Middle East News: World Press Roundup

An article in the New York Times discusses Raja Shehadah’s recent book “Palestinian Walks: Forays Into a Vanishing Landscape” (1). Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish is buried in Ramallah today (2) while Arab News profiles his remarkable life (5). Israel chooses not to pursue legal action against the tank crew that killed a Reuters cameraman and eight bystanders in Gaza four months ago (3). The Middle East Times notes the marked shift in Hamas’ public stance towards militants who violate the truce with rocket fire into Israel (4).

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Israel Clears Troops Who Killed Reuters Cameraman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Star August 13, 2008 - 4:33pm  LONDON (Reuters) - An Israeli tank crew who killed a Reuters cameraman and eight young bystanders in the Gaza Strip four months ago acted properly and will not face legal action, Israel's senior military lawyer has concluded. The military advocate-general told the international news agency in a letter sent on Tuesday that troops could not see whether Fadel Shana was operating a camera or a weapon but were nonetheless justified in firing a shell packed with darts that killed him and eight other Palestinians aged between 12 and 20. » Read more

Hamas, Israel Cooperate To Ease Gaza Blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times by Sana Abdallah - August 13, 2008 - 4:35pm AMMAN -- The Palestinian Hamas movement seems to have realized that the punishment inflicted by Israel on Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians has been much too severe since it seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, and is now publicly blasting militants who fire rockets at Israel in violation of a truce as traitors. Israel on Tuesday closed the Nahal Oz crossing, the transit point for fuel into Gaza, and the Sufa passage for food deliveries, a day after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into an empty field outside the southern Israeli town of Sderot, causing no casualties o » Read more

Palestinian Saga Personified ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Osama Al-sharif - August 13, 2008 - 4:36pm MAHMUD Darwish, the renowned Palestinian poet ho died in Houston on Saturday after an unsuccessful heart operation, aged 67, often joked about his close brush with death. In 1998 he underwent a major heart surgery in Paris, more than 14 years after his first coronary, which nearly cost him his life. But he recovered and went on to write poetry and prose that reiterated his status as one of the most talented and popular poets in the Arab world in the last 50 years. » Read more

Palestinian Teen Caught With Pipe Bombs, Knife At Hawara Checkpoint ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Erfat Weiss - August 13, 2008 - 4:39pm IDF soldiers detained Wednesday a 16-year-old Palestinian at the Hawara checkpoint, located south of Nablus in the West Bank, after he was found to be carrying two pipe bombs and a pocketknife. The teen was turned over to security forces for further questioning. The pipe bombs were detonated by military sappers. Over the past few years the IDF has thwarted numerous attempts to smuggle explosives and weapons through the Hawara checkpoint. » Read more

Palestinian: Settlers Tied My Son To Atv, Dragged Him Through Olive Grove ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 13, 2008 - 4:41pm A Palestinian resident of Ras KarKar, a West Bank village located near Modiin, claimed Wednesday that a Jewish settler tied his 17-year-old son to an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and dragged him through an olive grove. According to Hafez Nupal, on Monday at around 6 pm he and his son were working in their fields when two settlers riding an ATV approached. "One of them yelled 'what are you doing on this land? God gave us this land and no Arab dog will set foot on it'," he recounted. » Read more

Barak: Heavy Price For Shalit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yonat Atlas - August 13, 2008 - 4:43pm Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday evening that he does not know how long the ceasefire with Gaza's terror groups will hold. Therefore the period of relative calm, he said, "should be used to strengthen the civilian infrastructure and fortification of Sderot and the Gaza-vicinity communities." Barak added that the time should also be used to push forward with the negotiations to secure the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. » Read more

Settlers Vow To Fight Pm's Plan To Quit West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nadav Shragai - August 13, 2008 - 4:47pm The "shelf agreement" that the Israeli government has proposed to the Palestinian Authority, whose details were released Sunday, would leave within Israel some 220,000 settlers living in 48 settlements in settlements blocs. This area, west of the separation fence, more-or-less overlaps the seven percent of land in Judea and Samaria that Israel will annex according to the "shelf agreement." » Read more

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