In its hour of need, Israel was let down by Diaspora
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) June 4, 2010 - 12:00am

"We felt like the Ramallah lynch." I am certain that the unnamed Israeli naval commando who said these words to a reporter a few hours after the bloodbath on the Mavi Marmara regrets them now. It is quite clear why the image came to his mind at the time. None of us has forgotten the pictures of a baying mob literally hacking to pieces the reservists Yossi Avrahami and Vadim Nurzhitz nine and a half years ago and throwing their bodies out of the window of a Palestinian police station.

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An Assault, Cloaked in Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Michael B. Oren - (Opinion) June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

PEACE activists are people who demonstrate nonviolently for peaceful co-existence and human rights. The mob that assaulted Israeli special forces on the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara on Monday was not motivated by peace. On the contrary, the religious extremists embedded among those on board were paid and equipped to attack Israelis — both by their own hands as well as by aiding Hamas — and to destroy any hope of peace.

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Israeli raid on Gaza Freedom Flotilla killed US citizen Furkan Dogan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Scott Peterson - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

An American-Turkish dual citizen killed during an Israeli commando raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla was among activists buried in Turkey on Thursday. Furkan Dogan was struck by five bullets shortly before dawn on Monday while atop the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ship, according to friends who were on board at the time of the Israeli raid and attended the funeral for eight of the nine Turks who died.

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IDF panel rules West Bank settlers not protected by Basic Law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's Basic Laws neither apply to nor protect settlers, the military appeals committee ruled in response to an appeal from a resident of Yitzhar, Akiva Hacohen, who was banned last October for six months from the West Bank except for Ariel. The ban was later extended for three months. Hacohen, represented by Yitzhak Bam of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, appealed the decision to the military appeals committee, which allows challenges to decisions of the IDF command in the West Bank.

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Israeli academic says flotilla crisis could have been prevented
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Calls for an international probe into Israel's deadly raid of a Gaza-bound protest flotilla have put the nation's military on the defense amid allegations of excessive use of force.

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Saving Israel From Itself
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nicholas D. Kristof - (Opinion) June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

When reports first circulated on Twitter of a deadly attack by Israeli commandos on the Gaza flotilla, I didn’t forward them because they seemed implausible. I thought: Israel wouldn’t be so obtuse as to use lethal force on self-described peace activists in international waters with scores of reporters watching. Ah, but it turned out that Israel could be so obtuse after all. It shot itself in the foot, blasting American toes as well, and undermined all of its longer-term strategic objectives.

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Gaza flotilla: Sarah Colborne's account
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Robert Booth - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

On Sunday 30th we set off together. We had assembled all the boats in international waters. At 11pm that night, Israeli naval boats were detected on the radar and sighted and a decision was made to move further back into international waters, further from Israel.

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Henning Mankell on Gaza flotilla attack: 'I think they went out to murder'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Kate Connolly - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

The bestselling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell today accused Israel of murder, piracy and kidnapping after describing how the aid ship he was travelling on was seized by Israeli forces this week. Mankell, whose detective novels featuring the commissar Kurt Wallander have sold almost 30m copies worldwide, was aboard the Swedish ship Sofia, one of six ships in the flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. The 25-strong crew, including Mankell, were all arrested and held in custody.

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The Shadow over Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Margaret Atwood - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The Moment The moment when, after many years of hard work and a long voyage, you stand in the centre of your room, house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, knowing at last how you got there, and say, I own this, is the same moment the trees unloose their soft arms from around you, the birds take back their language, the cliffs fissure and collapse, the air moves back from you like a wave and you can’t breathe. No, they whisper. You own nothing. You were a visitor, time after time Climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming. We never belonged to you.

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Gaza boat passenger says Australian photographer electroshocked by Israeli soldiers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Australian photographer Kate Geraghty was electroshocked on the arm by Israeli soldiers who stormed a flotilla of boats heading to Gaza, a fellow passenger said on Wednesday. One of the first to be released from detention center on Wednesday (AEST) was organizer with the Free Gaza Flotilla, Huwaida Arraf, a dual U.S./Israeli citizen who claimed she was aboard the U.S.-flagged vessel Challenger 1 along with Australian Fairfax journalist Paul McGeough and Geraghty.

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