June 13th

Israeli Forces Attack Palestinian Demonstrators Against Barrier Wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna)
June 13, 2008 - 5:06pm

RAMALLAH, June 13 (KUNA) -- Israeli forces attacked two Palestinian peaceful protests against the Israeli-built barrier inside the West Bank, injuring many people. In the Al-Masara Town south of Beit Laham, five Palestinians were injured after Israeli forces attacked a peaceful protest. Organizers of the march against the barrier, said that the people in the march containing Palestinians and foreigners as well as Israelis, were beaten with batons injuring five Palestinians in the process.

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Palestinians Bombard Israel After Blast Kills 7
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Hisham Abu Taha - June 13, 2008 - 5:04pm

GAZA CITY, 13 June 2008 — Palestinian gunmen bombarded southern Israel yesterday after a Hamas commander’s house in northern Gaza was blown up in a blast that killed seven people, including a four-month-old baby. The attacks started immediately after the explosion which Palestinian medics said wounded 51 people, among them women and children, in and around the two-story building. The Israeli military said nearly 50 rockets and mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip following the explosion, which Hamas blamed on the Jewish state.

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Gaza Fighters Bombard Israel After Deadly Blast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
June 13, 2008 - 5:03pm

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian fighters bombarded southern Israel on Thursday after a Hamas commander’s house in northern Gaza was blown up in a blast which killed seven people, including a four-month-old baby. The attacks started immediately after the explosion which Palestinian medics said also wounded 51 people, among them women and children, in and around the two-storey building.

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Middle East Peace Deal Possible In 2008: Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
June 13, 2008 - 5:02pm

PARIS (AFP) US President George W. Bush said Friday he was confident that a Middle East peace deal was possible in 2008, as he delivered the keynote speech of a farewell trip to Europe. "I firmly believe that, with leadership and courage, a peace agreement is possible this year," Bush said at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. © 2008 Agence France-Presse


Israel Oks 1,300 East Jerusalem Homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Amy Teibel - June 13, 2008 - 5:01pm

Israel announced plans Friday to build 1,300 more homes in east Jerusalem, further angering Palestinians who warned ongoing construction threatens efforts to work out a peace deal by the end of the year. The announcement by Israel's Interior Ministry brought to more than 3,000 the number of homes Israel has approved for construction on land that Palestinians want for a state since the renewal of the U.S.-supported peace talks late last year.

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Israeli Settlers’ Attack On Palestinian Family Captured On Video
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Arthur Bright - June 13, 2008 - 4:56pm

A Palestinian family's brutal beating by Israeli settlers has been captured on video and aired just a week before the UN Security Council is set to consider a resolution condemning construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. The BBC reports that the video, recorded last Sunday, shows four men attacking an elderly shepherd, his wife, and his nephew after the four told the shepherd to move his flock, which was grazing near the settlement of Susia in the West Bank. The BBC describes the film, which is available on its website:

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Year On, Fayyad Aims To Change Palestinian Mindset
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - June 13, 2008 - 12:39pm

When he was named to lead a government reeling from civil war in Gaza, those Palestinians who had even heard of Salam Fayyad mostly saw him as an obscure, expatriate technocrat with little feel for their troubles. Now, a year after President Mahmoud Abbas made Fayyad prime minister in place of a Hamas leader he accused of staging a coup in the Gaza Strip, the former World Bank and IMF official is reaching out for grass roots support with a message of change.

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June 12th

Reuters features an article on Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (1). The Washington Times reports on Israel’s plan to build 1,300 new apartments in east Jerusalem (2). Video footage obtained by the BBC of Israeli settlers assaulting a Palestinian family causes controversy (3). Militants from Gaza bombard southern Israel after the home of a Hamas commander is blown up (5). Israel refuses to reopen the Rafah crossing as part of a cease fire deal with Hamas (7).

Deepening Us-israel Partnership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Week
(Editorial) June 12, 2008 - 4:00pm

Media accounts of last week’s policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) naturally focused on presidential politics. But the policy conference had a number of other resounding messages, including this one: U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation is stronger than ever. Once more a slogan than reality, the idea of a genuine partnership between the two nations has become an everyday fact of life on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon.

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Mortar Shells, Qassam Rockets Rain On Israel's South
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shumlik Hadad - June 12, 2008 - 3:59pm

  A 59-year-old Israeli woman was lightly-to-moderately wounded in the Yad Mordechai area on Thursday afternoon as Palestinian terror groups launched a barrage of mortar shells and Qassam rockets against Israeli communities near the Gaza border. The injured woman was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment.

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