February 5th, 2013

Report: Bulgaria expected to blame Hezbollah, Iran for Burgas bombing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 5, 2013 - 1:00am


The Bulgarian government is expected to blame Hezbollah and its ally Iran for the terrorist attack last July that killed five Israeli tourists. The investigative report on the bombing in the Black Sea resort city of Burgas is likely to be released on Tuesday. Citing U.S. and Middle East officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Bulgaria is expected to announce that Hezbollah carried out the attack and that Tehran was involved in the operation.


Bright spot in Palestinian economy: more women opening businesses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am


It's a rainy day in the West Bank village of Ajoul, and when the kids get out of school a few dart into Myassar Issa's mini-market to buy sweets before running home up the muddy hills leading out of the valley.


Mashaal says his reported 'two-state' comments are false
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am


Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal told Jordanian state TV on Saturday that media reports suggesting he accepts the two-state solution are false. Last week, the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq reported that Mashaal asked Jordan's King Abdullah to inform US President Barack Obama that Hamas will accept two states for Israel and Palestine. But Mashaal tried to dampen the comments in a TV interview, saying the movement would not "all of a sudden accept a Palestinian state with interim borders."


Saudi Arabia opens housing project in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am


A Saudi delegation on Monday opened the biggest housing project in the Gaza Strip and pledged further funding to support Palestinian refugees. Saudi Arabia financed the 752-home neighborhood in Rafah for families whose homes were destroyed by the Israeli army. It features four schools, a market, a mosque, a clinic and a community center.


Israeli army demolishes Palestinian protest camp out of its jurisdiction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am


The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) demolished a Palestinian protest camp over the weekend although it was out of its jurisdiction, the Ha'aretz daily reported Monday. Israeli security forces on Saturday evacuated the camp in the Burin village near Nablus in the West Bank, where 150 Palestinian activists protested against Israel's expansion of its settlements. Clashes erupted following the eviction between the Palestinian activists, security forces and settlers living nearby.


Israeli airstrike complicates Syria's crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am


Israel's recent airstrike on a Syrian military research center has complicated the Syria crisis that has been protracted for nearly two years with no signs of an end in sight. On Monday, Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij said Israel launched the Wednesday airstrike in cooperation with armed Syrian rebels fighting government forces on the ground.


In Israel raid, Syria options severely constrained
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Zeina Karam - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am


Syria's defense minister signaled Monday that his country won't hit back at Israel over an airstrike inside Syria, claiming the Israeli raid was actually in retaliation for his regime's offensive against rebels he called "tools" of the Jewish state.


Herzog, Fayyad meet, warn of PA collapse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am


Labor MK Isaac Herzog met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah on Monday and warned that the collapse of the PA would be "catastrophic" for Israel. Fayyad told Herzog that Israel's continual withholding of tax revenues to the PA and the failure of donor states to transfer promised aid to the West Bank had the Palestinian Authority  on the brink of collapse.


Dissenters on Panel Blast Study Claiming Palestinian Textbooks Don't Vilify Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am


Controversy quickly engulfed a new study that said Palestinian textbooks do not incite hatred for Jews with Israel blasting the report — with some members of the report’s advisory panel claiming they were blindsided by its release.


February 4th

NEWS: A new study undermines long-standing narratives that Palestinian textbooks teach hatred, in contrast to Israeli ones. The study says both sides have textbooks that privilege their own narratives but few instances of demonization. Israelis are reportedly unhappy with the study. PM Fayyad welcomes the study and calls on Israel to stop undermining its findings. Israel arrests 20 Hamas members in the occupied West Bank. Secretary of State Kerry is expected to visit Israel early in his tenure. A senior PLO official dismisses PM Netanyahu's call for a return to negotiations without preconditions. Palestinian despair appears to be growing in the aftermath of the recent Israeli election. Two more Palestinian refugees are killed by government forces in Syria. The OIC recommends the creation of a "financial safety net" for the PA. The LA Times profiles a Palestinian farmer now nominated for an Oscar. Jerusalem police begin a crackdown on Palestinian residents. The Media Line looks at nightlife in Ramallah. East Asian leaders are meeting with Fayyad in Japan to discuss aid to the PA. Egyptian authorities accuse Israel of fomenting a campaign of sabotage by the so-called "Black Bloc." COMMENTARY: Roger Cohen says Israelis are in a state of denial, and Palestinians are becoming invisible to them. Dmitry Shumsky says that in rejecting the idea of forming partnerships with Arab MKs, Lapid is rejecting Jewish values. Dov Weisglass warns that Israel is greatly imperiled by the lack of peace with the Palestinians. Rami Khouri says Defense Secretary nominee Hagel is paying for years of bad US foreign policy. Ben Caspit says Israel "changed the rules of the game" by attacking a target in Syria. Hazem Balousha says NGOs face difficulties operating in Gaza, not least with Hamas authorities. Nachman Shai says Israel was right to reject the "grotesquely biased" UNHRC report into its settlement activities.

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