Israeli soldier killed by Palestinian officer in West Bank knife attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - February 10, 2010 - 1:00am

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed Wednesday in a knife attack in the West Bank. The soldier was named as Ihab Khatib from Kfar Maghar. Khatib was a non-commissioned officer in the Kfir Brigade. The incident occurred at Tapuach Junction, south of the West Bank city of Nablus. The assailant, named as Palestinian officer Mahmoud al-Khatib, has been apprehended. Al-Khatib, a resident of the village of Ya'abed south of Jenin, serves as an officer in the civilian Palestinian police force.


PA detains 6 al-Qaeda men
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
by Ali Waked - February 10, 2010 - 1:00am

For the first time, Palestinian security forces have arrested six al-Qaeda supporters in the West Bank, a Palestinian security official said Wednesday. Brigadier General Ibrahim Ramadan said that six people were arrested last week near the town of Jenin in the northern West Bank. He said they were receiving military training but had not yet selected targets to attack. "They consider themselves part of al-Qaeda but had no contact with the leaders of al-Qaeda abroad," he said.

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PNA condemns killing an Israeli in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 10, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) condemned on Wednesday the killing of an Israeli soldier at an Israeli army roadblock south of northern West Bank city of Nablus. PNA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in a press statement sent to reporters that PNA condemns the attack, stressing that PNA would keep carrying out its firm security measures in order not to repeat such incidents.

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Palestinian force makes gains in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - February 9, 2010 - 1:00am

The security men brandished their weapons and ordered the suspicious car to halt, forcing the occupants to get out and put their hands in their air. The suspects were quickly handcuffed, frisked and made to kneel on the ground as the vehicle was swept for explosives.

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Gaza war: Palestinians battle bitterly over Palestinian forces' conduct
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - January 19, 2010 - 1:00am

On this day last year, a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel took effect after three brutal weeks of fighting that left close to 1,500 people dead. And while today, the guns are largely quiet, the truth of what happened in that devastating war is still being bitterly fought over – not between Palestinians and Israelis, but among Palestinians themselves.

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Fatah fears Israel to renounce security agreements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - January 13, 2010 - 1:00am

Fatah activists fear Israel will renounce security agreements signed with the Palestinian Authority, as part of which many Palestinian gunmen were granted amnesty. The concern was raised following the assassination of three organization members involved in the shooting attack that killed Rabbi Avshalom Meir Hai near the West Bank settlement of Shavei Shomron. Two of those killed were gunmen pardoned by the Jewish state.

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Netanyahu complains about PA security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) January 11, 2010 - 1:00am

After months of praising the work of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a delegation of US senators on Sunday that while active against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the PA security forces "have trouble going against their own renegades." Netanyahu was referring to the recent murder near Shavei Shomron of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai by members of Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigade.

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Can West Bank improvements hold in 2010?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - (Analysis) January 11, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) – In Israel and the West Bank, 2009 was the year that ended without a bang -- and people were grateful for it. For the first time in a decade, Israel experienced a year without a suicide bombing. According to official Israeli figures, five Israelis were killed in incidents in or with attackers originating from the West Bank (In all, 15 Israelis were killed in 2009 by terrorism, including nine during the Israel-Hamas war last January). By comparison, 17 Israelis were killed by West Bank terrorism in 2008 and 429 in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian intifada.

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Fayyad concedes PA tortured Hamas detainees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Editorial) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad implicitly admitted in a report published on Sunday that Palestinian Authority security forces have tortured Hamas detainees over the past two years. An Associated Press report on the subject, citing interviews with Hamas inmates, rights activists, Hamas officials and Fayyad himself, said that most torture had ended in October. Fayyad’s comments, however, amounted to the first time a senior PA official conceded that abuses were committed by the security forces, many of which are trained by the US, Russia, and other world powers.

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Palestinians stop torturing Hamas inmates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Toronto Star
January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

NABLUS, WEST BANK–Palestinian security forces in the West Bank have stopped torturing Hamas prisoners, ending two years of systematic abuse, Hamas inmates said in jailhouse interviews. The change in practice, said to have taken effect in October, was confirmed by a West Bank Hamas leader, human rights activists and the Palestinian prime minister. It defuses a potential problem for Washington, because the U.S. has been closely involved in training Palestinian troops under the control of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival of the Hamas militants.

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