June 11th

Israeli Settler Injured In Mortar Shelling That Started Fires – Spokesman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna) June 11, 2008 - 3:57pm GAZA, June 11 (KUNA) -- An Israeli settler was injured and huge fire broke out in an agricultural filed on Wednesday when several mortar shells landed on the Israeli settlement of Nir-Oz, eastern Gaza Strip. An Israeli Army spokesman said that two mortar shells were fired early this morning from Gaza Strip targeting the Israeli settlement and injuring one of its residents, and also causing a fire in a farm. » Read more

Israeli Troops Kill 3 Hamas Fighters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Hisham Aby Taha & Mohammed Mar’i - June 11, 2008 - 3:56pm GAZA CITY/RAMALLAH, 11 June 2008 — Israeli troops killed three Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with top ministers to weigh up a possible military offensive on the besieged territory. » Read more

Palestinian Salaries Paid After Funds Released ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 11, 2008 - 3:53pm RAMALLAH, West Bank Reuters) - Palestinian government workers received their wages almost a week late on Tuesday after Israel transferred tax revenues it held back over Palestinian attempts to block upgraded European-Israeli ties. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Monday the aid-dependent Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank had expected to receive tax revenues that Israel collects on its behalf on June 2 and to pay salaries two days later. » Read more

Israeli Tank Fire Kills Girl In Gaza, Palestinians Say ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 11, 2008 - 3:46pm This week Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top officials have been discussing ceasefire prospects and possible broader military action should Egypt's efforts fail. Israeli tank fire killed a 9-year-old Palestinian girl in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian medical workers said. They said the girl's remains had been recovered from a house in the village of Qarara, east of Khan Younis, which had been struck by the tank fire. She was inside at the time of the shelling. » Read more

Olmert Rejects Gaza Strip Invasion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) June 11, 2008 - 3:42pm JERUSALEM, June 11 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday he has shelved plans to launch an invasion of the Gaza Strip and will give truce talks with Hamas more time. Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, released a statement saying that although the government won't move on a much-anticipated decision to invade Gaza in an attempt to stop rocket and mortar fire aimed at Israeli settlements, the preparations for military action will continue, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. » Read more

June 10th

Palestinians: Israel Transfers Delayed Tax Money, But Millions Missing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - June 10, 2008 - 5:28pm Israel transfered vital tax funds to the Palestinian Authority Tuesday, after holding up the money for a week, a Palestinian offical said. The transfer was delayed after Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on the European Union and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) not to upgrade their relations with Israel. » Read more

Top Mi Officer: Hama Fears Broad Idf Gaza Op ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amoss Harel, Avi Issacharoff, Barak Ravid - June 10, 2008 - 5:27pm A senior Israel Defense Forces military intelligence officer told Tuesday's cabinet session that Hamas both fears a broad IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, and is expediting its preparations for such an incursion. Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, the head of the research division of Military Intelligence, added that the militant Palestinian group was currently most interested in achieving calm in the Gaza Strip, which it controls, but was simultaneously continuing to smuggle weapons from Egypt. » Read more

18 Mortars Hit Negev; 3 Hamas Men Killed In Iaf Strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Shumlik Hadad - June 10, 2008 - 5:20pm Eighteen mortar shells were fired from Gaza toward the Nahal Oz area noon Tuesday, as the "Kitchen Cabinet" - consisting of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - was expected to reach a decision on whether or not to launch a military operation against Palestinian terror groups in the coastal enclave. » Read more

Egypt Demands More Flexibility From Hamas On Prisoner Exchange Deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - June 10, 2008 - 5:13pm Senior Palestinian sources in Gaza claimed on Tuesday that Egypt has increased its pressure on Hamas to submit a new list of prisoners it wants released as part of a comprehensive ceasefire agreement with Israel that would include the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas' original list of 300 prisoners was, for the most part, rejected by Israel. According to Palestinian sources, Israel has agreed to release 71 prisoners "with blood on their hands". » Read more

Gaza Groups Unfazed By Possible Idf Op ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - June 10, 2008 - 5:07pm Israel's security cabinet is expected to make the pivotal decision of when – and more importantly if – the Gaza will see a wide-scale military operation meant to crush militant infrastructure; but the various armed groups in the Strip seem unfazed by the prospect. Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) all believe that the political state of mind in Israel will not allow such an operation to materialize. » Read more