US Senator John Kerry presses Israel on Gaza access
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 2, 2010 - 1:00am

US Senator John Kerry raised the issue of Israel’s closure of the Gaza Strip during his meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in the Middle East, his spokesman said on Monday. The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman "has long called for heightened access for humanitarian goods and foodstuffs," said spokesman Frederick Jones on the phone from Washington.

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Close Gaza tunnels? Some Palestinians say yes.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Erin Cunningham - February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak confirmed in late January that his government was planning a new wall along Egypt's border with Gaza that will descend 100 feet below the surface – to shut down the Gaza tunnels that have smuggled trade goods, people, and weapons under the border for years – merchants here rushed to stock up. Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, dubbed the structure "the wall of death."

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Palestinians Form New Faction in Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Rachelle Kliger - February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

A group of ten Palestinian figures announced the formation of a new Palestinian faction in Beirut on Wednesday. The organization, The National Body for the Protection of Permanent Rights, aims to preserve the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora, including those living in refugee camps.

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Congressman says US should break Gaza blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

The United States should break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver badly needed supplies by sea, a U.S. congressman told Gaza students. Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, also urged President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy to visit the Hamas-ruled territory to get a firsthand look at the destruction caused by Israeli's military offensive last year. The Obama administration, like its predecessor, shuns Hamas because the Islamic militant group refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

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Gaza the world is creating
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli officials say crossings into Gaza for goods and trade will remain closed for as long as Hamas remains in power in the Strip. Such words clearly constitute blackmail of the worst kind, but are not in essence that different from the position of the international community, which has acquiesced in Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip even though Hamas has demonstrably ended its rocket fire. Israel’s unashamed admission that it is willfully and deliberately starving 1.5 million people for political ends shows two things.

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Power struggle could portend a cold, dark winter in Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - February 10, 2010 - 1:00am

The Gaza Strip's beleaguered residents face worsening power outages, even as winter temperatures drop, because of a financial dispute between the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and Gaza's electricity distributor. The authority says it pays about $30 million a month to provide electricity to Gaza's 1.5 million people. But officials say the Gaza Electricity Distribution Co., which collects payments from Gaza customers, is sending back only about one-tenth of that amount from bill collections.

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Israel’s hypocrisy in Haiti
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Aijaz Zaka Syed - (Opinion) February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli hypocrisy would be comical, if its consequences weren’t so tragic. These days, Israeli media and Israel’s powerful friends in the US media have been tomtomming about the noble help and rescue mission Israelis have undertaken in the remote, quake-hit island of Haiti.

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Red Cross convoy attacked in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

A roadside explosion hit a Red Cross convoy near the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing in northern Gaza on Thursday. The device blew out the windows of one vehicle, but no-one was injured, a spokesman for the Red Cross said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and it is still unclear whether the Red Cross vehicle was the target of the attack. Red Cross convoys regularly leave and enter the Gaza Strip via the Erez route to deliver humanitarian aid. Witnesses near the scene said they believed the explosion was a roadside bomb.

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U.S.: Easing Gaza siege would help counter Goldstone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

The United States has suggested to Israel that easing the Gaza blockade would help counter the fallout from the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead a year ago. Friday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to present a report to the General Assembly on the implementation of the report's recommendations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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Israel should face international justice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Much as the world has responded generously to assist Haitians after their devastating earthquake last month, the opposite has been true about the impoverished Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been under an increasingly debilitating siege since the Israeli blitz a little over a year ago.

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