February 21st, 2013

DFLP chief hurt in Damascus explosion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 21, 2013 - 1:00am The head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was lightly injured on Thursday in a car bomb that shook central Damascus and killed several people, a DFLP official said. Nayef Hawatmeh, 74, suffered minor injuries but did not require hospital treatment when the bomb exploded near DFLP offices in Syria, DFLP central committee member Khalid Atta told Ma'an. Atta said the bomb had not targeted the DFLP office, which was damaged in the attack. » Read more

Israeli officials fear impending U.S. budget cuts to trim military aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 21, 2013 - 1:00am Israeli officials are concerned that the United States' budget cuts due to begin on March 1 will reduce its military aid to the Jewish country, economic Globes reported on Wednesday. The report said the planned budget cuts will approximately chop 250 million U.S. dollars from the aid and will halt the U.S. assistance to Israel's missile programs. » Read more

Israel's Oscar bid discomforts Netanyahu government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - February 21, 2013 - 1:00am An Oscar-nominated Israeli documentary has brought little joy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the focus of the film's criticism of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians. Featuring searingly confessional interviews with six former chiefs of the shadowy security service Shin Bet, "The Gatekeepers" portrays the 46-year-old West Bank occupation and Jewish ultranationalism as threats to Israel's survival. » Read more

Israel gives OK for oil drilling in Golan Heights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press February 21, 2013 - 1:00am Israel says it has given the go-ahead for a gas exploration project in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau it captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Israel's Energy and Water Resources Ministry said Wednesday it has issued a permit for the American-Israeli company Genie Energy to drill for oil on the plateau. The company is headed by Effi Eitam, a hawkish former Israeli Cabinet minister. » Read more

Gaza man self-immolates in government office ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 21, 2013 - 1:00am A man set himself on fire at a government office in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, wounding himself and four others, witnesses and medics said. The man was seriously wounded after he self-immolated at an office for the Ministry of Social Affairs in Jabalia, witnesses told Ma'an. Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said four others were wounded in the incident, including two female staff members and an elderly man. The wounded were taken to Kamal Udwan Hospital and Shifa Hospital, al-Qidra said.

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