Israel Details Easing of Its Gaza Blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel on Monday announced details of the easing of its blockade of Gaza, and the Israeli defense minister held a rare face-to-face meeting here with the Palestinian prime minister in a flurry of activity apparently intended to show diplomatic momentum ahead of the Israeli prime minister’s meeting with President Obama, scheduled for Tuesday in Washington.

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Rights group says no change to Gaza siege
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Maintaining the schedule for Gaza's crossings, Israeli officials informed their Palestinian counterparts Friday that all terminals would be closed for 48 hours. Terminals will stay closed on Saturday, for the regularly scheduled Israeli weekend. Gaza crossings official Raed Fattouh said he expected terminals to reopen Sunday, and limited shipments of aid and supplies to enter, principally via the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip.

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Gaza siege damages Palestinians' health - study
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Kate Kelland - July 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian health experts studying the impact of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip say it threatens to cause long-term damage to Palestinians' health, with many children at risk of stunted growth or malnutrition. In a series of studies published in the Lancet medical journal on Friday, researchers also said Israel's attack on the region in early 2009 had a devastating effect, causing injury, displacement and social suffering, particularly among children.

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Turkish Aid From Flotilla Begins Arriving in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - July 1, 2010 - 12:00am

One month after Israeli commandos killed nine Turks in a raid on a flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade, the ships’ cargo of aid has begun to arrive here by land, starting Wednesday with 82 second-hand battery-powered scooters for the handicapped. In the same pipeline are hundreds more scooters, hospital beds, drugs, crutches and surgical tools, building materials, food and clothing, said Mahmoud Daher, a health officer for the World Health Organization here.

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U.S. envoy welcomes Israeli steps to relax Gaza blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - July 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's first steps toward easing its blockade of the Gaza Strip were welcomed Wednesday by the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East as he visited this crossing where goods are transferred to the Palestinian territory.

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'Flotilla passengers were tortured'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
July 1, 2010 - 12:00am

The organization which sent the Gaza aid flotilla which was intercepted by the IDF earlier this month, released a report Thursday outlining the events of the raid. Describing the goal of the aid flotilla as "completely civilian in nature" and "carrying the conscience of the world," the report categorized the IDF interception as a terrorist attack carried out by the Israeli government in "international waters against civilians who had come together for peaceful purposes."

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Better late than never
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) June 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli government decision to end its three-year blockade of civilian goods entering the Gaza Strip is a welcome move. Sadly, it came about a year too late, and its timing and circumstances benefited the wrong parties. That's because the Netanyahu government (in all fairness, like many of its predecessors) seems to do the right thing only under heavy pressure.

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The Freedom Flotilla or Other Something Else?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Diana Mukkaled - (Opinion) June 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Initially I believed that the mechanisms used to publicize the Freedom Flotilla in support of the Palestinians in Gaza were justified because of the nobility of the cause of breaking the blockade. The cause deserves our efforts to be creative in mobilizing public opinion. However, I could not help but fall into the trap of comparing between the eye-catching advertisements run by travel agencies at the beginning of every summer and the propaganda campaigns launched by the sponsors of new voyages.

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U.S. Says Sea-Bound Aid to Gaza Is Irresponsible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Washington — The Obama administration said sea-bound aid to Gaza is “irresponsible.” “Mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by member states and groups that want to do so,” a U.S. State Department release said Wednesday, in response to a reporter’s question about Lebanese plans to ship aid to the Gaza Strip. “Direct delivery by sea is neither appropriate nor responsible, and certainly not effective, under the circumstances.”

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IDF will boost trucks to Gaza by 200%
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - June 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The IDF plans to increase the number of truckloads into Gaza by over 200 percent; a move which will bring it close to pre-blockade levels, according to the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories. Israeli and Palestinian activists have warned that evaluating Israel’s closure policy simply by counting the number of truckloads is misleading. What is significant is the type of goods and their route of passage; an issue, which makes the difference between a meaningful and meaningless increase, they have said.

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