Hamas, UNRWA compete over entertaining Gaza children
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - June 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Mohamed Atallah, a teacher and one of the mentors in a major summer camp run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) on Gaza beachside insisted that mentors are not teaching school children any politics, but only entertaining them. On Sunday, UNRWA inaugurated its own summer camps in the Gaza Strip to entertain refugees' schoolchildren. Streets of Gaza City saw UNRWA vehicles and hundreds of UNRWA children holding summer camps flame.

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Gaza's boys and girls come out to play
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

London 2012 it isn't. But on Sunday a relay of 50 schoolchildren bearing an Olympic-style torch will start from Deir el Balah Elementary Boy's School in central Gaza on the 17km road journey along the Mediterranean coast to the UN compound in Gaza City. There, they will light a flame, less to commemorate the notorious white phosphorus bombardment which razed the main warehouse here during Israel's military offensive in January 2009, than to herald the start of something altogether more cheerful: the fourth annual summer games.

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Rattling the Cage: Living it up in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Don’t you just wish you lived in Gaza? Don’t you just envy those people who get to raise their kids amid such abundance? Look at all the stuff they’ve got: “Truckloads of meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, milk powder, baby food, wheat and other staples arrive in Gaza on a daily basis,” said the Foreign Ministry in advance of the “Freedom Flotilla,” due to either reach Gaza or get intercepted by the navy today.

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Construction materials continue to enter Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli crossings officials allowed the entry of limited construction materials into Gaza for the fourth day on Thursday, a Palestinian liaison officer said, noting the goods were for UNRWA re-building projects. The official, Raed Fattouh, said between 100 to 110 truckloads of aid would enter Gaza through the southernmost Kerem Shalom crossing, noting three of the trucks were loaded with 120 tons of cement, and one truck with iron rebar.

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UN peace envoy: 2-state solution urgent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 26, 2010 - 12:00am

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry spoke Tuesday of the urgency of achieving the two state solution at a UN International Meeting in Turkey.

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Suspects of torching UN summer camp detained: Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas authorities arrested a number of people suspected of torching a UN-run summer camp in Gaza City earlier this week, the interior ministry of deposed Hamas government announced Tuesday. The suspects are being interrogated, a statement sent to reporters by the ministry said. There has been no more information about the number of the detainees or the group they are affiliated to. Ihab Al-Ghussein, the ministry's spokesman, told Xinhua that he can't reveal more before the questioning is over.

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No Worries, Israel Insists, Defense Drill Is Just a Drill
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - May 23, 2010 - 12:00am

As Israel embarked on a large-scale civil defense exercise on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to reassure Israelis and some jittery Arab neighbors that the nationwide drill was not meant to signal a deterioration in security or an imminent war. “This is a routine exercise that has been scheduled for some time,” Mr. Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “I would like to make it clear that it is not the result of any exceptional security development. On the contrary, Israel aspires towards calm, stability and peace.”

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US donates $1.4 million to UNRWA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

US Embassy officials in Damascus, the Syrian government, and UNRWA inaugurated a newly constructed community centre that will benefit some 144,000 Palestinian refugees living in the Syrian capital's Yarmouk refugee camp on Wednesday. A statement issued by the US State Department said America contributed 1.4 million US dollars for the community centre's construction.

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West Bank health and economy up a bit, Gaza down
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

With a failing economy, rising unemployment and deteriorating power, sanitation and health facilities, the health of Gaza's population continues to worsen, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report. In contrast, modest improvements have been made in the West Bank. As a consequence of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, 98 percent of industrial operations have been shut down since 2007 and there are acute shortages of fuel, cash, cooking gas and other basic supplies.

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Palestinian girls win award for sensor cane at Intel fair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Three Palestinian teenagers from the UNWRA school in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus were the first Palestinians to win an award on Monday at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose in California. Aseel Abu Aleil, Noor Alarada and Aseel Alshaar picked up a special award in applied electronics, having competed against 15,000 finalists from around the world, a statement read.

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