Iraq Signs Deal to Buy Arms from Iran, Breaking UN Arms Embargo - Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters)

Sharp Rise In HIV Infections In Iran (World Crunch)
Iranian diva sings for gay rights -Aron Dónzis (Times of Israel)

Egypt's Move towards Russia Hints at Shifting Regional Alliances - Ahmed Eleiba (Al-Ahram-Egypt)
Back into an Embrace with the Russian Bear - Zvi Mazel (Jerusalem Post)
Seven Egyptian Christians Found Murdered in Libya (Al-Ahram-Egypt)
Egyptian Army Claimed It Invented Miracle Cure For Hepatitis C And HIV Viruses (MEMRI)

100% rise in Palestinian  "family honor" killings - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)
Pew Survey: Palestinians Dislike America More than Any Other Group (Algemeiner) Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza dislike the U.S. more than any other group, with 76% describing America as an "enemy."
Saeb Erekat's Fabrication Exposes 'Palestinian Narrative' - Eric Rozenman (CAMERA)
Terrorist planned attack in order to receive PA salary - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)
Israel: PA Water Supply Has Increased by 50 Percent Since Oslo - Ariel Kahana and Dalia Mazori (Ma'ariv-Hebrew)
Where's the Coverage? PA to Increase Payouts to Terrorists - (CAMERA)

Which Israeli will Europe and Arabs Target Next? - Timon Dias (Gatestone Institute) While the rest of the Dutch Arnhem-based soccer club, Vitesse, attended a training camp in Abu Dhabi, the team left one of its Israeli-born defenders at home.

Turks Stage Protests Demanding Erdogan's Resignation (Xinhua-China) Thousands of Turks took to the streets in 11 cities on Tuesday demanding the resignation of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. An audio recording disclosed on the Internet on Monday suggested the Turkish prime minister ordered his son Bilal Erdogan to dispose of vast amounts of cash just after a graft probe was launched on Dec. 17 when police raided sons of three ministers. Erdogan labeled the leaked recording as "fake." The leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, claimed that the leaked phone conversation is genuine.

Barry Rubin passed away this month. He was PJ Media’s Middle East editor and author of The Rubin Report. Before his death he decided to GIVE AWAY 13 of his books. These titles of his are available in convenient online and downloadable PDF reading. You can find them here: http://www.gloria-center.org/pt_free_books/

Afghanistan

US military condemns Afghan government's release of 65 'dangerous individuals' - Bill Roggio (Long War Journal)

Egypt

Worse Than Mubarak: Egypt's New Constitution and the Police State - Mara Revkin (Foreign Affairs)

Iran

What are U.S. promises of protection worth? FP Exclusive: U.S. intelligence officials believe Iranian commandos participated in a deadly raid on an Iraqi compound housing the Iranian dissident group Mujahadeen-e Khalq and then spirited seven members of the group back to Iran, FP's Yochi Dreazen reports. The raid on Camp Ashraf killed at least 50 members of the MEK, which laid down their weapons at the request of U.S. authorities and in exchange for promises of protection from the U.S. military. 

Waiting to Be Executed in Iran A Letter - Zaniar Moradi and Loghman Moradi (Gatestone Institute) read more by Shadi Paveh

Iran Spy Chief Runs Military Ops in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen (Kuwait Times)

Partners for Peace?

We recently took a workshop where we were presented with this workbook, Learning Each Other’s Historical Narrative. It’s interesting reading regarding the Israelis and Palestinians.

For first time, Palestinians back framework peace agreement -AP(Times of Israel)

Abbas: Don't Boycott Israel- Yoel Goldman (Times of Israel)

Hamas Condemns Red Sea-Dead Sea Agreement (Al-Qassam Brigades-Gaza) Hamas stressed that the PA is not entitled to give up or compromise on any inch of Palestinian land or water resources and called on the PA not to take unilateral decisions. 

PA promotes murder as positive act at cultural event - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (Palestinian Media Watch)

Israel Serious in Its Intention to Reach Agreement with Palestinians (Jerusalem Post)

Palestinian Forces Raid West Bank Refugee Camps - Mel Frykberg (Washington Times)

The Fabricated Palestinian History - Nadav Shragai (Israel Hayom) …the link that the Palestinians have tried to create with the ancient Canaanites is "absurd." As for the claim that the Palestinians are the descendants of the Canaanites, Dana notes that "the Koran says the Canaanites were ordered expelled from the holy land by Allah after they had defiled the land."
From the Koran (as per Sheikh Ahmad Adwan): Allah has assigned the Holy Land to the Children of Israel until the Day of Judgment (Koran, Sura 5 – “The Sura of the Table”, Verse 21), and “We made the Children of Israel the inheritors (of the land)” (Koran, Sura 26 – “The Sura of the Poets”, Verse 59). Prof. Nissim Dana of Ariel University adds: "In the Koran...there are 10 passages which state that Allah bequeathed the land to the Jewish people. In all of these instances, it is written that there is not only the right but the obligation placed on the Sons of Israel to inherit the land. On the other hand, there is no mention in the Koran of bequeathing the land to Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, or any other nation not called the Jewish people."

  

Syria

Foreign Policy: Syria's chemical weapons will be transported on Russian trucks and then shipped to a U.S. Navy vessel, where they will be destroyed.

In Syria, the Children of Al-Qaeda - Joby Warrick (Washington Post)  The video of a training camp posted by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria shows hooded recruits in camouflage shooting at targets or marching in formation under the black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.  But look closer and the "fighters" appear quite small. The tallest are barely chest-high to their instructors. A photo of the recruits without their hoods confirms that all of them are young boys.  They are "Zarqawi's Cubs," the youth brigade of Syria's most fearsome Islamist rebel group. In the soundtrack, Arab voices sing: "Oh mother, don't be saddened by my leaving," explaining that the boys are going to fight "for the sake of defeating the Jews." 

Turkey

Turkey: No Reconciliation with Israel until It Ends Gaza Blockade - Barak Ravid (Ha'aretz)

United States of America

Israelophobia  - Fiamma Nirenstein (Gatestone Institute) The current U.S. Administration has sincerely promoted a positive relationship between America and Islam that, in addition to being politically questionable, makes room in the world for the most brutal anti-Semitism.

Regarding the ASA decision to boycott Israel: J. Marks at the WSJ reports: It is heartening that eight past presidents of the American Studies Association, along with more than 50 other members, signed a letter calling the resolution "discrimination pure and simple." Johnathan Chait in New York Magazine reports: American Studies Association president Curtis Marez, asked to defend the singling out of Israel, supplied an answer that must be considered a minor classic. Marez did not dispute that many nations, including many of Israel's neighbors, are generally judged to have human rights records that are worse than Israel's, but he said, "one has to start somewhere."