July 25th

Bombings Hit Gaza Strip Targets
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
July 25, 2008 - 2:13pm

A bombing outside a cafe in Gaza City has killed one person and injured four others, Palestinian police reported. The blast, just after midnight local time, caused extensive damage. It is unclear why the area was bombed, but there have been attacks on internet cafes, music shops and Christian institutions in Gaza in recent months. Police also reported a bombing near the home of Marwan Abu Ras, a Hamas official who issues fatwas, religious edicts, in Gaza. No-one was injured.

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Barack Who? Arabs Weigh In.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Caryle Murphy - July 25, 2008 - 2:12pm

Several copies of Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" are prominently displayed in Jarir Bookstore here. They have not moved in weeks. Browser Najla Khaled doesn't change that. Standing before the same shelf and lifting her full-face black veil to survey her choices, she grabs novelist Jeffrey Archer's latest release and walks away.

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Museum Offers Gray Gaza A View Of Its Dazzling Past
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - July 25, 2008 - 1:55pm

It may sound like the indulgence of a well-fed man fleeing the misery around him. But when Jawdat N. Khoudary opens the first museum of archaeology in Gaza this summer it will be a form of Palestinian patriotism, showing how this increasingly poor and isolated coastal strip ruled by the Islamists of Hamas was once a thriving multicultural crossroad. The exhibition is in a stunning hall made partly of stones from old houses, discarded wood ties of a former railroad and bronze lamps and marble columns uncovered by Gazan fishermen and construction workers.

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July 24th

A new museum of archaeology is set to open in Gaza this summer (1). Barack Obama’s recent Middle East visit continues to draw a range of reactions (2) (4). The investigation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continues (6) while polls assess the possibility of new leadership (5). Tensions between settlers and the IDF heat up following recent clashes in the West Bank (8). The United States files an official protest with Israel regarding harsh treatment of Palestinians (10).

Bereaved Families File Class Action Suit Against Barghouti
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Aviad Glickman - July 24, 2008 - 4:47pm

 Two families who have lost loved ones in terror attacks have filed a class-action suit against the Palestinian Authority, former Fatah Secretary-General in the West Bank Marwan Barghouti, and seven other terrorists held in Israel. Barghouti, who was arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces in 2002, was convicted of the murder of five Israelis and was sentences to five consecutive life terms and 40 years – a total of 165 years. The other seven, who were all convicted of various terror offenses, are also serving long-term prison sentences.

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‘egypt To Host Israel-hamas Separate Talks Next Week’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Abd Al-karim Shweiki - July 24, 2008 - 4:37pm

Sources in Egypt have told The Media Line news agency that Israeli and Hamas delegations are expected to hold separate talks next week with the Egyptian intelligence officials brokering negotiations between the parties. The planned talks are described as an attempt to initiate an "intensive" dialogue that will result in a prisoner exchange.

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Collision Course
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) July 24, 2008 - 4:35pm

Without realising it, an American philanthropic organisation, planning to set up a $16.5 million children’s hospital in Palestine, is on a collision course with radical Jewish settlers at a time that American officials are constantly repeating calls for a contiguous and independent Palestinian state. One wonders how someone like Barack Obama, who is presently visiting the region, would respond to actions by Jewish settlers preventing the creation of a hospital.

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Palestinian Family Fights Settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - July 24, 2008 - 4:33pm

It must be the smallest Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories: just half a house. But Palestinian officials and Israeli human rights groups are concerned that it represents the first stage of a plan to eradicate the historical neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, cutting off one of the main routes by which Palestinians reach the Old City and its holy sites.

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Israel To Pardon 24 Fatah Fighters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - July 24, 2008 - 4:31pm

Palestinian sources yesterday said that Israel has informed the Palestinian Authority that it is willing to pardon 24 wanted Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members as part of the deal signed between both sides in July 2007.

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Obama Should Talk Less, Listen More
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George Hishmeh - July 24, 2008 - 4:30pm

All eyes have been on the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Barack Obama, during his current Middle Eastern and European tour this week. However, should anyone expect new revelations from the popular American politician, he/she is bound to be disappointed. Obama is unlikely to take any risks and deviate much from his declared positions on most of the key foreign policy issues, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, certainly this early in the presidential race.

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