February 2nd

Explosive devices float onto Israeli beaches ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ori Lewis - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am At least two explosive devices have washed up on Israeli beaches in what security officials described on Tuesday as an attempt by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to attack Israel. On Monday, sappers detonated one such device on a Mediterranean beach in the southern city of Ashkelon a few kilometres (miles) north of the Gaza Strip, police said. Another was discovered further north on a beach in the port city of Ashdod. » Read more

Haniyeh: Hamas isn't afraid of elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 2, 2010 - 1:00am De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that Hamas seeks national reconciliation and is not afraid of elections "because we came to move forward and take responsibility and we will not back down under any circumstances." His remarks came during a ceremony honoring Gaza Transportation Minister Usama Al-Isawy. Haniyeh pointed out that the transportation sector has developed in a variety of ways, including new parking standards and the removal of unregistered cars, which he said once threatened residents' safety. » Read more

Swap talks over, Hamas official says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 2, 2010 - 1:00am Prisoner swap negotiations with Israel will be stopped for an undetermined period of time, a Hamas official said, blaming the alleged assassination of a military wing co-founder, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. A senior official in Hamas, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Saudi daily Ukath that the 20 January assassination, allegedly carried out by agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, thwarted talks aimed at securing the release of some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one captured Israeli soldier. » Read more

Palestinian parliament expires four years after Hamas electoral upset ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Erin Cunningham - January 26, 2010 - 1:00am Four years after Hamas won an upset victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, prompting swift international sanctions and a Western-led diplomatic boycott, the mandate for the parliament it dominated officially expired on Monday. According to the Palestinian Constitution, new parliamentary elections should have been held Sunday, Jan. 24, in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But continued political division between the West Bank, governed by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, has delayed the elections indefinitely. » Read more

Israel admission on white phosphorus doesn't settle larger debate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - February 1, 2010 - 1:00am The revelation by Israel that two senior military officers have been reprimanded for using white phosphorus in last year’s Gaza war has been met with both criticism and measured applause; Haaretz columnist Amos Harel welcomed it under the headline, “At Last, A Real Response.” » Read more

No charges to be filed in case of American injured in protest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - February 1, 2010 - 1:00am Israeli officials have said they will not file charges against police involved in injuring Tristan Anderson, a U.S. resident who suffered brain damage when he was struck in the head with a tear gas canister during a West Bank protest in March. Anderson, 38, remains hospitalized in Israel. Officials said there was no criminal intent on the part of the police. » Read more

February 1st

War crimes in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) February 1, 2010 - 1:00am The Feb. 5 deadline for the Palestine Authority and Israel to respond to allegations in the Goldstone Report that Israel committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during last year’s Gaza war will most likely come and pass. Israel roundly rejected the Goldstone Report; Gaza’s authorities accepted its findings in full. » Read more

Israel should evolve ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Stuart Reigeluth - (Opinion) February 1, 2010 - 1:00am In case there is any doubt: Israel really needs to change its discourse. What we hear from Israeli leaders, what we see in the mass media, it's all distraction, the noxious kind that blinds even those who propagate such a discourse from seeing another reality. On Wednesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres, a slippery politician who follows the flows of power like a parasite, stood at the podium in the German Bundestag (parliament) and adjusted his glasses and thick wad of papers. » Read more

No relief for the Palestinians while Israel enjoys impunity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Andrew Phillips - (Opinion) February 1, 2010 - 1:00am To visit Gaza for a third time in five years still induces a gut reaction of pity, depression and anger – pity at the hopeless, helpless plight of the Palestinians; depression about their future and, ironically, that of Israel too; and anger at the latter's cynical policies – and impunity. » Read more

In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Robert Fisk - January 30, 2010 - 1:00am Area C doesn't sound very ominous. A land of stone-sprinkled grey hills and soft green valleys, it's part of the wreckage of the equally wrecked Oslo Agreement, accounting for 60 per cent of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was eventually supposed to be handed over to its Palestinian inhabitants. » Read more