Israel ramps up efforts to block Hamas fund-raising network
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The defense establishment recently relaunched its campaign with its Western partners to block Hamas' fund-raising network, Haaretz has learned. The government, meanwhile, is considering launching an awareness campaign to highlight the link between fund-raising for Palestinian causes and terror funding. Israeli efforts have had some success in recent years, when Western governments forced certain charity organizations to reveal their records and sever ties with the Charity Coalition, the umbrella organization for groups that raise funds for Hamas abroad.

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Palestinian refugee agency appeals for more aid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 25, 2009 - 12:00am

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA appealed on Thursday for more aid from international donors to help alleviate a "grave" financial crisis it faces as it marks its 60th anniversary. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UNRWA's chief was joined by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's Queen Rania in appealing for more international assistance for the agency dealing with the humanitarian side of one of the world's longest running refugee situations.

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Gaza charity: PA must freeze our accounts, we were taken over by Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

Head of Ishraqa, a Gazan charitable society, Wasfi Naser, urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to freeze the society’s accounts following what he described as a takeover by the de facto Hamas run Ministry of the Interior. Naser said he received a phone call from representatives of the de facto Ministry of the Interior last week telling him that they had appointed a new board of directors for the society. Ishraqa currently supports approximately 250 orphaned children in northern Gaza by raising funds from charities in the EU, US, and Canada.

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A promise to keep with Gaza’s people
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
September 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Six months after the world’s top diplomats met at Sharm el Sheikh to pledge massive amounts of assistance to war-torn Gaza, there is little on the ground to show that their commitment has had any effect. The magnitude of the devastation that descended upon the Gazan people earlier this year is difficult to overstate. The UN estimates that as many as 14,000 homes and 240 schools have been destroyed and too little has been done to alleviate the suffering of the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians who overcrowd the tiny strip of territory.

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Not one penny has reached Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am

It has been six months since the international community pledged nearly US$5 billion (Dh18bn) in aid to the Palestinian people, chiefly for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s devastating offensive there this year. None of this aid has reached Gaza and no reconstruction has started.

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Gaza and Bilin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Husam Itani - (Blog) September 1, 2009 - 12:00am

In Bilin a weekly march takes place in protest of the racist Israeli separation wall, in which activists from all over the world participate and which witness clashes with occupation forces and settlers, usually resulting in a number of wounded and victims of Israeli gases. The protest marches are organized by a broad coalition of political forces, Palestinian civil society institutions and international organizations that combat racial discrimination, in addition to local inhabitants from the village and neighboring area.

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All three Gaza Strip border crossings open Monday
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 31, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli authorities decided to open all three border terminals with the Gaza Strip on Monday for commercial shipments and humanitarian aid, according to Palestinian crossings official Raed Fattouh. Fattouh said 87 to 97 trucks of merchandise would be delivered to the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Meanwhile, the Nahal Oz crossing will be open for fuel and cooking gas deliveries, he said. The crossings official added that the Karni terminal, which is usually closed, would operate for trucks loaded with wheat and animal feed on Monday.


On the ground in Gaza, hopes for peace still flicker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Antony Loewenstein - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Kamal Awaja lost his son in the recent Gaza war. He claims that Israeli soldiers murdered his child in front of his eyes before shooting his wife and himself in the leg, chest and arm. Today he lives with his large family in a tent in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, trying to provide a sense of normality for his children by tending a vegetable patch and constructing a small, plastic swimming pool.

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Barak postpones cement delivery to Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - August 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The Defense Ministry is postponing the delivery of cement to the Gaza Strip out of fear that Hamas will get its hands on the material and use it to rebuild its military infrastructure damaged during Operation Cast Lead, officials said on Sunday. Defense Minister Ehud Barak was reconsidering the delivery of the cement after, according to IDF Southern Command intelligence, cement that was transferred for the renovation of a British War Cemetery in Gaza earlier this month was partially confiscated by Hamas.

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Gaza's smuggling tunnels feel impact of Israel-Egypt crackdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

The smuggling industry into the Gaza Strip is like a long funnel, at one end of which are the tunnels in the Strip and the other is the Sinai Peninsula as far as the Red Sea coast, Israeli intelligence officials say. In recent months Israeli actions against smugglers - according to foreign sources - combined with Egypt's increased willingness to deal with the problem, have begun to produce results. While weapons smuggling has declined, however, the flow of goods in general has turned the tunnels into Gaza's growth industry.

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