February 29th, 2012

PA: No Decision on Security Coordination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The the Palestinian Authority's minister of civil affairs, denied on Tuesday that the government had decided to end security coordination with Israel. Hussein al-Sheikh told the PA's Voice of Palestine radio that all options were under consideration, but decisions will wait until the president returns from abroad. The minister was responding to reports that the PA is planning to reconsider its security, political and economic agreements with Israel in the coming days, as a PLO official said Sunday.

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The Decade-Long Demise of Palestinian Armed Resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - (Analysis) February 28, 2012 - 1:00am

But polls show that Palestinians can quickly change their minds Despite the eruption of bloody clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem over the weekend, support by Palestinians for armed struggle against Israel has seen an unprecedented demise over the past decade, a new poll shows.

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Palestinian Leadership Lobbies for UN Resolution Against Jewish Settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership has started lobbying for a United Nations resolution against the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a Palestinian official said Wednesday. "The regional and international efforts aim at mustering as much as possible support to the draft resolution," said Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian peace negotiator.

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Then came Cast Lead in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yitzhak Laor - (Opinion) February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Had the Palestinians produced a film in which Israeli doctors threw a wounded Palestinian out of hospital, after which policemen dumped the injured man out of a patrol car to die in the dark, the prime minister would have denounced his subjects for inciting against their masters.

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Israel Criticizes Palestinians’ Invitation to Security Council to Visit Occupied Territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 28, 2012 - 1:00am

UNITED NATIONS — The Palestinians have invited the U.N. Security Council to visit the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, a move Israel says is an attempt to try to divert attention from getting back to direct negotiations to settle the decades-old conflict. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, told reporters after a council meeting on the Mideast on Tuesday that he sent a letter inviting the 15 council members “to see with their own eyes the reality of the Palestinian people in the occupied territory” including Israel’s “illegal” settlement building.

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PA: Israel Seizing Broadcast Frequencies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) – The Palestinian Authority is describing Wednesday's raids on TV networks in the occupied West Bank as the possible beginning of a "frequency war" over limited broadcasting space. The confiscation of equipment from Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV deprives Palestinians of their right to have frequencies for building modern wireless communication networks, the PA says. Suleiman Zuheiri, undersecretary of the Palestinian ministry of telecommunication in Ramallah, said Israel had breached Article 36 of the Oslo agreement, which requires consultations with the PA.

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The hallucinations of the Israeli government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Now that the medical efficacy of marijuana is proven fact, the time has come to examine the potency of the hallucinogenic drug LSD as a solution to strategic problems. Preliminary tests indicate that this drug exceeds all expectations. Tests are currently being carried out in Israel - a pioneering country when it comes to medical developments. The first experiment was initiated seven years ago, and it will conclude in March. It has won the name "the Migron Experiment."

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Israeli Troops Raid 2 Private Palestinian TV Stations in West Bank, Confiscate Equipment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli troops raided two private Palestinian TV stations before dawn Wednesday, seizing transmitters and other equipment, the military said. The military said one of the outlets, al-Watan TV, is a pirate station whose frequencies interfered with legal broadcasters and aircraft communications. It said several transmitters were confiscated in the operation initiated by Israel’s Communications Ministry. The military also confirmed a second raid at Jerusalem Educational TV, a Ramallah-based station owned by the Palestinians’ Al Quds University, but did not elaborate.

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February 28th

NEWS: Israel takes the unusual step of naming a city square after a Palestinian doctor. Israeli troops kill an unidentified man on the Sinai border. The Israeli government asks residents of the largest "unauthorized settlement" to voluntarily relocate. Gaza's power-plant shuts down again. A Palestinian woman being held without charge by Israel is on a hunger strike. Hanan Ashrawi says Israel should end its "policy of racism." Israeli occupation authorities say they intend to build an industrial zone on the site Palestinians had identified for a future Palestinian state airport. Israeli officials reportedly say they would not warn the United States before attacking Iran. J Street brings a delegation of Americans, including six members of Congress, to Israel and the occupied territories. Hamas leaders admit that Iran is angry with the organization for siding with the Syrian opposition. Palestinian officials ask Qatar-based Islamist cleric Qaradawi to retract an opinion that non-Palestinians should not visit Jerusalem. COMMENTARY: Xinhua interviews Gaza-based Hamas leader Haniyyeh. Moshe Arens says Palestinian Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel must serve in the military. The Jerusalem Post praises the late former Israeli PM Begin for not wanting to end the occupation. Susan Hattis Rolef says Israeli courts must decide the demarcation line between Zionists and fascists.Gershon Baskin continues to answer questions from those skeptical about the possibility of peace. Lara Friedman says a recent conference on Jerusalem in Qatar totally ignored Jewish history and much of what was said there was objectionable and painful. Bilal Hassan says confronting Israel is an Arab, and not just a Palestinian, imperative. Hussein Ibish says conditions for the eruption of a third intifada are quickly building.

Don’t discount a third intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) February 28, 2012 - 1:00am

Is a third Palestinian intifada coming in the foreseeable future? An Israeli Foreign Ministry intelligence report circulated in the government last week and leaked over the weekend to Ha’aretz suggests it could well be. The report is right, and its assessment should make sobering reading for Israeli officials and citizens alike.

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