February 10th

UN official slams Israel for blocking textbooks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press February 10, 2009 - 1:00am Head of UNRWA operation in Gaza 'extremely frustrated' by Israel's refusal to allow paper into Strip, says new textbooks meant for children's human rights program The top UN Official in Gaza criticized Israel on Monday for blocking the shipment of paper to print textbooks for a new human rights curriculum that will be taught to children in all grades in the Palestinian territory. Israel also has refused to allow 12 truckloads of notebooks into Gaza as well as plastic sheeting which is » Read more

Amnesty accuses Hamas of eliminating opponents ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 10, 2009 - 1:00am 'Islamist group forces in Gaza engaged in campaign of abductions, deliberate and unlawful killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of collaborating with Israel,' human rights group says AFP Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Hamas of waging a campaign to kill or maim scores of Palestinian opponents in the Gaza Strip since the end of December. The human rights group said in a report that at least two dozen men have been shot dead by gunmen from the Palestinian militia that governs the Gaza Strip since December 27. » Read more

UN envoy: Gaza's children traumatized by war, despite ceasefire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) February 10, 2009 - 1:00am Children in the Gaza Strip continued to suffer and feel insecure despite a ceasefire that has mostly ended three weeks of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas, the UN special envoy for children and armed conflict said Monday. Radihika Coomaraswamy said grave violations of child rights had been committed during the fighting that began on December 27 when Israel Defense Forces launched airstrikes against Hamas militants who had been firing rockets and mortars into southern Israel. » Read more

Israel election: Arabs to overtake Jewish population ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph by David Blair - February 10, 2009 - 1:00am The Israeli Right's old ambition was to keep every inch of this territory, especially the gains of the Six Day War in 1967. But demographics now underlie every calculation and, for Israelis, the facts are deeply disturbing. Today, their country has about 5.7 million Jewish inhabitants. Meanwhile, the West Bank, which Israel occupies, has 2.5 million Palestinians and the Gaza Strip another 1.5 million. The Arab minority within Israel itself numbers a further 1.4 million. » Read more

Victory in the scales of factual numbers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam by Hassan Al-Battal - February 8, 2009 - 1:00am Experts like to clutch statistics in their hands, but there are some statistics which grab journalists by the throats, especially some “marginal” statistics from the last Gaza War. These less-known statistics include the fact that 88% of the population of the Gaza Strip has become dependent on food assistance, and that 600,000 tons is the approximate weight of the rubble from destruction. » Read more

One Region, Two States ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Shimon Peres - (Opinion) February 10, 2009 - 1:00am There is no shortage of opinions when it comes to Middle East affairs, and the recent events in Gaza have not muted them. A minority of Middle East pundits have recently emerged as advocates for a one-state solution, which would undermine Israel's legitimacy and internationally recognized right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state in the land of my forefathers. Having personally witnessed the remarkable progress we have made with the Palestinian Authority in recent years, I believe that a two-state solution is not only the best resolution to this age-old conflict but one within our reach. » Read more

Palestinians Stop Paying Israeli Hospitals for Gaza and West Bank Patients ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - February 10, 2009 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Scores of Palestinian patients being treated in Israeli hospitals, a rare bright spot of coexistence here, are being sent home because the Palestinian Authority has stopped paying for their treatment, partly in anger over the war in Gaza. Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem says that for the past week, no payments have come in and Palestinians whose children it is treating have been instructed by Palestinian health officials to place them in facilities in the West Bank, Jordan or Egypt. » Read more

Violence breaks quiet of cease-fire on eve of Israel's national election ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by Ibrahim Barzak - February 10, 2009 - 1:00am GAZA CITY - Israeli aircraft struck two targets in the Gaza Strip and a Gaza militant died in a clash with troops on the border yesterday, as an official of the moderate Palestinian government accused Hamas of trying to boost hawkish candidates in Israel's election. The violence on the eve of the vote occurred as Egyptian mediators continued their efforts to cement a long-term cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, after the three weeks of intense fighting that racked the coastal territory last month. » Read more

Livni and Netanyahu level as Israeli election begins ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Rory McCarthy, Haroon Siddique - February 10, 2009 - 1:00am Israelis cast their votes today in the country's general election, with the rightwing opposition leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his rival, Tzipi Livni, the centrist foreign minister, neck and neck, according to analysts. Up to a fifth of voters were thought to be undecided hours before voting began, an unusually high number that reflected disillusionment with all candidates. After casting her vote in Tel Aviv, Livni urged people to ignore the bad weather and cast a vote for "hope". » Read more

Middle East envoy George Mitchell no stranger to conflicts Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Los Angeles Times - January 24, 2009 - 1:00am Since leaving the Senate in 1995, Mitchell has taken on one seemingly intractable problem after another, including the Northern Ireland conflict, which he helped settle. By Paul Richter and Henry Chu January 24, 2009 » Read more