March 4th

Israel Reopens Key Gaza Crossing For First Time Since April Suicide Bombing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 19, 2008 - 12:00am Israel has allowed food and other supplies to enter the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip through a key commercial crossing that had been closed for months, Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Tuesday. Defense Ministry official Peter Lerner said about 80 trucks would pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing in a trial run before it is officially reopened in accordance with an Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas. » Read more

Results Of An Opinion Poll On Hamas And The Truce, The Government, Security Campaigns, The Peace Process And Elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab World For Research and Development August 20, 2008 - 12:00am Sample Size: 1200 Palestinians in the West Bank & Gaza Margin of error: + 3 One: Introduction » Read more

Eu Boosts Aid To Palestinian Authority By An Extra 40 Million Euros ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 20, 2008 - 12:00am The European Union will give a financial boost on Wednesday to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority to help Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pay public sector salaries, EU and Palestinian officials said. The 40 million euro injection of funds comes on top of the 256 million euros in budget support disbursed so far this year by the European Union. Fayyad has struggled in recent months to pay government workers because many Arab donors have not met their financial commitments. "The situation is very, very tight, for sure," a top official from Fayyad's office said this week. » Read more

Hamas, Fatah Delegations Head To Cairo For Reconciliation Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 20, 2008 - 12:00am Egypt has invited Palestinian groups to Cairo next week for talks on Palestinian reconciliation, the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Tuesday. The agency quoted an unnamed official as saying Egypt would hold talks with Fatah and Hamas individually and would then organize wider discussions with all the groups simultaneously. » Read more

Israel Groups Call For Indictment Of Officer, Soldier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Mohammed Mar’i - August 20, 2008 - 12:00am The Palestinian peace activist, Ashref Abu Rahmeh, and several Israeli human rights organizations yesterday submitted a petition to Israeli High Court of Justice demanding a harsher indictment be presented against an Israeli army’s commander and soldier who were involved in shooting unarmed and bound Abu Rahmeh in the West Bank village of Nilin in early July. The petition was filed by B’Tselem, Yesh Din, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Abu-Rahmeh. » Read more

Idf To Prosecute Officer Who Shot Palestinian Teen ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hanan Greenberg - August 20, 2008 - 12:00am The Judge Advocate General decided Wednesday to file aggravated assault and exceeding military orders charges against Lieutenant A., for his involvement in a shooting incident which caused the severe injury of a Palestinian teenager three years ago. According to the indictment, on December 19, 2005, a riot took place in a Palestinian village near the northern West Bank settlement of Tekoa. During the riot, several teens began stoning the IDF troops present at the scene, among whom was A. » Read more

March 3rd

Hillary vs. The Israel Lobby ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Ari Berman - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am In her 2000 race for the US Senate, Hillary Clinton was loudly denounced by uncritical right-wing supporters of Israel for a 1999 trip to Ramallah, where she kissed Palestinian First Lady Suha Arafat and listened as Arafat denounced Israel (in Arabic). Pictures of "the kiss" were repeatedly slapped across the cover of the New York Post, in TV ads and invoked by the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Rick Lazio. The flap almost derailed Clinton's campaign. » Read more

Clinton puts 'heart' into Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Nicholas Kralev - March 3, 2009 - 1:00am Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday committed herself personally to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, saying that finding a solution is "in my heart, not just my portfolio." Mrs. Clinton cited the persistent peacemaking efforts of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and linked a solution to the future of Israeli and Palestinian children. » Read more

After Gaza war, a harder coexistence for Jews and Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Joshua Mitnick - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am The Hagar bilingual kindergarten was founded as a rare cocoon from ethnic alienation for children and parents in Israel. But even this place of innocence and coexistence isn't immune to the deeper divisions between Jews and Arabs here that has followed the Gaza war. "When Assin came back from her first day [after the war] she said, 'Mommy, today we played war between Israel and Gaza,' " says Suha Farhat, about her 5-year-old daughter. » Read more

Challenge of Israeli settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Katya Adler - March 3, 2009 - 1:00am Israel's Prime Minister designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, will not openly commit to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the US insists it's the only way forward, and Hillary Clinton is visiting the region for the first time as secretary of state. "I feel like a stranger in my own land. I can't go for a long walk. I have to sneak around. Otherwise I'm stopped by Israeli soldiers or threatened by Israeli settlers." “ This is no longer occupation, this is colonisation. Israel has no right to this land ” Raja Shehadeh » Read more