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Israel passes law against mourning its existence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 23, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's parliament passed a measure on Tuesday enabling the denial of state funding to institutions that question the country's existence as a Jewish state, in a move criticised as targetting an Arab minority. The so-called Nakba Law, using the Arabic word for "catastrophe" which is how many Palestinians regard the founding of Israel, passed by a vote of 37 to 25 after an angry debate among right and left-wing lawmakers. |
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Gaza border violence in March
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 23, 2011 - 12:00am The following is a summary of reports on projectile fire, gunfights, air strikes and artillery fire in the Gaza border area since the beginning of March. 1 March Armed wings of Hamas and PFLP claim fire at Israeli forces in northern Strip. Witnesses say Israeli fire injures 22-year-old Gaza man in southern Strip. Israeli military says soldiers did not fire back at factions operating in south, AFP reports force used new "antitank" interception system. 2 March Witnesses say Israeli force enters southern Gaza under gunfire. No injuries reported. Israeli military denies fire. |
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UN's Serry condemns killing of civilians in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 23, 2011 - 12:00am The UN's envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry on Tuesday condemned Israel's killing of civilians in Gaza. On Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli tank fired at a family playing football outside their home in the eastern part of the Ash-Shaja’iya neighborhood in Gaza City. The Israeli military said it regretted harm to innocent civilians, but blamed Hamas, who it said operated in civilian areas. In a statement issued by his spokesman, Serry condemned the attack and expressed concern at the escalating situation in Gaza and southern Israel. |
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Hamas calls day of mourning; Abbas demands end to fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 23, 2011 - 12:00am Gaza government officials declared Wednesday a day of mourning, with a collective funeral in central Gaza City at midday, for the four civilians and four militants killed by Israeli fire a day earlier. Officials called on residents of Gaza to join the funeral procession. In Moscow, President Mahmoud Abbas asked the Russian foreign minister to exert pressure on Israel, and demand a halt to what he described as an "escalation" against Gaza. |
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WEST BANK: Fayyad’s five-week period to form government expires
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Five weeks after Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad dissolved his Cabinet, saying he needed to better prepare for upcoming elections and eventual statehood, he has yet to form a new government. Fayyad tendered his government resignation to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Feb. 14. According to Palestinian law, Fayyad had three weeks to form a government. The three weeks passed and Fayyad had not formed one. So he asked for two more weeks and he got them. So far everything is legal. |
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4 Palestinian civilians and 4 militants killed by Israeli fire in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Janine Zacharia - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Eight Palestinians, including four civilians and four militants, were killed Tuesday in two separate Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian spokesmen said. Israeli officials said the strikes were a response to the most serious escalation in rocket and mortar fire from the coastal territory since the 2009 Israeli offensive that sought to end such attacks. |
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Rockets From Gaza Hit Deep Into Southern Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram - March 23, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian militants fired rockets far into southern Israel late Tuesday and early Wednesday and Israel responded with airstrikes in Gaza. Tensions were running high after a stray Israeli mortar shell killed three Palestinian youths and a 60-year-old man as Israel responded to a rocket attack a day earlier. In a separate attack on Tuesday night, the Israeli Air Force killed four militants in a car, all members of Islamic Jihad, the organization and the Israeli military said. The army said the men were preparing to launch rockets at Israel. |
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Israeli army to track anti-Israel groups in Palestinian territories, abroad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 21, 2011 - 12:00am The Israeli army's Military Intelligence (MI) Directorate, or Aman, has begun an effort to collect data on left-wing organizations operating in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and abroad. The decision to increase resources and personnel for monitoring and battling attempts by pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli groups to delegitimize Israel, according to military sources, comes as a "result of the rising complexity and intensity of this threat." |
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A blow to Israeli Arabs and to democracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) March 22, 2011 - 12:00am Two or three bills are to be voted on by the Knesset today on second and third reading, each of which is inappropriate in its own right. Taken together, however, just prior to the Knesset's spring recess, they represent a discordant and worrying summation of the current Knesset session. The so-called Nakba Law has deliberately vague wording. It would bar entities receiving public funding from organizing or themselves funding any activity "which would entail undermining the foundations of the state and contradict its values." |
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Hamas vows to restore calm with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 22, 2011 - 12:00am The deposed government of Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and its armed wing al- Qassam Brigades vowed Monday to restore calm with Israel. Hamas government said in a short press statement sent to reporters that "it still respects the national factional accordance over the security situation to foil the Israeli occupation plans to overcome its crisis on the expense of our blood." Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in another statement that if the "enemy" commits not to escalate but to end the aggression, "we will be committed to calm too." |