Amnesty criticizes proposed flotilla inquiry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Amnesty International has criticized Israel’s proposed investigation into its military action against a Gaza aid flotilla on 31 May as lacking in transparency and unlikely to ensure accountability over the nine deaths of activists during the operation. The Israeli cabinet approved a three-man Israeli commission, with two international observers, to examine Israel’s military action off the Gaza coast in which nine international activists were killed by Israeli forces.

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Travesty of a probe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

It is no better than a murderer offering to investigate his own crime. It does not matter that the work of the three-man inquiry will monitored by two foreign observers. This is a whitewash in the making.

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The Yom Kippur syndrome
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The blame game between the political and military establishments is revealing the same characteristics that led us to the Yom Kippur War, and the same subsequent spats over who was responsible and who must be held accountable. Then, as now, the chief failure was that of intelligence. Then, as now, the military was full of itself, sure that we'd "break their bones," in the famous words of then-chief of staff David Elazar on the second day of the Egyptian-Syrian assault. Israeli forces approaching Gaza flotilla

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ICRC says Israel's Gaza blockade breaks law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Imogen Foulkes - June 14, 2010 - 12:00am

In a statement, the ICRC describes the situation in Gaza as dire, saying the only sustainable solution is a lifting of the blockade. It says Israel is punishing the whole civilian population of Gaza. It also urges Hamas movement to allow ICRC delegates to visit a detained Israel soldier Gilad Shalit. The ICRC, a traditionally neutral organisation, paints a bleak picture of conditions in Gaza: hospitals short of equipment, power cuts lasting hours each day, drinking water unfit for consumption.

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Israel's Barak calls off Paris visit amid threats
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
June 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's defense minister is canceling a planned visit to Paris amid threats by pro-Palestinian groups to have him arrested there. Ehud Barak was to dedicate a new Israeli booth at the Eurosatory arms fair in Paris, which opens this week. But his office announced Sunday that he would stay home while Israel forms a committee to investigate its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. Pro-Palestinian activists had threatened to try to have charges brought against him for his role in the raid, which killed nine Turkish activists at sea.

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Israel plans to send bill to Palestinians over boycotts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

What do The Pixies, Elvis Costello, and Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, have in common? A cursory glance might suggest not much yet all have deeply irked Israel. When Mr Fayyad first embarked on a door-to-door campaign to persuade Palestinians to shun all products made by Jewish settlers, the Israeli public simply shrugged. But when veteran crooner Costello peered into his conscience and pulled a scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv, Israelis sat up and took notice.

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The Hidden Victim of Israeli Piracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Osman Mirghani - (Opinion) June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

In addition to the nine victims who were killed by Israeli bullets in the attack on the Freedom Flotilla there was also a tenth victim who was buried in silence. The attack on the Turkish ship took place four days before the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo in which he defined the necessary fundamentals for a new beginning between the US and Muslims around the world.

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Why Israel ignores global criticism of Gaza flotilla raid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Five decades ago, while debating an offensive against Gaza militants, Israel's founding prime minister, David Ben Gurion, is said to have discounted United Nations intervention with a now famous Hebrew quip: "oom shmoom." Rough translation: "UN is nothing." In the face of an international uproar over the May 31 Israeli commando raid of a Gaza aid flotilla that left nine Turks dead, a similar disdain for the global community has resurfaced here.

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Israel and Its Liberal 'Friends'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Bret Stephens - (Opinion) June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Questions for liberals: What does it mean to be a friend of Israel? What does it mean to be a friend of the Palestinians? And should the same standards of friendship apply to Israelis and Palestinians alike, or is there a double standard here as well?

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Israel faces a dilemma as the Brits once faced
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune
by Ron Grossman - (Opinion) June 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Last month's bloody encounter on a ship off Gaza offered deadly proof of the adage: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Israelis above all others should have recalled that aphorism, which was coined by the philosopher George Santayana. Six decades ago, Zionist freedom fighters attempted to run a blockade of the Holy Land's coast maintained by the British, setting off a lethal confrontation that turned world opinion in favor of the establishment of a Jewish homeland.

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