November 18th, 2008

Israel to free 250 Palestinian prisoners in goodwill gesture to Abbas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that 250 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in a goodwill gesture, as Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas urged Israel to maintain the Gaza truce. The pair met in Occupied Jerusalem for the first time in two months, amid rising tension in and around the besieged Gaza Strip. » Read more

Is Obama a Middle East ‘splitter’? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Gideon Rachman - November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Historians are sometimes divided into lumpers and splitters. The splitters like to chop problems up into lots of small bits. The lumpers like to link them altogether. Would-be Middle East peacemakers can be categorised in the same way. The lumpers want a “comprehensive peace settlement” that links together all the problems in the region – Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel-Palestine, even Iran. The splitters want to deal with all these problems separately. » Read more

Israelis and Palestinians find peace on the playground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli and Palestinian youngsters are finding some common ground on a school playground. Basketball games, hosted in Jerusalem by Hand in Hand, one of the few Israeli public schools where Jews and Arabs study together, are giving youths aged 10 to 16 a chance to try to bridge a wide political and religious divide. "I'm not afraid but I'm tense," said Azeza Shiquart, 15, of the village of Jabal Mukaber, in the occupied West Bank on the edge of Arab East Jerusalem, preparing for her first basketball game against Jewish teenagers from west Jerusalem. » Read more

New IDF Gaza commander to take post ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm A changing of the guard at the helm of the IDF's Gaza Division is to take place Wednesday morning, despite the continued Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. Last week, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi postponed the ceremony, at which Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eizenberg is to replace Brig.-Gen. Moshe Tamir. That move was interpreted as a possible indicator that Israel was considering launching a wide-scale operation inside Gaza. "This is not the case," a senior IDF source said Tuesday. "Israel is working to keep the cease-fire alive and Hamas ultimately wants the same." » Read more

Israel Renews Blockade Of Gaza Crossings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel resealed border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, blaming continued rocket fire at its towns, despite warnings from world aid groups of looming shortages of food and fuel in the coastal territory. Israel had allowed 33 truckloads of supplies into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop there. » Read more

IDF to move Gaza fugitives to Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Erfat Weiss - August 3, 2008 - 8:00pm Most of the Fatah members who escaped from the Gaza Strip following clashes with Hamas will be transferred to the West Bank, the defense establishment decided Monday morning after two days of consultations. The incident began on Saturday, when members of the Fatah-affiliated Hilles clan surrendered to Hamas forces in Gaza. Many of the family members began moving towards the Nahal Oz crossing. » Read more

Palestinian shot by Border Guard in Naalin dies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 3, 2008 - 8:00pm Ahmed Amira, an 18-year-old Palestinian who was critically injured in the West Bank village of Naalin about a week ago, died of his wounds at a Ramallah hospital Monday morning. Amira, who was shot by Border Guard forces during clashes in the village, had been in a state of brain death in the past few days. He was wounded a day after an 11-year-old boy was killed by an Israeli Border Guard policeman in Naalin. » Read more

PA dismisses 1,000 Hamas-affiliated officers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 3, 2008 - 8:00pm The Palestinian Authority has dismissed some 1,000 police and security officers suspected of being affiliated with Hamas supporters or connected to the movement controlling Gaza, on the backdrop of fears that the recent clashes in the Strip would spread to the West Bank. » Read more

Palestinian teenager dies after being shot by Israeli forces ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm A Palestinian youth targeted by Israeli forces in clashes last week died on Monday, hospital officials said. Eighteen-year-old Yousef Amira was shot during a July 30 clash between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators that followed the funeral of a 10-year-old boy killed by Israeli forces a day earlier near the West Bank village of Nilin, Palestinian officials said. Amira was struck in the head by what Palestinian medical workers described as a rubber bullet.

Five Palestinians die in Egypt-Gaza border tunnel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News August 1, 2008 - 8:00pm At least five Palestinians suffocated to death while digging a smuggling tunnel beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border, hospital workers said. Eleven others were also injured during the incident on Friday. Witnesses said the tunnel was being dug to smuggle goods from Egypt into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Many Gazans use tunnels to bypass an Israeli blockade that was tightened after Hamas fighters seized the coastal strip last year.