February 3rd

Police destroy third 'barrel bomb' washed ashore south of Tel Aviv ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yuval Azoulay, Anshel Pfeffer - February 1, 2010 - 1:00am Police on Wednesday said they had destroyed the third explosive device washed ashore in Israel this week. Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion at Palmachim beach, some 10 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, police said. Two barrels packed with explosive charges were picked up on Israeli beaches at Ashkelon and Ashdod on Monday. Two more are believed to have exploded on the shores of the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Fatah leader visits Gaza in goodwill trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Rizek Abdel Jawad - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am A senior Fatah leader is visiting Gaza for the first time since the territory was seized by Fatah's Islamic militant Hamas rivals in 2007. Nabil Shaath, a Gaza native, said Wednesday that his three-day trip is meant to improve the atmosphere between the two factions. Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed. Shaath handed his passport to Hamas border guards for registration, in a symbolic recognition of Hamas authority. Shaath says the trip has the blessing of Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

Hamas gives U.N. response to Gaza war crimes report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am The Islamist group Hamas on Wednesday formally rejected allegations it had committed war crimes during last year's fighting in Gaza, charges made in a United Nations report. Hamas officials said the group set out in a 52-page response handed to a U.N. official in Gaza that the killing of three Israeli civilians in rocket attacks during Israel's Dec. 27, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009 offensive was an accident and military installations had been targeted. » Read more

Israel must "roll back" and end occupation: Fayyad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Tom Perry - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am Addressing an audience alongside Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Salam Fayyad said rolling back should start by ending army incursions in the West Bank, where the Palestinians aim to establish their state, along with Gaza. "Unfortunately those incursions continue," Fayyad told the Herzliya Conference, which annually attracts prominent figures in the Israeli political and diplomatic establishment. » Read more

Israel mulls freeing Hamas 'underwear bomber' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Erin Cunningham - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am In a bedroom overlooking Jabaliya refugee camp's narrow, potholed streets, an array of new cosmetics and a hairbrush are lined up neatly in anticipation of a daughter's early release from prison. Next to a portrait of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a framed photo of Wafa al-Biss looks out into the room she has not seen since being arrested at the Israeli border with 20 pounds of explosives sewn into her underwear in 2005. She was 21 years old. In the photo, Wafa is dressed in bluejeans, heavy makeup, and a lace head scarf. She is unsmiling, almost defiant. » Read more

Hamas threatens to take fight against Israel beyond Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Erin Cunningham - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am In the wake of a Hamas claim on Friday that Israeli agents assassinated one of its operatives in Dubai last week, the Islamist movement is vowing to take revenge against the Jewish state for the militant’s death – even if it means going abroad. Hamas officials from Damascus, Syria, and the Gaza Strip are threatening to match what they say is Israel's expansion of the conflict to foreign countries. » Read more

Palestinian premier speaks at Israeli conference ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am Before Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stepped on stage here Tuesday before a gathering of Israeli intellectuals and policymakers, he had already been likened to Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion, vilified as the leader of a movement bent on undermining the peace process and dismissed as a technocrat without popular support. But his presence here -- at a packed conference in the heart of Israel, in a town named after the founder of modern Zionism -- perhaps said as much as any comment about the role he has played as the Palestinians' chief go-between with Israel and the West. » Read more

Paving the Way for Palestinian Statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress (Interview) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am Ziad Asali, president & founder, American Task Force on Palestine. Interview with Middle East Bulletin. Can you tell us a little bit about the newly released report, “Palestine: Moving Forward, Priority Interventions for 2010”? What are the core principles behind it? How to does it relate to the original August cabinet document? » Read more

February 2nd

A real plan to build Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am Two weeks ago the Palestinian Authority issued a detailed budget for the state and institution-building programme it adopted last August. The programme calls for Palestinians to unilaterally build the administrative, economic and institutional framework of an independent state in spite of the Israeli occupation and as a peaceful, constructive means of countering it. » Read more

Hamas is Threatening Who? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) February 1, 2010 - 1:00am Following the assassination of Qassam Brigades leading figure Mahmoud al Mabhouh in his [hotel] room in Dubai, the leaders of Hamas came out threatening and promising to avenge his death. This is understandable and only expected due to the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; however what was not clear was whether Hamas was threatening revenge on Israel or was threatening to violate the land of Arab countries. » Read more