December 1st

On Thanksgiving, not much to give thanks for in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Tim McGirk - November 25, 2008 - 8:00pm

IN Gaza, food's going fast. As you sit down to a Thanksgiving feast, please spare a thought for the starving Palestinians of Gaza. There are 1.5 million of them, most of them living hand to mouth, or on UN handouts, because Israel has them under siege. It's a vicious cycle, one that's being repeated every few months or so. The Islamic militants do something crazy, Israel strikes back, the militants fire missiles into southern Israel and then the entry points into Gaza slam shut. Food and the basic necessities of life are squeezed off to the barest minimum.

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Still talking: Annapolis one year on
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Paul Wood - November 26, 2008 - 8:00pm

At dinner in Ramallah recently, amid heaped plates of rice and chicken, a raucous but friendly political debate was going on with the usual arm waving and raised voices. One of those at the table was a tough-looking young officer in an elite unit of the Palestinian security forces. He brandished his forearm, declaring: "If you cut my veins open, the blood will fall on the ground to make the word 'Fatah'". Who was the most important enemy: Hamas or the Israelis, I asked. Hamas, everyone told me. They had to be dealt with before anything else could be accomplished.

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Analyzing the National Situation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Hassan Khader - November 30, 2008 - 1:00am

The Palestinian political struggle is not between Fatah and Hamas, but is between the Palestinian national movement as such and an armed militia that is supported by Syria, Iran, Qatar, and Muslim Brotherhood cells in the Arab world and beyond. And if both sides are accorded equal political status, then the national movement will lose.

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November 28th

The 'change'
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Washington Times (Opinion) - November 27, 2008 - 1:00am

The electoral silly season is over and it is time for a serious discussion removed from partisan passions and manipulation. Racism, the 800-pound gorilla in the American living room, has shrunk and is now no bigger than a jackass.

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November 26th

ATFP sister organization the American Charities for Palestine is featured in an article in the New York Times (1). Palestinian Security Forces continue to make progress in Hebron (2). Fatah leader Ahmed Hilles returns to the Gaza Strip after fleeing factional violence there three months ago (3). The Washington Institute for Near East Policy assesses the recent escalation in settler violence (4). The U.N. and other aid agencies ask the international community for $462 million in emergency aid for the Occupied Territories (5), as Israel allows limited supplies into Gaza (6). A Yeshiva leader is arrested for inciting Israeli youth to violence (7).

Barak: We will evacuate settlers from Hebron house, by force if necessary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Tomer Zarchin - November 25, 2008 - 8:00pm

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the state would use force to evacauate settlers illegally inhabiting a house in the West Bank city of Hebron, if the squatters do not vacate the premises voluntarily. A High Court of Justice ruling issued last week gave the settlers three days to evacuate, but a loophole was found allowing them to remain for a full 30 days before any force could to be taken.

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IDF ignoring High Court on West Bank assassinations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uri Blau - December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm

The Israel Defense Forces has assassinated wanted men in apparent defiance of High Court of Justice guidelines for such operations, according to operational briefings obtained by Haaretz. The documents reveal that the IDF approved assassinations in the West Bank even when it could have been possible to arrest the targets instead, and that top-ranking army officers authorized the killings in advance, in writing, even if innocent bystanders would be killed as well.

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Yeshiva head arrested for 'incitement'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm

Rabbi Yigal Shandrapi, the head of Yeshuat Mordechai Yeshiva, is expected to be brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Wednesday for a remand hearing, after police from the Judea and Samaria Division arrested him on Tuesday on suspicion of inciting Jewish youth to riot. According to the allegations, Shandrapi incited the teenagers two separate cases, the most recent of which occurred two months ago at the Yad Yair outpost, in the West Bank. During that incident, soldiers described being attacked and said that their vehicles were damaged.

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More aid to enter blockaded Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
November 25, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel has permitted limited aid and fuel deliveries into the Gaza Strip, which it has closed to virtually all supplies for the past three weeks. Gaza's only power plant, which is in urgent need of spare parts, is to restart at reduced capacity. Shortages and power cuts in the territory have led the UN to describe conditions there as the "worst ever". Israel says the tightening of the Gaza blockade is a legitimate response to rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

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Agencies seek $462 million in aid for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm

The U.N. and other aid agencies appealed to the international community Wednesday to send $462 million in emergency assistance to address what they said is a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. Most of the money will be used for food and cash handouts, said Maxwell Gaylard, local head of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A total of 159 emergency programs are planned in areas such as health, education, food, water and sanitation.

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