Israel's easing of Gaza blockade doesn't address banking, travel rules
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - June 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's decision to ease the impact of a three-year blockade on Gaza appears to have relieved diplomatic pressure on the Jewish state following the fatal intercept of a protest flotilla. But critics warn that the partial measure, which does not include lifting the naval blockade, may not be enough to revive Gaza's economy and relieve the distress of the 1.5 million Palestinians living there.

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Lifting Gaza blockade linked with inter-Palestinian reconciliation: Fatah official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Hamada al-Hattab, Osama Radi - June 17, 2010 - 12:00am

A Gaza-based senior official in President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party said Wednesday that ending the three-year Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip is linked with reaching an inter-reconciliation treaty. Zakareya al-Agha, member of Fatah central committee and Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua in a special interview on the occasion of Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip by force for three years that "Lifting the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is linked with reaching a real inter-Palestinian reconciliation."

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Hamas calls Israeli decision to ease siege "trick"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Gaza-ruling Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday described Israel's decision to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip as "a trick." "This is a new trick aiming at enhancing the siege's image and securing its continuation instead of lifting and ending it," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Xinhua. The Israeli security cabinet, which comprises top ministers, on Thursday approved a series of measures to increase cargo flow to the Hamas-controlled territory as a result of international criticism over the effectiveness of the sanctions that Israel has imposed three years ago to isolate Hamas.

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Hamas, UNRWA compete over entertaining Gaza children
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - June 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Mohamed Atallah, a teacher and one of the mentors in a major summer camp run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) on Gaza beachside insisted that mentors are not teaching school children any politics, but only entertaining them. On Sunday, UNRWA inaugurated its own summer camps in the Gaza Strip to entertain refugees' schoolchildren. Streets of Gaza City saw UNRWA vehicles and hundreds of UNRWA children holding summer camps flame.

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Egypt in awkward position on Gaza following Israeli attack on aid flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

With pressure building on Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Egypt finds itself in the uncomfortable position of continuing to help enforce the siege while watching Turkey outflank the region's traditional Sunni Arab heavyweights in championing the Palestinian cause.

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Israel security chief warns lifting blockade risky
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Amy Teibel - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

A top security official warned Tuesday that Israel would open itself to grave danger by lifting its three-year naval blockade of Gaza but did not oppose easing the embargo to allow more goods in through Israeli-controlled land crossings. Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency, also told parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee that Gaza militants possess 5,000 rockets, Israel's most specific estimate yet. Diskin's testimony was reported by a meeting participant who spoke on condition of anonymity because the session was closed.

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Shin Bet Chief: Hamas buying land within Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin said on Tuesday that the Islamist group Hamas was busy buying up land within the municipal territory of Jerusalem. Speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Diskin added that the central forces currently operating in East Jerusalem were the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Islamic Movement. He explained that they were competing with each other over influence and presence in the area.

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Israeli arrested over Hamas assassination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - June 14, 2010 - 12:00am

An Israeli alleged to be a Mossad agent involved in the assassination of a Hamas militant in Dubai and obtaining a German passport under a false name has been arrested in Poland. Germany is seeking the extradition of the man, said to be using the name Uri Brodsky, and believed to be the first Israeli arrested in connection with the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January.

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PA denies report Abbas maintaining Gaza siege
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority denied Israeli media reports on Sunday that President Mahmoud Abbas asked his US counterpart for a continuation of Gaza's blockade, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh told reporters on Sunday. "President Abbas had raised the issue of the necessity of lifting the blockade as a matter on a par with the fate of the peace process," Abu Rudaineh told the Palestinian Authority-run WAFA news agency about a Wednesday meeting between the two heads of state, where the request was allegedly made.

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Hamas blocks peaceful Gaza demo against buffer zone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas security forces on Monday prevented Palestinian activists from holding peaceful demonstration against an Israeli-imposed buffer zone in the Gaza Strip, organizers said. Hamas policemen seized keys of vehicles that were set to transport tens of Palestinians to demonstrate near the no-go zone to the east of southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, the Popular Committee Against Buffer Zone said in a statement.

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