February 14th

Doha Agreement valid despite Al-Zahar’s statements – Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Ali El-saleh - February 13, 2012 - 1:00am London, Asharq al-Awsat- An official from the Change and Reform bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council has stated the remarks by Hamas’s Mahmud al-Zahar concerning the Doha declaration and designation of President Mahmud Abbas, to form a transitional national accord government reflects the Hamas Movement Political Bureau member’s personal opinion. » Read more

'Split in Hamas is frustrating Palestinian unity' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post February 13, 2012 - 1:00am Disagreement within the Hamas leadership over a reconciliation deal signed by leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Qatar is stalling the formation of a unity government, senior Fatah member Nabil Sha'ath said Monday. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is waiting to hear confirmation from Hamas that they will stand behind an interim government under his premiership, Sha'ath told Palestinian news agency Ma'an. » Read more

Hezbollah chief's reply to Haaretz ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) February 14, 2012 - 1:00am Is it possible that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reads Haaretz? Not the Hebrew edition, of course. But does he read the English edition online, or is the print edition smuggled to him in Beirut by one of his agents in Israel? Or is it translated to him by one of his aides? » Read more

Hamas chiefs wrestle with split over Abbas premiership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - February 13, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- The two top leaders of Hamas failed to resolve an internal crisis over a reconciliation pact with the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas at secret talks in Qatar on Sunday, a diplomat in the region said. "(Hamas chief) Khalid Mashaal and (Gaza Premier) Ismail Haniyeh met last night in Qatar to discuss the dispute in Hamas over the Doha agreement," the diplomat told Reuters on Monday. » Read more

The Dilemmas of Jewish Power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 13, 2012 - 1:00am LONDON — Peter Beinart’s “The Crisis of Zionism” is an important new book that rejects the manipulation of Jewish victimhood in the name of Israel’s domination of the Palestinians and asserts that the real issue for Jews today is not the challenge of weakness but the demands of power. » Read more

February 13th

A futile exercise? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) February 9, 2012 - 1:00am Jordan's recent efforts to hold exploratory pre-negotiation talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis could not be more surprising. Over an extended period of time, King Abdullah II has reiterated his conviction that peace, although favorable, is not yet possible. Time and again, he has blamed Israel for the impasse in the peace process. Therefore, the sudden emergence of Amman's diplomatic activism is striking. » Read more

Jordan re-enters the fray ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Naseem Tarawnah - (Opinion) February 9, 2012 - 1:00am While King Abdullah has managed to maneuver through the turbulent regional weather of the past decade, hardly a year passes without Jordanians such as myself forced to wonder: what would his father King Hussein have done? » Read more

The End of the Exploitation of the Palestinian Cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Husam Itani - (Opinion) February 10, 2012 - 1:00am By drawing up the facets of a new world, the revolutions are reproducing the social and political powers, as well as their structures, and introducing definitions and concepts differing from the ones which prevailed over reality and our way of thinking throughout the past stages. » Read more

Building Barriers to Two-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) February 12, 2012 - 1:00am Here’s a “sign of the times” factoid: In recent commentary on Israel’s settlement policy, the number of Jewish settlers beyond the Green Line has ballooned to 600,000 from 350,000 or so. It is as if there had suddenly been a mass immigration to the West Bank. But there has been no such immigration. What there has been, more ominously, is the inclusion in “beyond the Green Line” of two venerable major neighborhoods that had long since come to be regarded as part of Jerusalem proper: Ramot and French Hill, as well as other neighborhoods, such as Gilo, Pisgat Ze’ev, Ramat Shlomo, Har Homa. » Read more

Saved by our enemies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Barry Rubin - (Opinion) February 12, 2012 - 1:00am President Barack Obama is campaigning on the claim that he is a great friend of Israel despite the fact that this is clearly not true. After all, the announcement of a coalition government between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, a genocidally oriented terrorist group that is openly anti- Semitic and rejects all of the agreements with Israel on which the PA is based prompts no US (or European) policy response. » Read more