Israel's hold on Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) November 20, 2008 - 8:00pm

In the 2 1/2 weeks since its cease-fire with Hamas broke down, Israel has all but sealed crossings along its border with the Gaza Strip and rejected U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclosed territory that houses more than 1.5 million Palestinians. This response to violence directed against it amounts to collective punishment of civilians, which is illegal under international law, unfair and counterproductive. Hunger and scarcity nurture extremism.

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UNRWA chief: Gaza on brink of humanitarian catastrophe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 20, 2008 - 8:00pm

Gaza faces a humanitarian "catastrophe" if Israel continues to prevent aid reaching the territory by blocking crossing points, the head of the main UN aid agency for the Palestinians said on Friday. Karen AbuZayd, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said the human toll of this month's sealing of Gaza's goods crossings was the gravest since the early days of a Palestinian uprising eight years ago.

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Palestinians advertise peace plan in Israeli press
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - November 19, 2008 - 8:00pm

The PLO took the unprecedented step of placing advertisements in Israeli newspapers on Thursday to promote a six-year-old Arab peace plan for the region. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organisation published the full-page notices in Hebrew in four major dailies. They described the Arab plan, which was first proposed in 2002 but has long found little interest from Israel.

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Polls show Israel's Likud party leading
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - November 19, 2008 - 8:00pm

A pair of polls published Thursday showed opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline Likud party leading Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's moderate Kadima party in the run-up to Israel's Feb. 10 elections. The polls also indicated strong support for Netanyahu's hard-line allies. If that support stands through the elections, it would position Netanyahu to put together a hawkish coalition that would likely end peace talks with the Palestinians, at least in their current form.

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Israel renews blockade of Gaza crossings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel resealed border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, blaming continued rocket fire at its towns, despite warnings from world aid groups of looming shortages of food and fuel in the coastal territory. Israel had allowed 33 truckloads of supplies into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop there.

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Palestinians will need Barack Obama's helping hand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Yasser Abed Rabbo - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm

President-elect Barack Obama's defiantly positive campaign for change has inspired hope not only in the millions of Americans who voted for him, but also in the billions of others worldwide who could not. Across the Middle East, as elsewhere, expectations are building that his presidency will herald a new era for America's role in the world.

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Israel Renews Blockade Of Gaza Crossings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel resealed border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, blaming continued rocket fire at its towns, despite warnings from world aid groups of looming shortages of food and fuel in the coastal territory. Israel had allowed 33 truckloads of supplies into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop there.

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Israel blockade leaves much of Gaza City without power
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Rushdi Abu Alouf, Richard Boudreaux - November 13, 2008 - 8:00pm

Much of Gaza City fell into darkness Thursday night after an Israeli blockade, tightened in response to Palestinian hostilities, caused the city's electricity plant to run critically low on fuel and shut down. Israel also barred 30 truckloads of relief supplies from entering the Gaza Strip, leaving a United Nations agency without food to distribute to needy families that make up half the Palestinian territory's 1.5 million people.

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Saudis Cool to Israeli Overture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
November 13, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel should not parse the Arab peace plan, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said Thursday after a speech by Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, during a two-day interfaith dialogue at the United Nations. Mr. Peres and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia were in rare, close proximity. Although they did not meet, Mr. Peres addressed the king from the podium and read extracts that he supported from the peace plan first proposed by the kingdom in 2002. But Prince Saud said later that Mr.

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Deadly Gaza Border Clash Threatens Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm

Four Hamas gunmen were killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border on Wednesday, further testing a shaky truce that took effect in June. The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces had identified a group of gunmen trying to place an explosive device near the border fence, leading to an exchange of fire. Four of the gunmen were fatally hit and an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded, the statement said.

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