Israeli raid on Gaza Freedom Flotilla killed US citizen Furkan Dogan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Scott Peterson - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

An American-Turkish dual citizen killed during an Israeli commando raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla was among activists buried in Turkey on Thursday. Furkan Dogan was struck by five bullets shortly before dawn on Monday while atop the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ship, according to friends who were on board at the time of the Israeli raid and attended the funeral for eight of the nine Turks who died.

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Patrick Cockburn: PR dangerously distorts the Israeli sense of reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
(Opinion) June 2, 2010 - 12:00am

An old Israeli saying describing various less-than-esteemed military leaders says: "He was so stupid that even the other generals noticed." The same derisive remark could be applied almost without exception to the present generation of Israeli politicians.

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Flotilla attack: 'First the shots, then the ship was turned into a lake of blood'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The first accounts of activists involved in Israel's devastating raid on a flotilla of aid for Gaza sharply contradicted Israel's official version of events, with one passenger insisting that commandos opened fire before they boarded. Nilufer Cetin, a Turkish woman who had been on the Mavi Marmara, which bore the brunt of the Israeli raid, said that the ship had "turned into a lake of blood" and she and her one-year-old child had to hide in a bathroom.

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Mossad chief: Israel gradually becoming burden on U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - June 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Mossad Chief Meir Dagan said on Tuesday that Israel is progressively becoming a burden on the United States. "Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden," said Dagan, speaking before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Dagan said that the U.S. government has recently examined the possibility of coercing a settlement on Israel and the Palestinians, but retreated from the idea after realizing it would not lead to a peace agreement.

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IDF outlines rules of engagement in populated areas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - May 28, 2010 - 12:00am

For the first time, the IDF has produced a document defining rules of engagement for the military during combat in areas of civilian population. It incorporates lessons gleaned from Operation Cast Lead, the Goldstone report and reports by human rights groups on IDF activities in Gaza. The document, prepared two weeks ago in the IDF's Concepts and Doctrine Section headed by Colonel Meir Finkel, is the army's first attempt to formulate a theory regarding IDF commanders' expected conduct during combat in a populated area.

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Officer accused of killing Naalin boy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eli Senyor - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The Ramla Magistrates' Court was handed an indictment against a former Border Guard officer Tuesday, accusing him of causing death of an 11-year old boy during an anti-fence protest in Naalin in 2008. The indictment charges the officer, Omri Abu, with causing death by negligence. It says he shot live fire in the direction of the boy, Ahmed Moussa, and a group of protestors without justification and in total violation of IDF guidelines.

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Hamas: We caught Egyptian spy in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas' Interior Minister Fathi Hamad on Monday revealed that security forces recently arrested a senior Egyptian officer that infiltrated into the Gaza Strip in order to collect information on its residents and the Hamas government. Hamad added that the officer "was intending to perform other tasks," on which he did not elaborate.

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Gaza assailants vandalize UN summer camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Rizek Abdel Jawad - May 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Armed assailants in black masks burned and vandalized a U.N. summer camp site Sunday and left behind three bullets next to written death threats against U.N. officials — the latest escalation of tensions between Islamic extremists and U.N. representatives in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Also Sunday, a U.N. agency reported that three-quarters of the damage inflicted on Gaza by Israel's war against Hamas more than a year ago has not been repaired or rebuilt. The report warned that the international community is being increasingly sidelined in Gaza because of Israel's blockade of the territory.

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Hamas downplays Israel's threats to re-occupy Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Islamic Hamas movement downplayed on Tuesday reports of Israeli plans to re-occupy the Gaza Strip and appoint an Israeli military governor to run the coastal enclave that is now controlled by Hamas. "It's a meaningless psychological war that aims at reducing the morale of the Palestinian people and their resistance," Hamas spokesperson, Fawzi Barhoum, told Xinhua.

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Palestinian boy shot, sources say by settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian boy was shot dead by settlers, security sources confirmed late on Thursday, saying the child was targeted after throwing stones at his attackers' car. Military sources told Israeli media that the boy's body was found, but did not confirm that the cause of death was shooting and said an investigation would be launched into the incident. However, the sources did confirm shots fired in the area, as well as reports that children were throwing rocks at settler cars.

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