Israel establishes homeland security ministry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 19, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that the newly-formed Knesset Independence faction member Matan Vilna'i will head a newly- established homeland security ministry. Vilna'i will also continue in his current role as deputy defense minister. "No one is more fit than Vilna'i for this post because he has so much experience dealing with this subject," Netanyahu told the assembled ministers and reporters. "The idea is to upgrade protection of the Home Front" in case of attack, Prime Minister Office Spokesman Mark Regev told Xinhua of the step. » Read more

Media: Palestinian died from medicine, not gas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mark Lavie - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am Israel's military contends that a woman who died after a Palestinian protest was the victim of a medical error and was not killed by tear gas, Israeli media reported late Thursday. A Palestinian group disagreed. The Israeli reports said that according to Palestinian medical records, the woman was mistakenly given a dose of medicine 10 times the accepted amount, causing her death. The woman, Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, 36, took part in a weekly demonstration against Israel's West Bank separation barrier on Dec. 31, when soldiers fired tear gas to control the crowd. She died the next day. » Read more

US push for Israeli,Palestinian intelligence-Leaks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am The United States instructed its Middle East diplomats in 2008 to gather data on encrypted Israeli communications and build financial and "biometric" profiles of Palestinian leaders, a leaked embassy cable shows. The secret memorandum, signed by then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and published by Wikileaks, suggests the Bush administration fretted about lacking intelligence despite warm ties to Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA). » Read more

Palestinian faults Arabs over Jerusalem support ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters January 19, 2011 - 1:00am Arab states are failing to help the Palestinians in Jerusalem, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday, criticising them for paying only a fraction of funds pledged to sustain Palestinian life there. Foreign Minister Riad Malki's comments reflected the Palestinians' frustration over the Arab failure to support them in the face of what they see as an Israeli campaign to "Judaize" Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the Middle East conflict. » Read more

In search of scrap, Gaza children risk lives in border zone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Katie Nguyen - January 18, 2011 - 1:00am Children in Gaza risk regular gunfire from Israeli troops while looking for construction material in destroyed buildings close to the blockaded enclave's border with Israel, Save the Children said on Tuesday. Citing a report by a UNICEF-led group on children caught up in conflict, it said 26 children were shot by Israeli soldiers near the border last year, including 16 outside the buffer zone which extends 300 metres (yards) from the border security wall and fence. » Read more

Palestinians hoist flag in Washington for first time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 20, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington on Tuesday hoisted its national flag for the first time, a highly symbolic gesture that drew an angry response from a senior US lawmaker. The US State Department, enmeshed in an uphill struggle to revive stalled Middle East peace talks, said that the ceremony was approved several months ago and did not change the status of the Palestinian representation in Washington. » Read more

Brigades claim fire on Israeli civilians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 20, 2011 - 1:00am A statement from the Gaza militant group the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades said Wednesday that fighters targeted a civilian Israeli vehicle traveling on the main road near the border and fired. The brigades, affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said the attack was against "three settler cars" near Kissufim, an Israeli military base north of Khan Younis, and that militants "opened fire directly" on the vehicles. The statement said the attack took place in the afternoon, and that injuries had been sustained by the cars' passengers. » Read more

Palestine hopeful US won't use veto ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 20, 2011 - 1:00am Member of the Palestinian negotiating committee Nabil Shaath told a French delegation Tuesday that he believed the US would have a hard time using their veto on a draft resolution submitted to the UN over Israeli settlement building. US officials, however, the same day warned at the United Nations that putting the resolution to a Security Council vote would "complicate" peace efforts. While the US has still not said though whether it would veto the measure, Israeli media has said indications are that the resolution will be quashed. » Read more

Israel drops investigation into police shooting of Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli officials said Tuesday they were dropping a criminal probe of an Israeli border policeman who shot to death a Palestinian motorist after the man sideswiped a foot patrol of soldiers and then tried to escape when they opened fire. Justice Ministry officials described the incident as a "lethal and rapid chain of events that ended tragically with a man's death," but said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges. » Read more

Israeli human rights groups sound alarm over parliamentary panel on funding ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am An initiative in the Israeli parliament this month to investigate the funding of local human rights organizations has intensified debate here about the role of the groups, which rightist critics have accused of harming Israel. Human rights advocates say they are working in an increasingly hostile public climate - particularly since the Gaza war two years ago, which brought allegations of Israeli war crimes - and they warn that free speech and the right to dissent are being challenged. » Read more