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "There's no place in our small and stunning piece of God's country for another state," he said. "It won't happen. But friends, before any debate about territory, it must be said: The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. Now let's argue." Bennett also referred to his commitment to making the defense burden more equitable. » Read more

Why Can’t Jewish Settlements Remain in a Palestinian State? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Hillel Halkin - (Opinion) February 13, 2013 - 1:00am   “There’s no greater cliché,” I wrote in this column a month ago, “than the one that keeps insisting that the settlements are an obstacle to peace. They may have been that once, when they were few and sparsely populated enough to be removed. Now that they’ve long passed that point, any peace agreement will have to make room for their existence.” » Read more

Struggling Caribbean islands selling citizenship ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by David McFadden - February 12, 2013 - 1:00am Hadi Mezawi has never set foot on the Caribbean island of Dominica, has never seen its rainforests or black-sand beaches. But he's one of its newest citizens. Without leaving his home in the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian man recently received a brand new Dominican passport after sending a roughly $100,000 contribution to the tropical nation half a world away. » Read more

Israel urges swift response to North Korea nuclear test ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jeffrey Heller - February 13, 2013 - 1:00am Israel said on Tuesday that the international community must make clear to North Korea after its latest nuclear test that such activities cannot be tolerated. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the test, North Korea's third in defiance of U.N. resolutions, and a ballistic missile launch in December raised "grave concerns" about proliferation of nuclear and ballistic technologies. » Read more

Demography scare strengthens occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Dmitry Shumsky - (Opinion) February 13, 2013 - 1:00am   The results of last month's election show that without a doubt, most Israelis are not afraid of a "binational" state. » Read more

Poll: 71.5% of young Israeli Arabs oppose national service ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jack Khoury - February 12, 2013 - 1:00am More than 70 percent of Israeli Arabs between 16 and 22 who have heard of the national service project oppose taking part, according to a survey by the Mada al-Carmel Arab Center for Applied Social Research. The poll comes out as efforts increase to get more ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews to do army service, and more Israeli Arabs to do national service. » Read more

Does the Mossad still use the passports of immigrants to Israel? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - February 12, 2013 - 1:00am Despite repeated promises by the Israeli government that the Mossad will cease to use the passports and identities of citizens of foreign countries, it seems that the practice has continued in recent years. Among countries involved have been Australia, Britain, France and Germany. » Read more

Australia to Investigate Suspected Spy’s Death in Israeli Prison ATFP World Press Roundup Article from February 13, 2013 - 1:00am Australia’s foreign minister on Wednesday ordered an investigation into his government’s handling of the 2010 detention and death of an Australian immigrant to Israel who was known as Prisoner X and may have b » Read more

Abbas to issue decrees on elections, unity govt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 13, 2013 - 1:00am President Mahmoud Abbas will issue decrees announcing elections and declaring a new unity government, a senior Fatah official said Tuesday. At a news conference in Ramallah, Azzam al-Ahmad said the two decrees would be issued at the same time. Abbas has already started consultations to form a unity government of technocrats, which will be sworn when the Central Elections Commission finishing updated the voter registry, by the end of March, al-Azzam told reporters. » Read more

Israeli airstrike on Syria shows strategic strength ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Daniel Nisman - (Opinion) February 11, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more