PA minister urges Italy to boycott settlement goods
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority Economy Minister Dr Hassan Abu Libda on Wednesday brainstormed ways to educate the Italian public about Israeli settlement products and strategies to boycott them in the country. A delegation, visiting the Ramallah Ministry of the National Economy headquarters, was lead by a deputy from the Italian foreign minister's office, a statement said Wednesday. The group met with an agenda to strengthen Italian-Palestinian relations, and directly addressed the issue of a boycott of settlement goods, a statement said.

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Britain's explanation is riddled with inconsistencies. It's time to come clean
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Collusion. That's what it's all about. The United Arab Emirates suspect – only suspect, mark you – that Europe's "security collaboration" with Israel has crossed a line into illegality, where British passports (and those of other other EU nations) can now be used to send Israeli agents into the Gulf to kill Israel's enemies. At 3.49pm yesterday afternoon (Beirut time, 1.49pm in London), my Lebanese phone rang. It was a source – impeccable, I know him, he spoke with the authority I know he has in Abu Dhabi – to say that "the British passports are real.

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Palestinian role Dubai assassination? Hamas blames Mossad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Erin Cunningham - February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Hamas, who lost senior leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January after he was assassinated in an elaborate cloak-and-dagger operation in Dubai, has joined the government of the tiny emirate in saying it's convinced the likely perpetrators were members of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence and security agency.

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Troubling questions from Dubai
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

If Israel is behind last month's assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, it may be assumed that anybody who tried to appropriate some of the glory regrets it now. Dubai's police investigation may present the Israeli government and intelligence community with tough questions, even if the government did not take responsibility for the assassination, which the foreign press attributes to the Mossad. What at first seemed like a "clean" operation turned out to be wracked by negligent mishaps.

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Fake passports fuel questions about Israeli role in Hamas official's slaying
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Pressure mounted Wednesday for Israel to respond to speculation that its Mossad spy agency killed a Hamas operative in a Dubai hotel last month, with Britain's prime minister promising to investigate the use of forged British passports by the alleged assassins and analysts in Israel taking unusual aim at the country's vaunted undercover organization.

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Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's murky world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Brian Whitaker - (Opinion) February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

Murder is a serious matter but amid tales of forged passports, not to mention the suspects' use of wigs and glasses for disguise, there's more than a touch of the Hollywood thriller about Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killing. Already fingers are being pointed at the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad – and not without reason. Israel had an obvious motive (Mabhouh was a senior Hamas figure wanted by Israel but living out of reach in Syria) as well as the form (numerous assassinations and other exploits in various countries, such as the arrest of Mordechai Vanunu).

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Hamas official accused of helping Mossad hit squad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black, Kate Connolly, Paul Lewis - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am

A key security operative of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas was under arrest in Syria tonight on suspicion of having helped an alleged Israeli hit squad identify Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before he was assassinated in Dubai, the Guardian has learned. Palestinian sources in the Gulf confirmed Nahro Massoud, a Hamas security official, was in detention and under interrogation in Damascus in connection with the 19 January killing, which is now widely assumed to have been mounted by Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service.

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Israeli FM: Palestinian government smearing us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's foreign minister on Monday accused the Western-backed Palestinian government of spearheading an international smear campaign against Israel and predicted that even if negotiations between the two sides resume, they would fail. Avigdor Lieberman's tough comments could mean new trouble for U.S.-led efforts to restart peace talks, which broke down more than a year ago. U.S. envoy George Mitchell has spent months trying to bring the sides back to the negotiating table, but so far has been unable to break the deadlock.

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Challenge to Israel’s legitimacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Linda Heard - (Opinion) February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

The fact that Israel refuses to play according to international rules is eroding its legitimacy as a state with unofficial membership in the worldwide club of democratic nations. Israel has been somewhat of a “wild child” since its founding in terms of its flouting of international laws and norms but its doting allies have always afforded it unprecedented leeway in light of its tenuous position within a hostile neighborhood as well as a collective sense of holocaust guilt.

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A Museum of Tolerance we don't need
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Saree Makdisi - (Opinion) February 12, 2010 - 1:00am

The Simon Wiesenthal Center's plan to construct an outpost of Los Angeles' Museum of Tolerance atop the most important Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem is temporarily in disarray. This presents an opportunity to call on the center to abandon this outrageous project once and for all. The site in question is Ma'man Allah, or the Mamilla Cemetery, which had been in continuous use for centuries until 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or driven into flight and their private property, including Ma'man Allah, was handed over to Jewish users.

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