News analysis: Israel-Turkey reconciliation mutually beneficial: analysts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - July 25, 2011 - 12:00am

The publication of the United Nations Palmer Report on the Israeli raid on last year's Gaza- bound flotilla has been delayed a third time, reportedly so that Israel and Turkey may continue reconciliation talks.

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Israel deals with Gaza-bound flotilla with lessons learnt: analysts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli naval commandos boarded the only ship participating in the second Gaza flotilla Tuesday without any violent resistance from the passengers and crew. The takeover was in stark contrast to last year's events when nine pro-Palestinian activists, mainly Turkish, in the "Mavi Marmara" ship were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers as Israel intercepted the first flotilla. The death of the Turkish participants led to the deepening of an already deteriorated relationship between Israel and Turkey.

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News Analysis: Gaza Strip may witness more violence between Israel, militant groups: analysts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly, Osama Radi - July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian observers believe that the Gaza Strip may witness more escalation of violence soon between Israel and Gaza militant groups following around one week of tit-for-tat escalation that the coastal enclave had witnessed between the two sides. During this week, Israeli F-16 war jets carried out a series of intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which targeted smuggling tunnels underneath the borders between the enclave and Egypt, where three Palestinians were killed and 25 others, most of them civilians, were wounded.

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2 injured in air attacks on southern Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 18, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Two Palestinians were injured, one of them critically, as Israeli warplanes targeted the southern Gaza Strip for the fifth day in row, onlookers said. A Ma’an reporter said fighter jets fired missiles at the town of Khuza’a east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Two men were injured and were evacuated to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where medics said one of the victims sustained critical wounds.

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GAZA STRIP: Israeli military warns Gazans in leaflet drop
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Rushdi Abu Alouf - July 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets over the Gaza Strip for the first time since the end of a 22-day assault more than two years ago. The leaflets, dropped late Sunday and early Monday, written in Arabic and signed by the "Israel Defense Forces," warned residents not to come near the border with Israel in the northern part of the territory, witnesses said. The leaflets warned citizens against approaching within 300 yards of the border. "Anyone approaching the buffer zone will put himself in danger," one leaflet read.

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Gaza rocket fire: Why now?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Blog) July 17, 2011 - 12:00am

The new escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza, still limited in scope, is the first of its kind since the bitter round of clashes at the beginning of April. That previous round, which included rocket fire on Ashdod and Be’er Sheva, ended once Israel took the initiative, mustering all its aerial firepower against Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza, and simultaneously intercepting eight Katyusha rockets fired at its territory, using the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system for the first time.

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Air strikes across Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 15, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes raided south and central Gaza late Thursday, targeting sites belonging to Hamas, witnesses said. “Four residents were injured, including two children, as a result of the Israeli air strike in an empty plot in An-Naser neighborhood in Gaza city and all were transferred to Ash-Shefa hospital,” Hamas spokesman Adham Abu Selmeiyah from the ministry of health said. Two other residents were injured in an air strike in the south of Gaza and were transferred to the Al-Aqsa hospital, he added.

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US collusion in the Gaza blockade is an affront to human rights
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Cindy Corrie - (Opinion) July 8, 2011 - 12:00am

When Greek authorities prevented the US ship the Audacity of Hope leaving its port in Athens this week, they dealt a blow to a group of brave and principled Americans who were trying to carry thousands of letters from US citizens to those who wait on Gaza's shores.

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In dealing with flotilla, Israel is anything but smart
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

Like an anti-Semitic caricature, Israel has extended its long tentacles around the globe in an effort to stop 10 decades-old ships from sailing to Gaza. Many Israelis interpreted this as a great victory.

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What makes for an effective mediator: The case of James Wolfensohn
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Nizar Farsakh - (Blog) July 7, 2011 - 12:00am

In 2005, the Quartet appointed James Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank, as special envoy for the Gaza disengagement. His job was to get the parties to cooperate in the withdrawal process, as well as to revive the Palestinian economy post-withdrawal by harnessing the Quartet's resources, both financial and political. In my opinion, his case is illustrative of the conditions for effective mediation and their demise.

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