January 7th

ISRAEL, GAZA: Holocaust survivor explains why she became Palestinian rights activist ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Daniel Siegal - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am Hedy Epstein is what some might see as a contradiction in terms: a survivor of the Holocaust and also a staunch advocate for the Palestinian people. Born in 1924 in Freiburg, Germany, Epstein was 14 when she escaped from Nazi persecution via the Kinderstransport to England. Since her 1948 arrival in the U.S., Epstein has been an advocate for peace and human rights. » Read more

Putting Lens on Lives in Suspended Animation in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - (Opinion) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am GAZA — In the year since Israeli fighter jets and troops invaded this coastal Palestinian strip to stop rocket fire, time seems to have stood still. A blockade imposed by both Israel and Egypt to isolate the Hamas government bars the vast majority of goods and people from moving in or out. That means there is no reconstruction of destroyed buildings. Thousands remain homeless. Winter has arrived. » Read more

Gunfire at Gaza Protest Near Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — An anti-Egypt rally in southern Gaza turned deadly on Wednesday when demonstrators rushed the border fence and stoned Egyptian troops on the other side, leading to an exchange of gunfire and the death of an Egyptian soldier. Nine Egyptian soldiers and a dozen Palestinians were wounded from stones and gunfire, witnesses and medics said. » Read more

January 6th

Saudi Arabia…Mishal and the Removal of Doubts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am Did [Hamas chief] Khalid Mishal arrive in Riyadh to announce the selling of Iran, or did he come to sell us another illusion? Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal described his talks with Mishal as being "focused on removing doubts about the role that it [Hamas] is playing in our region." I liked the comment made by Mr. Turki Al Sudairi, the editor of the "al-Riyadh" newspaper when he said on the "Ekhbariya" news channel that "these doubts are equivalent to the population of the Arab world." » Read more

For Israel, was 2009 just the calm before the storm? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Emile Hokayem - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am It was a good year for Israel. Beyond the paralysis on the peace-process front in 2009, for which the hardline Israeli prime minister can claim credit, Israel has had the quietest year since the beginning of the second intifada. Its territory was kept secure and fewer Israelis were killed and injured (although more than 1,500 Palestinians lost their lives at Israeli hands in the meantime). » Read more

Hamas holds out olive branch to Fatah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Erin Cunningham - (Opinion) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am GAZA CITY // Hamas’s announcement this week that it is on the verge of signing a reconciliation deal with Fatah may be a reaction to rising sentiment on Gaza’s streets – and even among its own ranks – that it is time for the Islamist movement to reconcile with its secular rivals in the West Bank. The group’s political chief, Khaled Meshaal, based in Damascus, said this week in Saudi Arabia that his movement is in the final stages of reconciliation with Fatah, after three years of division split the Palestinian territories into two enclaves run by the respective movements. » Read more

Guileless in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Eddy Portnoy - (Opinion) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am It is difficult not to be impressed by Joe Sacco’s “Footnotes in Gaza.” A unique journalistic product, Sacco’s latest book offers an in-depth look at disputed events that took place after the Israelis occupied Gaza at the beginning of the aborted British-French-Israeli attack on Egypt in 1956. Perhaps these are neglected “footnotes” in the history of this pitiful strip of land, but Sacco makes them central as he assiduously researches the events. » Read more

Egypt police clash with Gaza aid convoy activists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News (Editorial) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am More than 50 people have been hurt in clashes between Egyptian police and pro-Palestinian activists seeking to take a convoy of supplies to Gaza. Protests reportedly broke out when Egyptian authorities at the port city of Al Arish ordered some lorries to go via an Israeli-controlled checkpoint. British MP George Galloway, leading the convoy, told Reuters that Israel was likely to prevent them entering Gaza. The activists want all the goods to be sent via Egypt's Rafah crossing. » Read more

PM: World must press PA to return to talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am The international community has to stop "coddling" the Palestinians and tell them unequivocally that they need to return to the negotiating table, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a visiting US congressional delegation on Tuesday. Netanyahu told the delegation, led by Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), that the refusal of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to enter negotiations is bad for the PA, pushes peace further away, and only strengthens Hamas. » Read more

US: East J'lem housing hampers peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger, Tovah Lazaroff - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am The US accused Israel on Wednesday of damaging the peace process when it approved the construction of four new buildings in a Palestinian area on east Jerusalem's Mount of Olives a day earlier. "We have noted that these types of announcements and activity harm peace efforts," a US State Department official told The Jerusalem Post. Still, the harsh response was more measured than several previous US criticisms of plans to build in east Jerusalem. » Read more