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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Gaza atrocities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Shells containing phosphorus, which when exposed to air burns through anything with which it comes into contact, are OK in international law provided that they are not fired at civilians. During its bombardment of the Gaza ghetto, Israel repeatedly denied that it had used shells containing this horrific chemical. In the wake of the incontrovertible UN findings that phosphorus shells were deployed against Gaza’s heavily built up areas, the Israelis changed their tune.

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Blockade forces Gaza to turn from modern medicine to bee stings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Erin Cunningham - February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

When the first case of swine flu hit the Gaza Strip in December, residents in this tiny, impoverished enclave flocked to local spice traders and drained merchants’ shelves of the popular medicinal herb anise. Gazans sought out the Chinese-grown plant to mix in an age-old, tea-based concoction called yansoon, which doctors here said would help prevent further outbreaks amid rumours the territory faced a shortage of the deadly flu’s traditional vaccine. Anise is a central component of the swine flu vaccine manufactured globally under the brand name Tamiflu.

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Blair: Gaza's great betrayer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Avi Shlaim - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

The savage attack Israel ­unleashed against Gaza on 27 December 2008 was both immoral and unjustified. Immoral in the use of force against civilians for political purposes. Unjustified because Israel had a political alternative to the use of force. The home-made Qassam rockets fired by Hamas militants from Gaza on Israeli towns were only the ­excuse, not the reason for Operation Cast Lead. In June 2008, Egypt had ­brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement.

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Arab politicians 'facing increased persecution’ in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Leaders of the Arab minority in Israel warned this week that they were facing an unprecedented campaign of persecution, backed by the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, designed to stop their political activities. The warning came after Said Nafaa, a Druze member of the Israeli parliament was stripped of his immunity last week, clearing the way for him to be tried for a visit to Syria three years ago.

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Hebron governor warns of severe reaction to new settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Hebron – Ma'an – Governor of Hebron Hussein Al-Araj warned that renewed settlement building in the area "are pushing Palestinians to react seriously," he said on Sunday evening. Israel is not offering Palestinians motivation to return to negotiations by continuing settlement construction in the West Bank, Al-Araj said, which justifies President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to return to negotiations while building of settlements and the separation wall is ongoing. "Let everyone know that Israeli settlement construction is still in place, contrary to Israeli allegations," he said.

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No charges to be filed in case of American injured in protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - February 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli officials have said they will not file charges against police involved in injuring Tristan Anderson, a U.S. resident who suffered brain damage when he was struck in the head with a tear gas canister during a West Bank protest in March. Anderson, 38, remains hospitalized in Israel. Officials said there was no criminal intent on the part of the police.

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Iran blames Israel for Hamas commander killing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Fredrik Dahl, Reza Derakhshi - February 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Iran blamed Israel on Tuesday for the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month. Israel's government has declined official comment on the Jan. 20 death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, which the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Friday announced as an assassination. But Israeli security sources linked him to rockets and other arms that reach Gaza from Iran. "This is another indication of the existence of state terrorism by the Zionist regime (Israel)," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference.

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Obama: US backs Israel, sympathizes with Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 29, 2010 - 1:00am

US President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the United States would always ensure Israel's security but that Washington must also pay attention to the plight of the Palestinians. The president, speaking at a town-hall meeting on various issues, was responding to a question about why, if the US truly supports human rights, it has not called out Israel and Egypt for abuses against Palestinians, apparently in reference to the blockade of Gaza.

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