Mideast: In Gaza, It's Darkness At Noon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Mohammed Omer - January 23, 2008 - 8:37pm

It gets dark, and cold, and people are getting hungry. Israel closed border crossings Friday, not allowing even UN humanitarian aid trucks carrying basic food. Crossings have been closed frequently since October 2007. "On Wednesday or Thursday we will have to suspend our food distribution programme in Gaza," spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Christopher Gunness told IPS. "We are running out of fuel for vehicles."

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No Light, No Heat, No Bread: Stark Reality For The Powerless In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory Mccarthy - January 22, 2008 - 7:10pm

When it opened its doors seven years ago, the European Gaza hospital was one of the biggest foreign investments in the long-troubled Gaza Strip and one of the leading medical centres in the Palestinian territories. Yesterday, the 250-bed hospital was sliding rapidly into crisis, turning away patients for routine operations and struggling to manage emergency cases, as the sole power plant in Gaza halted electricity production after Israel stopped all fuel supplies.

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Israel Closes Vital Gaza Crossings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - January 18, 2008 - 6:26pm

Israel sealed all border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Friday, cutting the flow of vital supplies in an attempt to stop Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. But the rockets kept flying and Israel hit back with airstrikes against a rocket squad, a Hamas government building and a Hamas militia base, killing one militant and two civilians, Hamas said. U.N. officials warned that the Israeli closure of the Gaza crossings would increase hardship in the impoverished territory of 1.4 million Palestinians.

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They Do Not Exist, And That Is Official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Mona Alami - December 28, 2007 - 2:34pm

In the maze of dirty streets that spreads from Beirut's revamped Sport City to the shabby Halabi quarters, 20,000 refugees are clustered in what is known as the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian camp. In a town plagued by poverty, many families live in complete destitution.

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Utility Cuts Increase Misery In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from World Peace Herald
by Erica Silverman - December 11, 2007 - 1:39pm

Israeli cuts in fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip are hitting home, affecting schools, hospitals and businesses as officials from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority exchange blame for the suffering. Utility cuts are intended to pressure Hamas to halt rocket fire into Israel. Filling stations across this seaside territory have shut down, crippling public transportation systems.

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Gaza's Bleak Reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - November 27, 2007 - 2:05pm

Tzipi Livni says the world can be divided into two: The good guys, who came to Annapolis, the ones who want to make peace - and the bad guys, who oppose the conference and want to sabotage peace efforts. According to the foreign minister, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his friends in the Ramallah government belong to the good guys. The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, belongs to the bad guys.

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Un Official Says Israel's Siege Of Gaza Breeds Extremism And Human Suffering
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:36pm

A senior United Nations official has issued an unprecedented appeal to British MPs to use their influence to try to alleviate the impact of "indiscriminate" and "illegal" Israeli sanctions in Gaza which display "profound inhumanity" and are "serving the agenda of extremists".

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Proceed Steadily But Firmly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - November 22, 2007 - 10:41pm

After seven years of stalled negotiations between Israel and Palestine, one could possibly not presume that all problems would be solved by one summit, let alone a summit that had been penciled in just as the two old enemies had reconvened dialogue.

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Un Aid Chief Attacks New Israeli Checkpoint Plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory Mccarthy - November 20, 2007 - 1:50pm

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees launched a scathing attack today on a new Israeli plan for a system of checkpoint terminals across the occupied West Bank. Karen AbuZayd, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said Israeli authorities had told them of plans to install six specially built terminals to check people and cargo, including aid deliveries. She said it would hamper the agency's work and dramatically raise costs.

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Israel's Economic Blockade Stops Gaza's Strawberry-farmers Selling Their Crop
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - November 16, 2007 - 4:20pm

Almost all of Gaza's turbulent story is bound up with Jamil Abu Hmaideh's strawberry fields here in the far north of the strip. Between two wispy clouds high in the blue sky above us, two Israeli Apache helicopters hover on the look-out for the Qassam rocket-launching crews as we bite into the luscious, perfectly ripened fruit Mr Hmaideh has picked for us.

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