Israel's new friend: Why Greece is thwarting Gaza flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - July 5, 2011 - 12:00am

An unexpected player has come to Israel's aid in thwarting this year's Gaza-bound flotilla: Greece. It's a country Israel has been courting since a raid on last year's flotilla ended in the death of nine Turkish citizens, severely damaging relations between the Jewish state and one of its most important Mediterranean allies. Desperate for new friends in the region, Israel reached out to Greece, offering generous military assistance to the debt-ridden state.

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A Palestinian View: We are ready for freedom and independence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Blog) July 4, 2011 - 12:00am

After its last meeting, the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization announced officially its intention to go to the United Nations to seek the help of the international community in ending Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, achieving freedom and independence and enjoying the legitimate rights of self-determination in accordance with international law and United Nations resolutions.

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Sabotaging Freedom Flotilla II
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
by Richard Falk - (Opinion) July 2, 2011 - 12:00am

The reports that two of the foreign flagged ships planning to be part of the ten vessel Freedom Flotilla II experienced similar forms of disabling sabotage creates strong circumstantial evidence of Israeli responsibility.

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Israel's Gaza sea blockade is an act of self-defense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Amos Guiora - (Opinion) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Self-defense against threats to national security and individual citizens is a core right and duty of all nation-states. No one seriously disagrees. And yet this week, the Mediterranean Sea will once again be the site of a dangerous attack on this basic right.

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Israeli security chiefs differ on Gaza flotilla's potential danger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 30, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's security establishment is at odds over the scope of threat posed by an aid flotilla that had planned to set sail to the Gaza Strip in coming days, and over predictions that violence will ensue if Israel tries to block it. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has played down military assessments in recent days that pro-Palestinian activists are gearing up for violent clashes with Israeli navy troops to be dispatched to intercept the 10-vessel flotilla.

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Hysteria, ‘hasbara’ and the flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) June 29, 2011 - 12:00am

I just love Israel’s “hasbara” campaign against Freedom Flotilla 2. I mean, butter wouldn’t melt in these people’s mouths. “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” says Ehud Barak. Gazans are “importing televisions and plasma screens, and exporting agricultural products to the entire Arab world,” says IDF chief Benny Gantz. Yes, Gaza is economically on the mend – but not because of Israel’s good intentions; rather, despite its bad intentions.

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Israel ramps up campaign against Gaza aid flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — As organizers of a flotilla seeking to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip prepare to embark on their voyage, Israeli officials are mounting an increasingly vocal campaign to discredit the activists, depicting them as planning violence against troops preparing to intercept the ships.

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This time, Israel can pass the test of the Gaza flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Friends of Israel, countries and individuals that sincerely wish Israelis well, should send a message this week: Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Barak, for your sake, for Israel's sake, let the flotilla sail to Gaza. Do the right thing this time. Let it go. Many other challenges are vying for your attention. You have yet to forge a coherent policy regarding the September Palestinian UN initiative. Five years to the week that Hamas captured Gilad Shalit in Israel and brought him to Gaza, the terms of a possible exchange deal deserve close attention.

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Avoid Gaza Flotilla, Israel Warns Foreign Journalists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 26, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel threatened Sunday to bar for up to a decade any foreign journalist who boards a flotilla seeking to challenge an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Oren Helman, the director of the Government Press Office, sent a letter to registered foreign correspondents here asserting that the flotilla, scheduled to sail this week, was illegal and that participation in it, even as a reporter, was “liable to lead to participants being denied entry into the State of Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions.”

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Israel to Allow Building Cargo to Enter Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Tuesday that it had agreed to allow a United Nations agency to bring building materials for 1,200 new housing units and 18 new schools into Gaza, one of the largest construction projects in the Palestinian coastal strip in years. An Israeli military spokesman said the project came in addition to 130 others, including 14 schools, approved for construction by various agencies in Gaza.

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