Barak okays new West Bank settlement in return for evacuation of illegal outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - February 4, 2009 - 1:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak has agreed to approve the establishment of a new settlement in the Binyamin region in return for settlers' agreement to evacuate the illegal outpost of Migron. The Migron settlers will move into the new 250-house settlement after leaving the illegal one they built on private Palestinian land. Today there are 45 families living in Migron, with only two living in permanent housing and the rest in trailers. » Read more

Hamas police 'seize aid for Gaza' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News February 4, 2009 - 1:00am A UN spokesman said policemen raided a UN warehouse on Tuesday after officials refused to hand over the aid to a Hamas-controlled ministry. The UN said it was the first time its aid had been confiscated by Hamas. It condemned the action and demanded the goods be immediately returned. Hamas denied its men had taken any aid. UN spokesman Christopher Gunness said Hamas police took 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels. The Hamas Social Affairs Minister in Gaza, Ahmed al-Kurd, denied that members of the Islamist movement had removed aid from a UN building. » Read more

ICC takes first step toward Gaza war-crimes probe ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 4, 2009 - 1:00am The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Tuesday he would determine whether there was such a legal entity as a Palestinian state, a precursor to a possible probe of war crimes in Gaza. Having received a request from the Palestinian National Authority to investigate the recent Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said: "My work is now to analyze this in accordance with [international] law." » Read more