Israel warns of new Gaza assault after air strikes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Gavin Rabinowitz - April 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel on Friday threatened a widescale military operation against the Gaza Strip after a string of air strikes which injured three Palestinian children following rocket attacks from the enclave. Israel's deputy prime minister, Silvan Shalom, warned that the military would soon launch a new offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip unless the rocket fire was halted. "If this rocket fire against Israel does not stop, it seems we will have to raise the level of our activity and step up our actions against Hamas," Shalom told public radio.

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Ex-US diplomats meet with Hamas officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - April 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Former US government officials, some of whom are in contact with the current administration, have met in the past months with Hamas leaders, one of the officials who participated in the talks confirmed in a conversation with Ynet on Friday.

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Gaza militants prepare for sudden Israeli military strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly - April 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian factions' armed wing on Wednesday declared a status of "preparedness" following the increasing Israeli army officials' threats to carry out a sudden military strike against its militants in the Gaza Strip, ruled by Islamic Hamas movement. Abu Obeida, spokesman of Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades expected on Wednesday that the Israeli army would carry out a sudden military strike on the Gaza Strip "in any moment" in response to last Friday's military attack southeast Gaza Strip, where two Israeli soldiers were killed.

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Gazans celebrate Egypt's Mubarak's recovery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Dozens of Palestinians gathered at the border between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt on Wednesday to celebrate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's recovery and return home. The rally, organized by the Islamic Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip, called on Mubarak to release Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian jails. "We came here today to the borderline area to send our congratulations to President Mubarak for his recovery and also to urge him to release the Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian jails," said the organizer.

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Hizbollah, Hamas and the false promise of resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

In a recent interview with Hizbollah’s Al Manar television station, Bashar al Assad, the president of Syria, was asked about the state of Syria’s relationship with Lebanon after years of tension following the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafiq al Hariri, in 2005. “Damascus cannot be neutral when one side is engaged in resistance and another is against the resistance,” he responded.

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Gaza banks on strike after de facto raid on branch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

All banks across the Gaza Strip announced a general strike on Tuesday, protesting an attack against a local branch on Monday by de facto police. Banks announced action after the Monetary Authority called on branches to respond to the attack against a Palestine Bank in the Ar-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, in which 1 million shekels was seized by de facto security forces who were executing a court order demanding the branch return the amount to the Patients' Friends Society.

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The Sons of Iran!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

It can’t be a coincidence that Hamas announced on Saturday its clashes with the Israelis in order to “deter Zionist arrogance and confront the occupation forces…and respond to the continued crimes of the ongoing occupation,” according to the Al Qassam Brigades statement, and at the same time Iran called on the Arab Summit in Libya to make tough decisions and “raise the alarm” to protect Jerusalem. The reason we say this can’t be a coincidence is because Hamas avoided responding to Israel for 14 months, so why now?

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Rocket fired by Gaza militants kills man in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
March 18, 2010 - 12:00am

A rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip killed a man inside Israel Thursday, Israeli medics said, in the first death from a rocket attack since Israel's Gaza offensive last year. Magen David Adom of Israel's emergency service said the man killed was about 30 years old and appeared to be a farm worker from Thailand employed in an agricultural community just north of Gaza. Such rocket fire was once common but has become rare since the Israeli military's Gaza campaign, which brought about a steep drop in the number of attacks launched from the Palestinian territory.

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Qaeda-labelled group claims fatal Gaza rocket
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 18, 2010 - 12:00am

GAZA, March 18 (Reuters) - A previously unknown group in the Gaza Strip calling itself Ansar al-Sunna (Followers of the Sunnis) send out an SMS message to media claiming to have fired a rocket that killed a man in Israel on Thursday. The name, which is also used by al Qaeda allies in Iraq and elsewhere, indicated that the group belongs to hardline Salafist tendencies in the Palestinian enclave which have challenged the ruling Hamas Islamist movement. Hamas has been trying to enforce an informal ceasefire between Israel and the territory.


Hamas frees British journalist in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

A British journalist left the Gaza Strip on Thursday after nearly four weeks in a Hamas-run Palestinian jail facing accusations of spying for Israel. Paul Martin, a London-based freelance film-maker and writer, said as he left the enclave for Israel: "My release today is a great victory for freedom of the media, freedom of the press, to be able to follow the difficult stories in war zones." Hamas insisted on branding him a spy for Israel but said it had decided to deport rather than prosecute Martin, who is in his 50s and also holds South African citizenship.

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