October 2nd

UN: number of `abject poor' in Gaza triples
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ben Hubbard - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The number of Gazans living in "abject" poverty has tripled this year to 300,000, or one in five residents, the Gaza head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees said Thursday. Gaza's economy has foundered under an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade imposed after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007 from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. John Ging, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's top official in Gaza, called the rise in poverty a "predictable consequence" of the border blockade.

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Heavy Israeli police presence in Jerusalem; clashes feared
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli police imposed strict restrictions over Muslim worshippers coming to pray Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli sources said that men holding Jerusalemite or Israeli identity cards (blue cards) who are over fifty and women with the same ID cards who are over 45 will be permitted to enter the old city and holy sanctuary. Young men and women will be turned away, West Bank Palestinians are strictly prohibited from the area.

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Hamas vows to maintain ceasefire - if Israel reciprocates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas prefers peace to war but will nonetheless resume armed resistance if Israel opts to continue regular attacks on Gaza, senior Hamas leader Ahmad Yousef explained. The official, who serves as an advisor to Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on foreign affairs, said that the current ceasefire between the Islamic movement and Israel was for the benefit of Palestinians in the Strip, but that Hamas reserved the right to defend them.

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Can the Muppets Make Friends in Ramallah?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Samantha Shapiro - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

This season’s episodes of “Shara’a Simsim,” the Palestinian version of the global “Sesame Street” franchise, were filmed in a satellite campus of Al-Quds University, a ramshackle four-story concrete structure that houses the school’s media department and a small local television station. The building sits in an upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah, not far from the edge of the Israeli settlement Psagot. Like many structures on the West Bank, the Al-Quds building seems to be simultaneously under construction and decaying into a ruin.

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Palestinians say Goldstone report 'remains alive'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian diplomats in Geneva say a U.N. report on war crimes in Gaza "remains alive" despite dropping their support for a resolution endorsing the 575-page document. Deputy ambassador Imad Zuhairi says the resolution in the U.N. Human Rights Council was deferred to March to get more of the body's 47-members on board. He denies that the surprise decision to delay the resolution came after heavy pressure from the United States. Washington and its close ally Israel have rejected the report compiled by a U.N. team led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone.

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Palestinians Halt Push on War Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil MacFarquhar - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said Thursday. The Americans argued that pushing the report now would derail the Middle East peace process that they are trying to revive, diplomats said.

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October 1st

Israel agrees to release 20 Palestinian women and girl prisoners in exchange for a video of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The Israeli Air Force again attacks tunnels in southern Gaza after militants launch a project to into southern Israel. VOA profiles Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Speculation continues about the prospects of a third intifada. Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel will not investigate its conduct during the Gaza war, but several commentators defend the Goldstone report. Nathan Guttman examines new "PA only" visas Israel is issuing mainly to Arab-Americans. Asharq Al-Awsat interviews Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman about Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Hussein Ibish looks at the reasons behind the new US re-engagement in Israel-Palestinian diplomacy.

Goldstone's Gaza probe did Israel a favor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel should thank Judge Richard Goldstone and his commission's important report. After subjecting him to useless, automatic mudslinging, Israel suddenly realized that it should finally investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead. Why? What happened? The ground has started to tremble under the feet of a number of Israeli statesmen and officers.

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Report: Shin Bet foot-dragging keeping Gazans from doctors visits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

The slow response of the Shin Bet security service to requests by Palestinians seeking to leave the Gaza Strip for medical care via the Erez crossing was the main reason that more than one third of such applicants missed their medical appointments between January and August 2009, according to a new report.

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Netanyahu nixes call for Israeli inquiry into Gaza war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed the idea of setting up an inquiry committee into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip as a means of dealing with the Goldstone Commission's report.

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