Aid groups urge Israel to lift Gaza blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Crispian Balmer - June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Fifty international aid groups and United Nations agencies issued a joint appeal on Thursday calling on Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas Islamists. "For over five years in Gaza, more than 1.6 million people have been under blockade in violation of international law. More than half of these people are children. We the undersigned say with one voice: 'end the blockade now,'" the petition said.

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Gaza blockade threatens two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel's 5-year blockade of the Gaza Strip has compromised the two-state solution in ways which will be difficult to reverse, an Israeli legal rights group has warned. "Gaza’s connections with Israel and the West Bank, vital for its economy and the welfare of its residents, are still subject to sweeping restrictions on movement," Gisha said in its latest report.

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Hamas 'left behind' by Arab Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

When Hamas won control of the Gaza Strip after a brief but vicious round of factional fighting in 2007, it earned a degree of influence unprecedented in its short history. Its clashes with its archrival Fatah that culminated in military victory five years ago today emboldened Islamists, rattled Israel and the West and divided Palestinians between rival leaders in Gaza and the West Bank.

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The flotilla as metaphor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Opinion) June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Among the most telling aspects of the state comptroller’s report, published Wednesday, which chronicles a slapdash decision-making process inside the Prime Minister's Office in general, and with regard to the Mavi Marmara incident in particular, was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s official response to it. In the final analysis, Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office, "Israel's citizens are enjoying a level of security that they have not known for years.”

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Israel's Real Image Problem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel’s State Comptroller released a remarkably harsh report yesterday regarding the government’s handling of the 2010 aid flotilla to Gaza, and I have one question: Is the issue the people who died – or the way Israel talked about the people who died?

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Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood on aid visit to Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - June 13, 2012 - 12:00am

A humanitarian-aid delegation led by Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood is on a weeklong visit to the Gaza Strip, as Palestinians prepared to mark tomorrow's fifth anniversary of Hamas's conquest of the territory. Some 10 tonnes of medical aid arrived in Gaza on Sunday with the delegation of 100 activists from 17 Arab countries, the unofficial Palestinian news agency Maan reported on Monday.

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The state of Gaza: Five years after Hamas took power in the city, how has life changed for its citizens?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) June 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The front office of Kamal Ashour's small family clothing factory in Gaza City opens on to Izzedine al-Qassam Street, named, like Hamas's military wing, in honour of the Islamist mujahid who led the anti-Zionist, anti-Mandate, Black Hand gang and was shot dead by British police in 1935.

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Gaza's ripple effect
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

Two years ago today, Israeli commandoes boarded the Mavi Marmara, part of an aid flotilla headed to Gaza, killing nine of the 40 activists on board. The relationship between Israel and Turkey, previously close regional allies, has never recovered.

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Qatar-donated diesel to enter Gaza Sunday
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 29, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A shipment of diesel donated by Qatar for Gaza's power plant will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday, weeks after being stuck at Egyptian warehouses, a Palestinian official said Tuesday. Nazmi Muhana, the head of the Palestinian borders and crossings body, said that an agreement was reached between the Palestinian National Authority, Israel and Egypt on the delivery of the fuel.

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Amnesty Int'l slams Gaza blockade, settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 24, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel is criticized for violating the human rights of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians in Amnesty International's yearly report on the state of the world's human rights released on Wednesday. "Israel maintained its blockade of Gaza, prolonging the humanitarian crisis there, and continued aggressively to expand settlements in the Palestinian West Bank territory it has occupied since 1967," the report posited.

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