Israel's New Left Goes Online ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Sarah Wildman - (Opinion) February 14, 2012 - 1:00am In mid-December a young Palestinian named Mustafa Tamimi was struck in the face with a tear-gas canister fired from an Israeli armored vehicle. It happened during one of the Friday protests, a weekly event in West Bank villages like Nabi Saleh, where Tamimi lived; he later died from his wounds. In the ensuing battle over culpability—so much of which took place, like everything else these days, on Twitter—a number of English-language bloggers challenged Israeli military spokespeople about the event, again and again, and kept the story of Tamimi’s death in the news. » Read more

Detangling the Holocaust from Israeli-Palestinian politics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily News Egypt by Moriel Rothman - (Opinion) February 16, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM: Late last month I went to the children's memorial in Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. I stood there and took in the names, the candles and the glass. And I felt confused and sad and a little bit broken. It was 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and it was the first time I had gone to the memorial in five years. I went because I wanted to reclaim a small part of myself and my history from the tornado of political and historical ownership that twists so jaggedly in this place. » Read more

Opinion: BDS Absolutism Undermined Discourse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Exponent by Logan Bayroff - (Opinion) February 15, 2012 - 1:00am The atmosphere in the lead-up to the recent boycott, divestment and sanctions conference at the University of Pennsylvania was characterized by acrimony and anger not native to this campus. Yet this acrimony did not come from students or university representatives, or from campus institutions like Hillel. We in the Penn community did our basic duty to uphold free speech on campus. And the conference went forward without incident. Not only Penn students, however, responded to what went on here. » Read more

‘NYT’ J’lem bureau chief pick sparks uproar ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Oren Kessler - (Opinion) February 17, 2012 - 1:00am The New York Times’ choice of its next Jerusalem bureau chief touched off a fierce social-media debate on Tuesday, just hours after its announcement and months before she is to arrive in Israel. On Tuesday evening, the Times announced on its Twitter feed that Jodi Rudoren, hitherto the paper’s education editor, would replace veteran bureau chief Ethan Bronner in the capital. By nightfall Rudoren’s had found herself in hot water, accused of pro- Palestinian bias in arguably the world’s most sensitive journalistic posting. Much of the controversy has occurred on social media. » Read more

Insight: In Israel, an Illegal Outpost Faces its Reckoning ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Crispian Balmer, Maayan Lubell - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am MIGRON, West Bank (Reuters) - The Jewish settlement of Migron perches high on a blustery hill in the occupied West Bank. Its inhabitants pay taxes, are hooked up to the electricity grid and get round-the-clock protection from Israeli soldiers. Over the past decade the government has spent at least 4 million shekels ($1.1 million) on establishing and maintaining the cluster of squat, prefab bungalows, even building a neat tarmac road up the steep incline to the treeless ridge. » Read more

Will Fatah/Hamas Accord Affect Mideast Peace Process? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Andre de Nesnera - (Interview) February 17, 2012 - 1:00am The power-sharing agreement was brokered by the Emir of Qatar and signed in Doha by the leader of Fatah - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas - and Khalid Meshal, leader of Hamas. The accord calls for Abbas to lead an interim unity government that will prepare for new presidential and parliamentary elections this year. Challenges ahead Fawaz Gerges, Middle East expert with the London School of Economics, welcomes the accord. But he says many challenges lie ahead given what he calls the "deficit of trust" between the Fatah and Hamas leaderships. » Read more

Palestinian Property Ownership Law ‘Unjust’ Says LPDC Head ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Annie Slemrod - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am BEIRUT: Abdul-Majid Kassir, president of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, has called Lebanon’s law that bars Palestinians from owning property “unjust” and a “violation of human rights.” The former diplomat took the helm of the body tasked with improving relations between the two communities last summer, and spoke with The Daily Star Thursday about a wide range of issues that affect an often strained relationship. » Read more

A Divided Town, Where the Pursuit of Bargains Brings Together Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Linda Gradstein - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am BARTA'A, West Bank (JTA) -- In these days of frozen peace negotiations, most Israelis and Palestinians have little contact. Palestinians need a special permit to enter Israel, and Israelis need army permission to enter the parts of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority. In fact, just a mile north of this small West Bank town, a large yellow sign reminds drivers that “it is illegal to hand over cars for repair to the Palestinian Authority or to enter Palestinian areas.” » Read more

Khader Adnan: The West Bank's Bobby Sands ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) February 17, 2012 - 1:00am It was only after talking with lucidity and animation for an hour about her husband's 61-day hunger strike that Randa Jihad Adnan's eyes, visible though the opening of her nekab, filled with tears. Until then, this articulate 31-year-old graduate in sharia law from Al Najar University in Nablus, the pregnant mother of two young daughters aged four and one and half, had described with almost disconcerting poise the two months following the arrest of her husband, Khader Adnan, on 17 December. » Read more

Iran, Hezbollah Seek to Attack More Israeli Targets Abroad, Official Says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am Iranian and Hezbollah operatives are still seeking to attack Israeli targets in several countries, Israel's Counterterrorism Bureau indicated on Friday, warning Israeli citizens to adhere to the directives of local security forces. The remarks, given during a press briefing, came after earlier Friday Thai security forces have upped alertness levels in the country's international airports and rail system over what local police is saying is an Israeli warning against new terror attacks. » Read more