February 28th

Hamas to address Arafat foundation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 28, 2013 - 1:00am Hamas is attending the board meeting of the Yasser Arafat Foundation for the first time at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Thursday. Hamas deputy politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouq will address the foundation's board of trustees for its sixth meeting, attended by league secretary-general Nabil al-Arabi, the head of the foundation Nasser al-Qidra told Ma'an. Abu Marzouq will brief the foundation about reconciliation, al-Qidra said. » Read more

Netanyahu urges "military sanctions" threat against Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters February 28, 2013 - 1:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the international community on Wednesday to threaten Iran with "military sanctions", saying economic measures are failing to curb Tehran's nuclear drive. "I believe it is incumbent upon the international community to intensify the sanctions and clarify that if Iran continues its programme, there will be military sanctions," Netanyahu said. He did not, in a statement released by the prime minister's office, specify what military measures he envisages. » Read more

Will Bibi and Obama make history? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eitan Haber - February 28, 2013 - 1:00am   During his next term as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu will have to do what he avoided doing in his previous terms: Draw boundaries and begin establishing two states for two peoples. This painful process, certainly from Netanyahu's perspective, will commence soon. » Read more

Abbas: E1 building is 'red line' for Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 27, 2013 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his opposition on Wednesday to Israel’s plan to build in the area known as E1 between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. Abbas said that the Palestinians considered the plan a “red line” that should not be crossed. Abbas’s remarks came during a meeting he held in his office in Ramallah with Nigel Kim Darroch, the National Security Adviser for the British government. » Read more

Zero Dark Zero ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am A minister in the outgoing Israeli government put it to me bluntly during a recent visit to Israel: “For the first time in these elections, the Palestinians did not come into it.” Israelis for the most part are comfortable enough to ignore their neighbors. If they are on the Titanic they prefer not to think about it. » Read more

Two Palestinians end hunger strike that fuelled protests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - February 27, 2013 - 1:00am Two Palestinian prisoners whose hunger strike stoked clashes in the West Bank have ended their protest after Israel agreed to release them in May, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday. The men were among four prisoners held without formal charge in an Israeli jail who have refused to eat for between three and six months. » Read more

A Third Intifada? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Prospect by Matthew Duss - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am Over the past days, growing unrest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in response to the death of a Palestinian in Israeli custody has threatened the relative calm that has prevailed recently, a result of the considerable amount of cooperation between the Palestinian security services and the Israeli army. » Read more

Israel Should Reconsider Administrative Law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Shlomi Eldar - (Opinion) February 27, 2013 - 1:00am It was only after the death of Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradath, the violent demonstrations that erupted in its wake, and the fear that this could be the spark that ignites a Third Intifada that the Israeli media decided to expand its coverage of hunger strikes under way in Israeli prisons. » Read more

Eight hundred thousand ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am Eight hundred thousand. That is the number of Palestinian residents arrested and imprisoned in Israeli jails since the beginning of the occupation, according to The New York Times. Almost a million people. That estimate could be a bit high; some say it's “only” 600,000. After all, there is no exact number.  But the general picture is clear and chilling: When people say that Israel imprisons the Palestinian people, this is what they mean: the physical, concrete, overcrowded and torturous imprisonment of people in jail. » Read more

Abbas needs an heir apparent ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Jonathan Schanzer - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am President Obama's visit to the Middle East next month is widely billed as an earnest attempt to double down on diplomacy and revive the moribund peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against the president. » Read more