February 7th

“Death to Christians” sprayed on Jerusalem monastery ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters February 7, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- A Jerusalem monastery, built on the spot where tradition holds the tree from which Jesus's cross was made, was defaced with graffiti bearing the hallmarks of Jewish extremists, police said on Tuesday. "Death to Christians" was daubed in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament. » Read more

Neighborhood pays price of being on wrong side of Israel’s wall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - February 7, 2012 - 1:00am Reporting from Jerusalem— With a fire extinguisher in his hand and a cellphone pressed to his ear, principal Sameeh abu Rameelh battled an electrical fire in his Jerusalem high school's computer lab while pleading with the fire department to come to his aid. But when the emergency dispatcher heard that the school was in Kafr Aqab, separated from the rest of Jerusalem by a 36-foot-high concrete wall, he told Abu Rameelh that firetrucks wouldn't cross Israel's separation barrier without army protection. » Read more

EU vows aid to “non-violent” Palestinian gov’t ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 7, 2012 - 1:00am BRUSSELS — The European Union will provide financial aid to a new Palestinian government as long as it is peaceful and accepts Israel's right to exist, an EU spokesman said Monday after a deal between rival factions Fateh and Hamas. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will head an interim consensus government under a deal signed with the Islamist movement Hamas in Doha aimed at reconciling the feuding sides. » Read more

Haneya, Fayyad welcome Meshaal-Abbas Doha agreement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Saud Abu Ramadan - February 6, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA/RAMALLAH, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The premiers of the two Palestinian governments, Salam Fayyad in the West Bank and Ismail Haneya in Gaza, on Monday welcomed an agreement reached between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Qatar on forming a unified transitional government. Fayyad, a veteran economist and prime minister of the caretaker Palestinian government in the West Bank, said in a press statement emailed to reporters that he welcomes the signed Doha agreement, and expressed hope that "the deal will be implemented soon." » Read more

Officials to meet in Cairo to announce government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 7, 2012 - 1:00am CAIRO (Ma’an) -- A delegation of Hamas officials have arrived in Cairo as President Abbas and PLO members are expected to arrive within the next few days to announce the structure of a transitional government. Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal signed an agreement in Doha on Monday which stipulated that Abbas will head an interim government. The accord also included agreements on releasing political prisoners, reforming the Palestinian National Council and activating the PLO for the next elections, Palestine TV said. » Read more

Middle East press uncertain on Palestinian unity deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News February 7, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will head the cabinet of politically independent technocrats while it organises elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Hamas has governed since 2007. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Mr Abbas would be abandoning the way of peace if he implemented the deal with Hamas. Israel considers Hamas to be a terrorist group. Pro-Fatah newspaper Al-Quds » Read more

Doha agreement divides political opinion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 7, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Doha agreement signed on Monday by President Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal has been welcomed and criticized in equal measure by politicians and analysts. Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar told Ma'an that the agreement "contradicted basic Palestinian law and overstepped the Palestinian Legislative Council." He urged President Abbas to take serious steps to implement the Cairo agreement as a whole, rather than being selective about which articles to implement. » Read more

February 6th

What would you do? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Elyte Baykun - (Analysis) February 4, 2012 - 1:00am Israel is blaming the Palestinians for putting "preconditions" on peace talks by insisting on a settlement freeze before returning to direct negotiations. They say that Palestinians have negotiated for the past twenty years without this condition, so why demand it now? But the PLO says that is precisely the point. They have been negotiating in good faith with the Israelis for the past 20 years without first insisting on a settlement freeze and look where it has gotten them. » Read more

Israeli Arabs are citizens, not enemies of the state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) February 5, 2012 - 1:00am "As a community," Shin Bet security service chief Yoram Cohen said this week, "Arab Israelis are not a target of Shin Bet. They are not a fifth column and we do not view them as such." He also presented data which showed that Israeli Arabs were involved in three attacks during the past year, adding that "the number of those involved in terrorism is not large. We arrested 20-30 Israeli Arabs during the past year, compared to 2,000 Palestinians in Judea and Samaria." » Read more

David Ben-Gurion's legacy, through Shimon Peres' eyes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Azriel Bermant - (Book Review) February 6, 2012 - 1:00am Ben-Gurion: A Political Life by Shimon Peres, with David Landau Schocken Books, 224 pages, $25.95 » Read more