Fayyad calls for lifting Gaza siege
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister of the caretaker government Salam Fayyad called Thursday for lifting the siege on Gaza. Following talks with South African foreign affairs chief Ibrahim Ismail Ibrahim in his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Fayyad affirmed the necessity of lifting the siege to enable the Palestinian Authority to begin rebuilding Gaza by implementing developmental and vital projects similar to those being accomplished in the West Bank.

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One Laptop Per Child reaches Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The UN in the Gaza Strip has begun distributing thousands of laptop computers to children in its schools. The rugged laptops are made by the non-profit organisation One Laptop Per Child, which aims to give a computer to every child in the developing world. One Laptop Per Child say computers are a good way of improving the education of children living in poverty. Humanitarian conditions have deteriorated in the Gaza Strip in the last three years, the UN says.

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Gaza…The Next Explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Arabs might be taken by surprise by the situation in the Gaza Strip blowing up at any moment; all the signs indicate that the situation on the street has reached boiling point and that divisions between the Hamas leaders, as well as divisions between Hamas and its other allies in the Gaza Strip, have increased.

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Gaza police accuse Egypt in deaths of 4 tunnellers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian police accused Egyptian security forces of killing four smugglers from the Gaza Strip and injuring three others on Wednesday by blowing up their cross-border tunnel. Under pressure from Israel and the United States, Egypt has tried to stem the secret passages from its Sinai peninsula, which have allowed Palestinians in Gaza to import weapons and commercial goods in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade.

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Gaza is the fuel for Muslim world's anti-Israel struggle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Haggai Alon - (Opinion) April 27, 2010 - 12:00am

The events of the past few days have created two illusions. One is that Israel and the United States are equal; the other is that the problem is Jerusalem. These illusions are dangerous for Israel, in that they create a dangerous diplomatic perception and self-image.

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Gaza Strip moves to preserve its abundant ancient treasure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Erin Cunningham - April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Better known for its long-running conflict, the Gaza Strip also has a reputation as an archaeological treasure-trove. When laborers stumbled on an ancient hoard of 1,300 silver coins and the walls of a 3,300-year-old city in the southern town of Rafah in January, it was a fresh reminder that the tiny territory maintains a rich past. At least a dozen major empires have conquered this tiny territory – including the Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, and British. They left behind everything from walled fortresses to alabaster jewelry to bronze weaponry.

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Easing of Gaza blockade shows more can be done-UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Patrick Worsnip - April 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's recent easing of its blockade of Gaza is inadequate but shows restrictions could be lifted further without compromising the Jewish state's security, the top U.N. official in Gaza said on Thursday. Israel tightened controls on the Palestinian territory three years ago after Hamas Islamists seized control there, but in recent weeks has allowed in some goods it used to ban, such as clothes and shoes, wood and aluminum.

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Gaza tunnel is cash cow for smugglers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - April 16, 2010 - 12:00am

The last time Ibrahim Qishta did any business through the vast tunnel network under the Egypt-Gaza border it involved three sheep. Unusually, however, for the underground trade that constitutes Gaza’s lifeline to the outside world, the 60-year-old farmer was exporting. “It’s not a huge trade,” Mr Qishta said on Monday. “The Egyptians are not looking to import livestock for meat, but in order to breed them.”

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Aluminum to enter Gaza after 3-year Israeli ban
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has informed the Palestinian Authority that aluminum and wood will be permitted entry into Gaza, officials said Monday. The announcement was made by Nasser As-Seraj, assistant undersecretary in the Ministry of National Economy, and was confirmed by Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh. Fattouh told Ma'an that the first truckload of wood is expected to enter Gaza on Thursday -- the first delivery for over three years -- but that it remains unclear when the transfer of aluminum is expected.

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Palestinians in Gaza face new challenge -- taxes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas has begun taxing Gaza street vendors and shopkeepers, raising speculation the ruling Islamist group is in a financial crisis fuelled partly by Egypt's building of a border wall to stop smuggling tunnels. Experts said on Monday that perhaps only a few dozen of the hundreds of tunnels are still functional as a result of the steel wall being pounded deep into the ground along the 14-km (8-mile)-long frontier.

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