February 15th

Israeli Generals Oppose Checkpoints
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al Jazeera English
February 15, 2008 - 2:20pm

Checkpoints and roadblocks in the occupied West Bank are harming the Middle East peace process according to a group of retired Israeli generals. The 12 senior former commanders have written a letter to Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, urging the army to remove roadblocks saying that they fuel Palestinian hatred of Israel.   

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Israel's Quandary In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Steven Erlanger - February 15, 2008 - 2:19pm

JERUSALEM: Israel hoped that by pulling its settlers and troops from Gaza in 2005, it would also leave behind responsibility for the Gazans. With the help of the West and more moderate Arab countries, the Palestinian Authority could begin to create a prosperous state, the new Palestine, as if the continuing Israeli occupation of the West Bank were somehow irrelevant.

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Hamas Leader In Egypt For Border Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 15, 2008 - 2:17pm

A leading member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas entered Egypt from Gaza on Thursday to resume talks with the Egyptian government on arrangements at the border, a security source said. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Gazan who was Palestinian foreign minister in a short-lived government led by Hamas, crossed with about four other Hamas officials and headed for the coastal town of El Arish, the capital of the Egyptian border province.  

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Israelis Seek Support For Gaza Attack, Abduct 70 In West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
February 15, 2008 - 2:14pm

  While arresting 70 Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, Israel took nearly 70 foreign ambassadors to its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as part of a diplomatic campaign to enlist international support for tougher action against the enclave's Hamas rulers.

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Valentine Flowers Wilt Behind Gaza's Walls
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 15, 2008 - 2:13pm

In past years, Ziad Hejazi's colourful Gaza-grown carnations would adorn the homes of lovers across Europe, bringing an early springtime splash of colour to wintry Valentine Days. But the 35-year-old farmer from the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah says that this year his flowers will be fed to animals because of a punishing Israeli economic lockdown of the Hamas-ruled territory. "I apologise to the lovers on the day of their love because I cannot bring flowers to them," Hejazi says. "Our flowers have become food for the sheep."

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Hopes Are Fading
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arabic Media Internet Network
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 15, 2008 - 2:11pm

It is now almost three months since representatives of nearly 50 countries and international organisations attended the historic Middle East peace conference at the Naval Academy in nearby Annapolis which gave many high hopes that a Palestinian-Israeli settlement is around the corner. The event was the first serious action on the Arab-Israeli conference since President George W. Bush assumed the presidency more about seven years ago.

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Palestinian Prime Minister Voices Doubts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - February 15, 2008 - 2:09pm

As the situation in Gaza deteriorates, Palestinian and Israeli leaders alike are voicing doubts about the feasibility of realizing President Bush’s goal of a peace agreement by the end the year. Not much optimism was heard this week from Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad during a visit to Washington. Fayyad, who is seen by the Bush administration as an agent of reform in the Palestinian government, stressed to his hosts the lack of progress since the peace process was relaunched last November in Annapolis, Md.

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Death Of A Terrorist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
(Editorial) February 15, 2008 - 2:08pm

THE CAR-BOMB assassination in Damascus of terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyeh will mean different things to different parties. But for anyone who cherishes the sunlight of legal justice, Mughniyeh's obscene career and violent end should be emblems of a lawless netherworld where terrorists kill civilians and security services hunt the killers.

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February 14th

An article in the Agence France-Press uses the plight of the flower industry in Gaza to highlight the effects of Israel’s economic lockdown (5). The Boston Globe discuses Imad Mughniyeh’s life and sudden death (2.) The Foreword’s Nathan Guttman covers’ Salam Fayyad’s speech to ATFP (3) and George Hishmeh argues that a lack of action from the Bush administration has led to dwindling hope in the peace process (4.) Steven Erlanger analyzes Israel’s Gaza predicament in the International Herald Times (8).

February 13th

Hezbollah Leader Killed In Syria, Group Blames Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 13, 2008 - 5:10pm

A senior Hezbollah commander on America's most wanted list was killed in a car bombing in Syria that the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel on Wednesday, an accusation the Jewish state denied. Imad Mughnieh, who headed Hezbollah's special operations unit, died in car bombing in a residential neighbourhood of the Syrian capital late on Tuesday, Hezbollah officials said. Syrian state television reported only that one person had died in the bombing without identifying the victim but Hezbollah confirmed that it was Mughnieh who had died and accused Israel of killing him.

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