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Ill youth from Gaza, who for 16 days was denied entry to Israel to receive treatment, dies in East Jerusalem hospital, January 2011
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from B'Tselem March 16, 2011 - 12:00am On 4 December 2010, Mahmoud a-Najar, 15, from Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, was diagnosed as having leukemia. Physicians at a-Shifaa Hospital, in Gaza City, referred him to Augusta Victoria Hospital, in East Jerusalem, where he was given an appointment for 28 December. |
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Israel builds fence around village of Ghajar
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Israel erected up to 200 meters of barbed wire fencing and several observation posts around the occupied village of Ghajar Sunday, according to reports from the south. “Israeli soldiers of occupation pursued their laying of barbed wires around the occupied village of Ghajar in south Lebanon with the apparent purpose of strengthening their hold on the occupied section of the village,” the state-run National News Agency reported. |
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Hamas and Israel in border clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel yesterday, while Israeli troops killed two Palestinians along the volatile border with Gaza. It came a day after Palestinian militants fired about 50 mortar bombs into Israel – the heaviest assault since an Israeli offensive two years ago. Both Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel have largely honoured an informal ceasefire since the 2009 war. The Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for yesterday's rocket attack. No one was hurt. |
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Hamas Invites Abbas to Gaza, Then Rolls Up Welcome Mat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Miller - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am As Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas prepares an historic visit to the Gaza Strip, heeding an invitation by his arch-rival, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, doubts have begun to arise as to whether there will be anyone to greet him upon arrival. Haniyeh invited Abbas on March 15 to Gaza to take part in reconciliation talks. Abbas responded the following day by saying he was prepared "to go to Gaza tomorrow." But on Saturday a Hamas official in Damascus poured cold water on Abbas' eagerness, comparing him to Arab dictators who are being challenged by the masses across the Arab world. |
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Hamas split over Abbas offer to visit Gaza for unity talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s offer to visit the Gaza Strip has sparked a dispute within Hamas, sources there said on Sunday. Last week, Abbas announced his readiness to travel to the Gaza Strip, for the first time since 2007, to hold talks with Hamas leaders on the formation of a Palestinian unity government. The announcement came shortly after Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh invited Abbas to urgent talks in the Gaza Strip to discuss ways of ending the feud between the two sides. |
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Why the Arab revolt may be good for democracy – and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Fabio R. Fiallo - (Opinion) March 20, 2011 - 12:00am Concerns have been voiced over the possibility that today’s turmoil in the Arab world might be hijacked by Islamist movements with totalitarian designs, among them the destruction of Israel. The toppling of Iran’s shah in 1979 is given as a salient example of an autocracy being replaced by an even more despotic regime. Legitimate as they undoubtedly are, these concerns should not overlook the fact that the Arab region may be ripe for a democratic turn averse to Islamic fundamentalism. |
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Analysis: Gaza escalation shows IDF deterrence eroding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - (Analysis) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am When Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz took up his post as Israel’s 20th chief of General Staff in mid-February, the Egyptian revolution had only recently succeeded in toppling Hosni Mubarak – and concern was mounting in Israel over a possible takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood. That concern has not disappeared, and will likely manifest itself in the new multiyear plan that Gantz quickly drafted since taking office, to be presented next week to the cabinet for approval. But like many of his predecessors, Gantz has found himself facing a far more immediate threat from the Gaza Strip. |
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Hamas digging ‘terror tunnels’ along border with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Facing a possible new conflict against Hamas, concern is growing within the IDF regarding increased efforts by Palestinian terrorist groups to dig tunnels under the border that could be used to infiltrate into Israel and perpetrate attacks. According to IDF sources, the number of tunnels has grown in recent years. Hamas is under orders to dig “terror tunnels” along the border. Hamas has split into five different regional brigades – north, Gaza City, central Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah. The exact number of tunnels is unknown to the IDF. |
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Arab victim 'stabbed 10 times by haredim'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hassan Shaalan - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am Alber Halul, who was stabbed Saturday night by a group of masked men he claims are haredim, recounted the attack Sunday. "They threatened to shoot us if we resisted and stabbed me 10 times – in my head, my leg, and my neck," he told Ynet. Halul, a 22-year old Christian Arab from the Galilee town of Gush Halav, was assaulted while with a group of friends at Ein Zeitim forest, near Safed. |
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Military Intelligence monitoring foreign left-wing organizations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am Military Intelligence is collecting information about left-wing organizations abroad that the army sees as aiming to delegitimize Israel, according to senior Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces officers. The sources said MI's research division created a department several months ago that is dedicated to monitoring left-wing groups and will work closely with government ministries. In recent weeks, the head of the new unit has been taking part in discussions in the Prime Minister's Office about how to prepare for the possible arrival of a Gaza-bound flotilla in May. |