Fayyad cabinet says it still backs Goldstone report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 6, 2009 - 12:00am

The caretaker government in Ramallah claimed during its weekly cabinet meeting on Monday that it still supports Judge Richard Goldstone’s report on alleged war crimes in Gaza. According to a government statement, the West Bank cabinet headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that the government reaffirmed its previous stance urging the United Nations Human Rights Council to take up the report at its next session next March. It was “unacceptable” to waste an opportunity to bring alleged Israeli war criminals to justice, the cabinet said.

»

Border Control / Obama is no sucker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - October 6, 2009 - 12:00am

One minute they were getting ready at the City of David complex and the next, the prime minister was not coming. Maybe the American rescue over the Goldstone report had a price Last Wednesday passersby noticed considerable bustle on the outskirts of Silwan at the foot of the Old City walls in Jerusalem. Security guards were prowling hither and yon and workers were there was lot of business with tables. A sign announced the City of David would be closing.

»

Abbas blames aides for motion's removal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 6, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is considering firing a number of his top aides who advised him to withdraw a motion to the UN Human Rights Council regarding the findings of the commission of inquiry led by Justice Richard Goldstone into Operation Cast Lead. Abbas's decision to withdraw the motion has triggered a wave of unprecedented criticism and condemnations among Palestinians and throughout the Arab world.

»

Heavy Israeli police presence in Jerusalem; clashes feared
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli police imposed strict restrictions over Muslim worshippers coming to pray Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli sources said that men holding Jerusalemite or Israeli identity cards (blue cards) who are over fifty and women with the same ID cards who are over 45 will be permitted to enter the old city and holy sanctuary. Young men and women will be turned away, West Bank Palestinians are strictly prohibited from the area.

»

Do J'lem clashes, Gaza rockets portend worse violence?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Yaakov Katz, Abe Selig - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

The Muslim Quarter was quiet on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after clashes between Jerusalem Arabs and border policemen - which began on the Temple Mount Sunday and spread to the surrounding neighborhoods, continuing through Monday night. The recent renewed rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has been rattling nerves in the South as well. But defense officials said that they did not fear a new wave of Palestinian violence on the level of the second intifada. The clashes in Jerusalem and the rocket attacks from Gaza were not connected, they said.

»

Two die in smuggling tunnels after airstrike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Two Palestinians died as a result of a gas leak inside a smuggling tunnel along Gaza’s border with Egypt in the city of Rafah, medics said on Wednesday. Medicals at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah said Muhammad Jalal Abu Sef, 45, and Riziq Al-Masri, 28, were dead when they arrived. Thirteen others were injured as a result of the gas leak, which occurred after Israeli warplanes bombed the tunnels. It was not immediately clear if the gas leak was a direct result of the airstrikes.

»

UN scrutinises Gaza 'war crimes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The UN's main human rights watchdog has begun a debate on a damning report into Israel's military operation against Gaza eight months ago. It is seen as a test of US engagement with the Human Rights Council, which was shunned by President George W Bush. The US, which is Israel's main ally, has criticised elements of the report. The report, widely lauded by human rights groups, accuses both Israel and its militant Palestinian adversary Hamas of war crimes in the campaign.

»

Palestinians seek Barak's arrest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

A group of Palestinian families is attempting to have Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, prosecuted in Britain for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, lawyers have told Al Jazeera. A lawyer working for the families will present their case at a magistrates court in London on Tuesday before British officials decide if it has the jurisdiction to decide the case. The families are accusing Barak of committing war crimes including the assassination of a senior Palestinian minister and unlawful killing of civilians during the Gaza war at the beginning of this year.

»

U.N. Investigator Presents Report on Gaza War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nick Cumming-Bruce - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The lead investigator in a recent United Nations inquiry into the Gaza conflict warned on Tuesday that the lack of accountability for war crimes in he Middle East has “reached a crisis point” and is undermining any hope of peace. The investigator, Richard Goldstone, made his comments here as he presented the Human Rights Council with his final report on violations of human rights and international law in the three-week war in Gaza last winter, which accuses both Israel and Palestinian groups of committing atrocities.

»

Tunnel collapse in Gaza claims life of youth, injures two
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 25, 2009 - 12:00am

A Palestinian youth died and two others were injured in a tunnel collapse on Friday morning beneath the Egypt-Gaza border, medical sources confirmed. Medics at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah identified the youth as 21-year-old Bassam Adel Mubarak from the An-Nuseirat area in the central the Gaza Strip. They said his body was brought to the hospital after it was dug out of a collapsed tunnel south of the Al-Brazili neighborhood in Rafah city. Two others were brought to the hospital with injuries, they were not identified.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017