Gaza tunnel smugglers cutting through Egypt's wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karoun Demirjian - July 23, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian tunnel smuggler with a blowtorch sliced through an underground steel wall early Thursday, the latest of what officials say are hundreds of holes cut into the Egyptian barrier meant to stop smuggling of goods, cash and weapons to the blockaded, Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Smugglers say the wall was never a serious obstacle, and they are far more worried about competition from consumer goods being brought to Gaza legally, now that Israel has eased its closure of the Palestinian territory. Rare Associated Press Television News footage showed the smuggler breaching the wall.

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Israel gives Gaza banks NIS 100M
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - July 21, 2010 - 12:00am

The Political-Security Cabinet convened Wednesday to discuss Israel's blockade policy in the Gaza Strip. It was stated during the meeting that Israel had transferred NIS 50 million ($12.96 million) to Gaza banks for the payment of salaries on Monday and that an additional NIS 50 million will be transferred in the coming days. Banks in the Gaza Strip have suffered a cash shortage following an increase in trade stemming from blockade easements.

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With blockade's easing, some Gaza factories revive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - July 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Some of the hundreds of Gaza factories idled by Israel's blockade are cranking up rusty machines to can tomatoes, mix concrete and press pills again now that Israel is allowing in raw materials for the first time in three years. But Israel's recent easing of the closure appears unlikely to get Gaza's battered economy back on its feet.

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Gaza’s First Development Project in Years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Benjamin Joffe-Walt - July 20, 2010 - 12:00am

A group of Palestinian IT entrepreneurs have launched the first internationally funded economic development project in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the coastal strip. The project, “EnTeG_: Enable Technology sector Growth in Gaza”, aims to help Gazan software developers use the Internet to get around Israeli export restrictions. The French Development Agency will grant 500,000 euros to the Palestinian Information Technology Association of Companies (PITA) to create the Gaza Strip’s first private sector development project in years. PITA announced receipt of the grant on Monday.

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EU, PA launch program to rebuild Gaza economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 19, 2010 - 12:00am

The EU and the Palestinian Authority officially launched the Private Sector Reconstruction in Gaza program Sunday. The launch coincides with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s visit to the besieged Strip, where she saw two of the 203 companies to benefit from the scheme. In total the EU will contribute €22 million to the program initiated by the PA in the aftermath of Israel’s war on Gaza which began December 2008, a statement said. Together, the PA and EU will target businesses which were destroyed by the attack, providing machinery, building materials and office furniture.

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Trapped by Gaza Blockade, Locked in Despair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Michael Slackman - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY — The women were bleary-eyed, their voices weak, their hands red and calloused. How could they be expected to cook and clean without water or electricity? What could they do in homes that were dark and hot all day? How could they cope with husbands who had not worked for years and children who were angry and aimless? Sitting with eight other women at a stress clinic, Jamalat Wadi, 28, tried to listen to the mental health worker. But she could not contain herself. She has eight children, and her unemployed husband spends his days on sedatives.

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Gaza's smuggling-tunnel millionaire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Jon Donnison - July 10, 2010 - 12:00am

While many Gazans live in poverty, one Gazan refugee has used the illegal network of tunnels which enable goods to be smuggled into Gaza to build a millionaire's empire. Maybe, like most people in Gaza, I had been watching a little bit too much of the World Cup. But sitting on Abu Nafez's lush sprinkler-assisted lawn outside his palatial home in the southern Gaza Strip, I kept thinking it was a bit like meeting a Premiership footballer.

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ANALYSIS-In Gaza, Hamas may have weathered worst of storm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - (Analysis) July 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The worst could be over for Hamas whose rule in Gaza has survived three years of economic blockade and a full-scale Israeli military onslaught. The Islamist group is starting to see cracks in Israeli and Western policies that have made governing Gaza no easy task. Hamas still faces Israeli hostility and international sanctions, and is hated by its Palestinian opponents, foremost among them the Fatah movement which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. For Hamas, the feeling is mutual.

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Gaza blackouts down to 8 hours per day
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 1, 2010 - 12:00am

A delivery of 250,000 liters of industrial fuel on Wednesday will allow the Gaza Power Plant to redistribute its electricity supply, providing central Gaza with 16 hours of power each day. With the infusion of fuel, the Gaza Energy Authority said in a statement, power production will once again reach 30 megawatts, bringing capacity back up to 50-60%. For the past week, blackout schedules had 12-16 hours of darkness for each area served by the power station, a schedule that will be reduced to eight hours per day as of Thursday morning.

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Gaza banks to close following forced cash withdrawal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 28, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Monetary Authority and the Banking Association in Gaza made a joint call to close all financial institutions at 11am on Monday, in anger over a forced withdrawal by Hamas police the day before. The statement said Gaza government police had stolen cash from the Bank of Palestine, though Gaza leaders said the withdrawal was based on a local court ruling, overturning the PMA decision to freeze the accounts of a local charity.

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