Israel arrests four fishermen from the Gaza strip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel arrested four fishermen from the Gaza Strip on Friday when naval vessels intercepted their boats off the Mediterranean coast, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The incident was a rare confrontation since a June 19 truce brokered by Egypt has largely calmed violence between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokesman said navymen stopped three fishing boats early on Friday after they floated beyond Gaza's territorial waters toward Israel, and that the fishermen on board were "taken for questioning in Israel." » Read more

Palestinian laws get overhaul with little oversight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Mohammed Assadi, Adam Entous - August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm President Mahmoud Abbas and his government are rewriting economic, social and security laws for the Palestinian territories with little public oversight, Palestinian and Western officials say. Reuters has obtained hundreds of Abbas decrees and a five-year legislative plan that could transform the Palestinian political and economic systems from top to bottom, yet which few of the four million residents of the territories have heard of. » Read more

Iconic Palestinian headscarf outgrows Mideast conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm Anti-war activists and fashionistas have carried the iconic Palestinian keffiyeh across the globe, but in the West Bank producers of the headscarf are struggling to compete with Chinese imports. The black-and-white checkered scarf -- which became an international symbol of the Palestinian struggle when Yasser Arafat first sported it in the 1960s -- has since grown into a global phenomenon more and more disconnected from the land and the struggle in which it was born. » Read more

Changing the West Bank Status Quo: A Conversation with Brigadier General (ret.) Baruch Spiegel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum (Interview) August 26, 2008 - 8:00pm The current system of checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank (checkpoints are manned structures while roadblocks are unmanned) was instituted in response to the suicide bombings that began in the late 1990s. The idea behind the policy was to stop terrorists from reaching Israel by having a presence throughout the West Bank in Nablus, Jenin, and Ramallah. As a result, Palestinians must not only cross through checkpoints and go through security checks when leaving the West Bank but also when traveling through it. » Read more

Seafaring activists, Palestinians leave Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm Two boats carrying foreign peace activists who had defied an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip left the Hamas-ruled territory on Thursday for Cyprus, taking with them seven Palestinians. An Israeli official said the Israeli navy would not intercept the boats. Thousands of cheering Palestinians had welcomed the boats, carrying 44 peace activists from 17 nations, when they docked in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. A Hamas official said nine activists decided to stay in the territory in a show of solidarity with its 1.5 million inhabitants. » Read more

Palestinians: Explosive device kills farmer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm A West Bank farmer was killed early Friday when he triggered an explosive device on his way to work in his fields, a Palestinian police official said. » Read more

A biblical tragedy in Galilee ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Kim Sengupta - August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm The 2,000-year-old fishing boat of Galilee in which, the story goes, Jesus may have sailed, is one of the most precious ancient treasures in Israel. The vessel, which draws thousands of tourists to a kibbutz in Ginosar, was discovered by chance in 1986 when the sea level dropped dramatically because of a severe drought. » Read more

Abbas to hold further talks with Israel's Olmert ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet again with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The next round of talks in Jerusalem will come days after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that made little progress toward a goal of a limited peace accord before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters on Friday Abbas and Olmert would meet to "review the negotiations and the final status issues". » Read more