After the flotilla attack, it's time for a new, kinder Israeli narrative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Daniel Kurtzer - (Opinion) June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Of the many confounding aspects of Monday's flotilla fiasco, one of the most curious is the monotone quality of Israel's response. Within hours of the Israeli assault on an aid ship bound for Gaza, while the dead and wounded were still being evacuated from the scene, Israel's deputy foreign minister delivered a verbal broadside that became his nation's public line: The flotilla organizers are terrorist sympathizers, they ambushed Israeli forces, and they are responsible for what followed.

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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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Obama: Use flotilla tragedy for Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Matt Spetalnick - June 4, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday the deadly Gaza flotilla incident was "tragic," but he expressed hope it could provide an opening to boost Middle East peace efforts. Obama, in an interview with CNN's Larry King days after an Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid ships, said Israel "has legitimate security concerns" about the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Rockets are regularly fired from there into the Jewish state.

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The U.S. needs to keep nudging Israel on a Gaza fix
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - (Opinion) June 4, 2010 - 12:00am

The Obama administration, caught between two allies during this week of crisis, has signaled Israel and Turkey that the blockade of Gaza should be loosened to allow more humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinian population there.

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Proximity talks still on
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Between President Mahmoud Abbas and US officials, the start of so-called proximity talks appear not to have been derailed by Israel's attack on an aid ship and killing of at least nine activists. On Wednesday, both Abbas and the US deputy treasurer spoke at the Palestinian Investment Conference, stressing the need for talks, while US special envoy to the Mideast George Mitchell addressed the conference Thursday and said talks must go on despite the attack. Mitchell, who met Abbas after the opening session, said the raid illustrated the need to move forward with peace talks.

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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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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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New Israeli Tack Needed on Gaza, U.S. Officials Say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration considers Israel’s blockade of Gaza to be untenable and plans to press for another approach to ensure Israel’s security while allowing more supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area, senior American officials said Wednesday. The officials say that Israel’s deadly attack on a flotilla trying to break the siege and the resulting international condemnation create a new opportunity to push for increased engagement with the Palestinian Authority and a less harsh policy toward Gaza.

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Fatalities on Gaza Flotilla Said to Include U.S. Citizen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Michael Slackman, Sabrina Tavernise - June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

One of the nine people killed in an Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of ships heading for Gaza this week was a United States citizen of Turkish descent, according to officials in Turkey and Washington. The development added a new diplomatic complexity as Israel struggled to defuse rising international anger over its raid on six ships seeking to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip, where officials from the Hamas movement were reported on Thursday to be resisting Israeli efforts to deliver truckloads of goods seized from the flotilla.

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Israel's only friend
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Doyle McManus - (Opinion) June 3, 2010 - 12:00am

As most of the world has rushed to condemn Israel for its bungled seizure of a Turkish ferry that was attempting to break the Gaza blockade, President Obama has taken a different approach. Not only has he refused to condemn Israel's hard-nosed prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu; he has cast the United States as Israel's only friend. It's a strategic gamble, and let's hope it works.

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