February 21st

Palestinian's hunger strike puts spotlight on Israeli detentions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Kevin Flower - February 18, 2012 - 1:00am Jerusalem (CNN) -- A 33-year-old West Bank baker who has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli detention policies entered the 63rd day of a hunger strike Saturday despite a doctor's warning that he could die any time. "Mr. Khader Adnan is in immediate danger of death," according to a report issued this week by the Israeli branch of the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights, which sent a doctor to examine him. » Read more

Israeli court moves forward Adnan hearing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 20, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel's High Court has agreed to hear an appeal against the administrative detention of hunger-striking prisoner Khader Adnan two days earlier than scheduled, his lawyer said Monday. The Supreme Court will now hold the hearing on Tuesday, Jawad Bulus said, adding that the prosecutor is required to submit their responses to the appeal before noon. The court had originally scheduled to hear the case on Thursday. » Read more

Netanyahu's border proposal: Israel to annex settlement blocs, but not Jordan Valley ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 19, 2012 - 1:00am Three weeks after the end of the talks that took place between Israel and the Palestinians in Amman which took place under the patronage of the King of Jordan, Israeli officials revealed their version of the events, laying the blame on the failure of the talks on Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Despite the mutual “blame game,” according to positions presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the topic of borders, it is clear that it is not much different than the positions presented by Tzipi Livni during the Annapolis Conference. » Read more

Israel reiterates no talks if Hamas in Palestinian gov't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 21, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has reiterated that the Israeli government will not negotiate with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas, an official source said Monday. "Negotiations will not take place with a technocratic government that is made out of an agreement between Hamas and Fatah. The current reality is that the other side (of the negotiations) consists of an organization that does not acknowledge Israel," an official said in a PMO briefing. » Read more

Hamas: Committed to Doha deal, but needs amendment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 21, 2012 - 1:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayyah said Monday that the Islamist movement is committed to the Doha agreement, but still disputes President Abbas' dual role of prime minister. "Make it lawful, as Abbas can't be president and prime minister according to the law," al-Hayyah told Ma'an. The senior Hamas figure also quashed rumors that a meeting had been convened to address internal disputes. » Read more

February 17th

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