Challenger I passengers: Commandos shot first
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Mya Guarnieri - June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Alex Harrison, a British activist who participated in the Freedom Flotilla, was on the neighboring Challenger I when the Israeli army overtook the Mavi Marmara, leaving at least nine activists dead and dozens injured. An eyewitness to the takeover, Harrison told Ma'an what she saw in the moments before the Israeli army boarded the Mavi Marmara. "I was on the Challenger I, on the upper deck," Harrison said. "We were very close to the Marmara. We actually thought [the Israeli navy] was coming for us first."

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Challenger I passengers: Commandos shot first
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Mya Guarnieri - June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Alex Harrison, a British activist who participated in the Freedom Flotilla, was on the neighboring Challenger I when the Israeli army overtook the Mavi Marmara, leaving at least nine activists dead and dozens injured. An eyewitness to the takeover, Harrison told Ma'an what she saw in the moments before the Israeli army boarded the Mavi Marmara. "I was on the Challenger I, on the upper deck," Harrison said. "We were very close to the Marmara. We actually thought [the Israeli navy] was coming for us first."

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Israel awaiting U.S. green light for internal Gaza flotilla probe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer, Barak Ravid - June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that it will conduct its own internal investigation into last week's botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has appointed Maj. Gen. (res. ) Giora Eiland to head the probe. The panel is charged with analyzing the failures of, and learning lessons from, the commando raid on a Turkish-flagged ship, which left nine Turkish passengers dead and several dozen people wounded.

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Israel Ambassador Rejects Flotilla Clash Inquiry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel’s ambassador to Washington said Sunday that his country would reject an international inquiry into last week’s deadly raid on a Turkish ship, but there was still no formal announcement from Jerusalem on the matter. “We are rejecting the idea of an international commission,” Michael B. Oren, the ambassador, told Fox News Sunday. “We are discussing with the Obama administration the way in which our inquiry will take place.” He added, “At the end of the day, Israel has the right, the duty, as a democracy to investigate any military activity.”

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U.S. demands IDF probe how American lost eye at West Bank protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The United States embassy has demanded an investigation into how an American citizen lost her eye last week at the Qalandiyah checkpoint after being struck by a tear gas grenade.

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Israeli patrol kills 4 militants in diving gear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

An Israeli naval patrol killed at least four Palestinian militants in diving gear off the Gaza coast on Monday, Hamas security officials and the Israeli army said. "An Israeli naval patrol spotted a boat with four men in diving suits on their way to carry out a terror attack and fired at them," an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that the patrol had confirmed hitting its targets. The spokesman did not say what the army thought was the intended objective of the divers. Hamas security sources said four bodies had been found and a fifth man was missing and presumed dead.

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ATFP Senior Fellow on All Things Considered: Israeli Raid Presents Opportunity For Palestinians
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In National Public Radio (NPR) - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

GUY RAZ, host:Now, the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, is proud of its reputation as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington, D.C. The question I asked Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, is whether pro-Israel groups are losing influence under the Obama administration.

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ATFP Senior Fellow on All Things Considered: Israeli Raid Presents Opportunity For Palestinians
Interview with Hussein Ibish - National Public Radio (NPR) - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Full transcript below: GUY RAZ, host:Now, the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, is proud of its reputation as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington, D.C.

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The hijacking of the truth: Film evidence 'destroyed'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - June 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Jamal Elshayyal, a journalist with al-Jazeera, woke with a start to the opening salvos of an Israeli assault that would transform the decks of the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel bound for Gaza, into a bloodbath. From the ship's position deep in international waters, satellite images of Israeli speedboats and helicopters approaching the vessel were beamed across the globe before communications were abruptly cut off, leaving the events on the Marmara to unfold away from the eyes of the world.

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Photos from Turkish aid ship show blood and chaos
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ayla Jean - June 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Turkish pro-Palestinian campaigners released photographs on Sunday showing terrified, bleeding Israeli soldiers cowering and surrounded by activists on the Turkish aid ship that they had stormed. Nine activists from Turkey were killed last Monday in the storming of the Mavi Marmara, part of a convoy trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver some 10,000 tonnes of aid. The photographs were taken by a member of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid, or IHH, which organised the convoy, said spokesman Salih Bilici.

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