Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Palestinians say an autopsy shows Arafat Jaradat, a 30 year old prisoner who died in Israeli custody, was tortured, while Israel insists he passed away from a heart attack. (Ma'an/New York Times) Palestinians demand an international inquiry into Jaradat's death, and into conditions for Palestinians in Israeli prisons generally. (New York Times/AP) Palestinians across the occupied territories protest in support of prisoners. (Xinhua) Dozens are injured in West Bank clashes over the prisoner's death. (Ma'an) Israeli settlers shoot two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. (AP) The Israeli military says it's preparing for a potential third Palestinian uprising, as its forces go on high alert throughout the occupied territories. (Xinhua/Washington Post) Israel demands the PA suppress Palestinian demonstrations. (Reuters) A Fatah official says "Israeli arrogance" may indeed result in a third intifada. (Ma'an) Hamas calls for the capturing of more Israeli soldiers by armed Palestinian groups. (Ma'an) In a letter to its US sponsors, Palestinians protest the route of the Jerusalem Marathon. (New York Times) Hamas bans a Fatah official from leaving Gaza. (Xinhua) A Hamas court cuts in half the sentence for the murderer of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni from 10 to 5 years. (AFP) Egypt seizes 20,000 liters of fuel being smuggled into Gaza. (Ma'an) The US and Israel say they have successfully tested the Arrow anti-missile system for the first time. (AP) A Palestinian citizen of Israel in Haifa, who is a noted artist, is using his work to try to save an elderly refugee relative in Syria by finally bringing her home. (Ha'aretz) There are signs of a slow but steady reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. (The Media Line)

COMMENTARY: Chaim Levinson says West Bank demonstrations are not yet a third intifada. (Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el says the protests are in place of negotiations that were never held. (Ha'aretz) Dalia Hatuqa says the PA may be trying to use the specter of a third intifada to pressure Israel. (Al Monitor) Amos Harel says Israel is trying to calm the situation, and whether a third intifada breaks out or not depends on how the PA handles the situation. (Ha'aretz) Shlomi Eldar says Pres. Abbas is also trying to calm the situation and offers the best hope for avoiding a third intifada. (Al Monitor) Ha'aretz says Israel has no choice but to deal seriously with Palestinian issues if it wants to avoid a third intifada. (Ha'aretz) Khaled Abu Toameh says some think Abbas and other PA leaders may have an interest in escalating tensions with Israel. (Jerusalem Post) Hassan Barari says PM Netanyahu's coalition building efforts may backfire. (Arab News) Michael Ross looks at why Israel's "Prisoner X" might have committed suicide. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Sharif Nashashibi looks at how Pres. Morsi's government is much tougher on Hamas in many ways than Pres. Mubarak's was. (Al Arabiya)

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Lawyer: Israeli officers tortured Jaradat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 24, 2013 - 1:00am Israeli officers tortured Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old who died Saturday in Israeli custody, his lawyer and the Ministry of Detainee Affairs said Sunday. Kameel Sabbagh, a lawyer at the ministry, said he was present at Jaradat's last hearing on Thursday. The Israeli judge postponed the hearing for 12 days. "When I entered the courtroom I saw Jaradat sitting on a wooden chair in front of the judge. His back was hunched and he looked sick and fragile. » Read more

Palestinians Dispute Israel’s Findings on a Prisoner’s Death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Khaled Abu Aker - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am The Israeli Health Ministry said Sunday night that preliminary autopsy findings could not determine the cause of death of a 30-year-old Palestinian prisoner, which Israeli officials had at first attributed to a heart attack. But Palestinian officials said the lack of heart damage coupled with bruising on the man’s chest, back and neck suggested that he was tortured during interrogation. » Read more

Prisoner's death stokes fears of third uprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am The mysterious death of a 30-year-old Palestinian gas station attendant in Israeli custody stoked new West Bank clashes Sunday, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. A senior Palestinian official alleged that Arafat Jaradat was tortured by Israel's Shin Bet security service, citing an autopsy he said revealed bruising and two broken ribs. Israel's Health Ministry said the autopsy did not conclusively determine the cause of death, but that the bruising and broken ribs were likely the result of attempts to revive the detainee. » Read more

Palestinians protest in West Bank, Gaza to support prisoners on hunger strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 25, 2013 - 1:00am A strike, rallies and protests on Sunday dominated the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in support of a hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons which protested against a Palestinian inmate's death one day ago. Witnesses in the West Bank said most of the stores were closed Sunday, while schoolchildren and university students did not go to classes to protest the death of Arafat Jaradat, who died Saturday in Israel's Majeddo prison in the West Bank. » Read more

Dozens injured in West Bank clashes over prisoner death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 24, 2013 - 1:00am Dozens of Palestinians were injured Sunday including two shot with live bullets at demonstrations across the West Bank to protest the death of a Palestinian in Israeli custody. At least 26 protesters sustained wounds from rubber and live bullets during clashes near Ofer prison, west of Ramallah, medics said. The 13-year-old son of a Preventive Security officer was taken to Ramallah government hospital after he was shot in the chest with a live bullet at the protest. A 19-year-old was shot with rubber-coated bullets all over his body, a Ma'an reporter said. » Read more

Settlers in West Bank Shoot Two Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times February 23, 2013 - 1:00am Clashes erupted Saturday in the West Bank, with Jewish settlers shooting two Palestinian demonstrators in the northern village of Kusra, an Israeli military official and Palestinian resident » Read more

Israeli army bracing for third intifada ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 25, 2013 - 1:00am The Israeli military is gearing for the prospect of a new Palestinian uprising, after violent clashes between security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem and across the West Bank peaked over the weekend, local media outlets reported on Sunday. Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz convened a special situation assessment with top brass on Saturday night and instructed to complete preparations for "grave developments," meaning large-scale confrontations that could spark a third intifada, the Yediot Aharonot daily said. » Read more

Prisoner's death stokes fears of third uprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am The mysterious death of a 30-year-old Palestinian gas station attendant in Israeli custody stoked new West Bank clashes Sunday, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. A senior Palestinian official alleged that Arafat Jaradat was tortured by Israel's Shin Bet security service, citing an autopsy he said revealed bruising and two broken ribs. Israel's Health Ministry said the autopsy did not conclusively determine the cause of death, but that the bruising and broken ribs were likely the result of attempts to revive the detainee. » Read more

Palestinians say detainee tortured before death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jeffrey Heller - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am The death of 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat in an Israeli jail on Saturday and a hunger strike by four inmates have flared tension across the occupied West Bank, where stone-throwing protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers on Sunday. The Palestinian autopsy findings could further fuel unrest that has surged in the Palestinian Territories weeks before U.S. President Barack Obama is due to visit the region. Israel demanded the Palestinian Authority restore calm to the area. » Read more

Fatah: Palestinian Authority supports escalating popular resistance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 25, 2013 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority supports and helped organized an escalation in popular resistance in the West Bank, a senior Fatah official said Sunday. "Resistance is a natural right and we agree unanimously on escalating popular resistance," Azzam al-Ahmad told the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen satellite channel. Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, said the Palestinian Authority had helped escalate popular resistance in the West Bank. » Read more

Hamas calls on resistance to capture Israeli soldiers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil on Sunday urged resistance fighters to kidnap Israeli soldiers at a rally to protest the death of a Palestinian in Israeli custody. Hamas organized two huge rallies in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to protest the death of 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat in Megiddo prison. Palestinian officials say an autopsy conducted in Israel showed Jaradat died of extreme torture. » Read more

Palestinians Protest Route of Marathon to Sponsors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - February 22, 2013 - 1:00am A lawyer representing Palestinian government agencies sent letters this week to an American sneaker company and an international hotel chain threatening a boycott and legal action if they did not withdraw their sponsorship of the Jerusalem Marathon, which the Palestinians say violates international law. » Read more

Hamas bans Fatah official from leaving Gaza: statement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 24, 2013 - 1:00am Hamas security officers prevented an official from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party from leaving the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, Fatah said in a statement on Sunday. The move is part of finger-pointing between the rival groups over their failure to form a transitional unity government to achieve national reconciliation under the Egyptian-sponsored mediation efforts. » Read more

Gaza court slashes jail term in Italian murder case ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 24, 2013 - 1:00am A Palestinian military court in Gaza on Sunday cut by half the jail sentence of a man involved in the abduction and murder of Italian national Vittorio Arrigoni. An AFP reporter said the tribunal's judge accepted the appeal of former policeman Khadr Faruq Jerim, who last year was convicted of kidnapping Arrigoni, and cut his prison term from 10 to five years. Jerim's lawyer Mohammed Zaqut told AFP that "the conviction was adjusted from abduction for the purpose of murder to abduction for the purpose of holding captive." » Read more

Egypt seizes 20,000 liters of fuel en-route to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Editorial) February 24, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Israel, US successfully test anti-missile system ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ian Deitch - February 25, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Arab-Israeli in Haifa uses art to help Palestinian refugee sister ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - February 22, 2013 - 1:00am   A childhood memory documented in a photo: A little boy is holding his mother's hand; his four siblings stand alongside them. The place is a refugee camp near Damascus. The year is 1950. This is where the Abdi family eventually fled to after escaping from their home in Haifa, which had been captured by the Haganah during the War of Independence. » Read more

Israel and Turkey Might be Headed for Reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Linda Gradstein - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am Economic Ties Continue Despite Tensions » Read more

West Bank demonstrations are not a third intifada – yet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - (Opinion) February 24, 2013 - 1:00am There were protests in the West Bank all weekend long, and they continued Sunday. » Read more

The Israeli-Palestinian talks that never took place begin on the street ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Editorial) February 24, 2013 - 1:00am The death of Arafat Jaradat in the Megiddo Prison, together with the 216-day-long hunger strike of Samer el-Issawi and the hunger strike of three other prisoners, the demonstrations commemorating the anniversary of the massacre perpetrated by Baruch Goldstein in Hebron in 1994, the clashes in the village of Kusra in the Nablus district – all these are supposedly “local incidents” that can be easily defeated by a few smoke grenades, rubber bullets and arrests. » Read more

PA Seeks to Exploit West Bank Protests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Dalia Hatuqa - (Editorial) February 24, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Israel tries to calm nerves in the West Bank, but outbreak of third intifada depends on Palestinian Authority ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - (Editorial) February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Israel is currently making a huge effort to calm nerves in the West Bank, following a wave of turbulent protests that worsened over the weekend. » Read more

Abu Mazen Tries to Calm The West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Shlomi Eldar - February 24, 2013 - 1:00am By now it is impossible to ignore. Tires are burning. Rocks are being thrown. Tear gas is sprayed, and the term “intifada” is getting tossed around. Everywhere people are saying that the current wave of unrest in the region will lead to a third intifada. They have been saying it — and worrying about it — for months. » Read more

Last call before next intifada ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) February 25, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Analysis: Abbas caught between hammer and anvil ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Opinion) February 25, 2013 - 1:00am Does the current wave of violence in east Jerusalem and the West Bank serve the Palestinian Authority’s interests? Or do the widespread protests, which are being described by some Palestinians as a “mini-intifada,” undermine its status? Some Palestinians believe that the PA leadership is interested in escalating tensions with Israel for various reasons. » Read more

Netanyahu’s political maneuvering may backfire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) February 25, 2013 - 1:00am http://arabnews.com/columns/netanyahu’s-political-maneuvering-may-back... » Read more

The Many Scandals Of The Prisoner X Affair ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Michael Ross - (Opinion) February 21, 2013 - 1:00am There is a joke among spies that the worst curse you can bestow on a colleague is, "I hope to read about you in the newspapers one day." In the tragic case of Ben Zygier, the curse wasn't a joke, and he had to die for it to become a reality. Needless to say, the gallows humor that is a hallmark of my former profession has lost much of its luster. » Read more

No light at the end of Gaza’s tunnels ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya by Sharif Nashashibi - (Opinion) February 25, 2013 - 1:00am “The Egypt of today isn’t the Egypt of yesterday ... (We) won’t leave Gaza on its own,” President Mohammed Mursi said in November amid Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory. It is ironic, then, that the Egypt of today has been actively partaking with Israel in the blockade of Gaza, much like it did under dictator Hosni Mubarak. » Read more

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