Gaza plight a crisis with a difference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Don't ask Hatem Hajaj whether there's a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Four months ago, the unemployed salesclerk's son was born with a heart blockage. Doctors told Hajaj that the baby's only hope was transfer to a Jerusalem hospital because Gaza lacked a pediatric surgery unit. While his son, Mohamed, fought to breathe on a ventilator, Hajaj spent a week gathering the transfer documents needed under Israel's strict border rules. Then there was another agonizing week, watching as his son's tiny body began to bloat as he waited for an answer.

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In boost for Hamas, top Arab diplomat visits Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Ibrahim Barzak - June 13, 2010 - 12:00am

The Arab world's top diplomat declared support Sunday for the people of blockaded Gaza in his first visit to the Palestinian territory since Hamas violently seized control of it three years ago. The visit was latest sign that Israel's deadly raid on a flotilla trying to break the blockade of Gaza has eased the diplomatic isolation of the Islamic militant group. Israel, meanwhile, appeared to grow more isolated in the fallout over the May 31 raid as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak abruptly canceled plans Sunday to visit Paris.

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Hamas welcomes PNA's decision to postpone municipal elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

Islamic Hamas movement hailed on Thursday the decision of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to put off the municipal elections scheduled for next month. "It's a positive step to delay the elections," Gaza-based Hamas official Ismail Radwan told Xinhua. Radwan added that "any elections should be held under national consensus" mainly after achieving national unity between the Palestinian factions. Earlier on Thursday, the PNA decided to postpone the municipal elections that were scheduled to take place in July, but no new date for the polls has been set yet.

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A shared strategy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ephraim Sneh - (Opinion) June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

The cumulative evidence – the Mavi Marmara’s own closed circuit TV coverage and video photos from the actual naval operation – all strengthen the conclusion that the Gaza flotilla was a well-planned provocation. What angers me as an Israeli is that the government walked right into this trap.

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Gaza, Through Fresh Eyes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

For some, it’s the relative modernity — the jazzy cellphone stores and pricey restaurants. For others, it’s the endless beaches with children whooping it up. But for nearly everyone who visits Gaza, often with worry of danger and hostility, what’s surprising is the fact that daily life, while troubled, often has the staggering quality of the very ordinary.

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Anxious Gazans trying to leave blockaded territory
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Karin Laub - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian who had to delay graduate school in Malaysia and an elderly man forced to put off eye surgery in Egypt are among thousands anxiously trying to get out of Gaza now that the blockaded territory's gateway to the world has opened just a little. A Hamas-run passenger terminal on the Gaza side of the border was packed on Tuesday with hundreds of Gazans trying to get clearance just to approach the crossing into Egypt. It was a chaotic scene, with stressed passengers arguing with overwhelmed Hamas border officials.

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Managing the Gaza blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

ISRAEL'S BLOCKADE of Gaza is crumbling. In the wake of last week's clash between Israelis commandos and militants on a relief flotilla, the world at large has condemned it; the Obama administration has called it "unsustainable." Egypt reopened its crossing into Gaza for humanitarian aid and some travel. But the solution is not as simple as simply ending the checks on sea and land traffic by Israel. What's needed is a new regime that addresses the legitimate needs of Palestinians in Gaza without further empowering Hamas and its patron, Iran.

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Israel’s Gaza policy has strengthened Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The recent attempts to break the naval blockade of Gaza are the strongest evidence that the occupation over Gaza has never ended. When the Sharon government completed the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, foreign minister Tzipi Livni planned to announce to the UN General Assembly in September 2005 that Israel no longer occupied Gaza and that the international body is now responsible for the welfare of its people. The Legal Department of the Foreign Ministry informed her that she could not make that claim.

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Israel's restrictions haven't weakened Hamas's grip over Gaza, analysts say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Three years after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody battle with its secular rival, Israel's efforts to undercut the Islamist movement's rule through a policy of isolation have largely failed, according to analysts and residents here. Hamas's security forces remain strong and in full control, while more extreme Islamist challengers are gaining influence because of an Israeli embargo that has done more to frustrate the population than to weaken Hamas's grip, analysts say.

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Israeli patrol kills 4 militants in diving gear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

An Israeli naval patrol killed at least four Palestinian militants in diving gear off the Gaza coast on Monday, Hamas security officials and the Israeli army said. "An Israeli naval patrol spotted a boat with four men in diving suits on their way to carry out a terror attack and fired at them," an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that the patrol had confirmed hitting its targets. The spokesman did not say what the army thought was the intended objective of the divers. Hamas security sources said four bodies had been found and a fifth man was missing and presumed dead.

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