How good news became bad for Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - October 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Hasan Abu Dan still has at hand a single pair of trendy River Woman grey denim shorts, ending just above the knee and complete with Hebrew price label, to remind him of just what a traumatic year 2007 was for his family's garment business. For when Hamas seized control of Gaza after the collapse of its short-lived coalition with Fatah, and Israel imposed a total embargo on the territory in response, the Abu Dan factory was holding 100,000 pairs of the shorts, hitherto a hot-selling item in Israeli fashion stores.

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Gaza burns as Hamas declares war on drugs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - October 8, 2010 - 12:00am

They made an incongruous sight, piled on to trestle tables in the car park outside a government office. Long bundles of dried marijuana branches – known as Bango here – the chocolate bar-shaped slabs of hashish, a few still half-covered with the blue Action cheese wrapping used to smuggle them in, and the smaller grubby blocks of off-white cocaine.

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Gaza burns as Hamas declares war on drugs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - October 8, 2010 - 12:00am

They made an incongruous sight, piled on to trestle tables in the car park outside a government office. Long bundles of dried marijuana branches – known as Bango here – the chocolate bar-shaped slabs of hashish, a few still half-covered with the blue Action cheese wrapping used to smuggle them in, and the smaller grubby blocks of off-white cocaine.

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Gaza farmers harvest olives with peace activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Ahmed Aldabba, Osama Radi - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

For the first time in two months, Palestinian farmer Abdul Qader al-Basyoni, joined by international and local peace activists, managed to enter his olive farm which is dozens of meters away from the security fence separating the Gaza Strip and Israel. The 50-year-old man with grey hair, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, hurried to touch the ripe olive fruits that dangled on the branches in his deserted 20-donums (1,000 square meter) field located in the heart of a 300-meter wide no- man zone imposed by the Israeli army along its borders with the enclave in 2008.

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ATFP Hosts Gaza Business Delegation in Washington DC
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

On Friday, October 1, 2010, the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) hosted a delegation of


Gaza's troubled tunnel trade swings into reverse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - September 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Business has become so bad for Gaza's smuggler barons since Israel relaxed its blockade that tunnel traders have given up spiriting goods into the enclave, and some have even turned underground exporters. Smugglers had made fortunes hauling all manner of goods from Egypt through tunnels into Gaza, supplying 1.5 million Palestinians badly hurt by Israel's clampdown imposed in 2007 after the Islamist Hamas group took over the tiny territory.

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EU pays €3.58 million to rebuild Gaza economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The EU has contributed over €3.58 million in its second disbursement to the Palestinian Authority to aid rebuilding of Gaza's private sector, a statement issued Monday said. The EU will contribute a total of €22 million towards the project, the statement added. The Private Sector Reconstruction in Gaza program was launched by the PA following Israel's December 2008 offensive on the coastal enclave, Operation Cast Lead. The program targets businesses whose buildings and assets were destroyed in the war.

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Israel to allow 20 cars into Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel will permit the entry of private vehicles into Gaza on Monday for the first time since 2007, a Palestinian crossing official said. Raed Fattouh said 20 cars will enter the Strip, as well as oil, spare parts and rubber tires. Israel has slowly allowed the entry of car parts and oil for the first time in four years over the past week.

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PA: Exports from Gaza 'within weeks'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 17, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority will take over the administration of the southernmost Gaza-Israel crossing "within the coming weeks," Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein Ash-Sheikh told Ma'an Radio on Thursday. The official said that 95 percent of the structural changes to the crossing had already been completed, and once they were done the hand-over would be made.

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Israel to allow car parts into Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) September 13, 2010 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities said they would be allowing the entry of car oil and spare parts into Gaza on Monday for the first time since its blockade of the coastal territory was enforced in 2006, a Palestinian liaison official said. Raed Fattouh said one terminal, the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, would be open for the transfer of five truckloads of car parts and oil, as well as 165 truckloads of other goods.

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