March 5th

PA sends medicine to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 5, 2010 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority (PA) Health Ministry in Ramallah successfully arranged a delivery of badly-needed medicine to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, a Thursday report said. The International Committee of the Red Cross coordinated the entry to Gaza with the Israeli military, he said, noting the shipment will be followed by 16 truckloads of medicine and laboratory medical equipment to Gaza, for which arrangements were being made. » Read more

Hamas bans men from women's hair salons ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press March 4, 2010 - 1:00am Gaza's Islamic Hamas government on Thursday banned men from working in women's hair salons, the latest step in its campaign to impose strict Islamic customs on Gaza's 1.5 million people. Since seizing Gaza in 2007, Hamas has taken steps in that direction while avoiding a frontal assault on secularism. The majority of Gaza residents are conservative Muslims, but Hamas is under growing pressure from more radical groups to prove its fundamentalist credentials by imposing ever harsher edicts. The latest measure irked one of the victims of the ban. » Read more

Hamas: PA continues political arrest campaign ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 5, 2010 - 1:00am Hamas officials released a statement accusing Palestinian Authority forces of detaining three of the party's affiliates from locations across the West Bank overnight Thursday. The three were reportedly from Nablus and Hebron, although the arrests could not be independently verified by Ma'an. » Read more

March 4th

Abbas' consequential choices ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) March 3, 2010 - 1:00am Ask Mahmoud Abbas, the beleaguered Palestinian president, about the law of diminishing returns and he would probably explain it far better than an experienced economist! And he should. The past year has seen his political fortunes dip in value faster than the world's ailing money markets. And yet he holds on, trying to reverse the trend and looking for ways to point his dilapidated leadership into a new horizon. » Read more

Israeli heritage, Jewish heritage or both? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) March 4, 2010 - 1:00am The most worrisome aspect of the decision by the Israeli government to recognise various West Bank-based sites as part of Israel’s heritage is the continuous mix and duplicity between the state of Israel and the Jewish religion. Many Arab and international media outlets mistakenly referred to the Israeli Cabinet's decision as a declaration to consider the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb outside Bethlehem part of "Jewish heritage". No such declaration was made. The Israeli declaration on February 21 called these sites part of the state's "national heritage". » Read more

Support for Palestinians grows in UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Sharmila Devi - March 4, 2010 - 1:00am Two unrelated diplomatic upsets have underlined growing impatience with the behaviour of the Israeli government among western countries that are traditionally supportive. Backing from the European Union and Australia in the United Nations to sustain the issue of Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza more than a year ago has coincided with controversy over Israel’s apparent use of western passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a Hamas official, in Dubai. » Read more

How to handle Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Adam Ingram - (Opinion) March 4, 2010 - 1:00am The recent assassination of a founder of Hamas' armed wing, allegedly involved in the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, has strained relations between Britain and Israel, but is also a sad reminder of the wider repercussions of Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip. If Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab world are to find a way to resolve the Middle East conflict, it must be on the basis of politics, diplomacy and a respect for human life. » Read more

Jewish-Agency-style ‘Palestine Network’ launched in Bethlehem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson, Arieh O'Sullivan - March 3, 2010 - 1:00am When Hanny Elqutub, the son of Palestinian refugees, arrived in America 30 years ago he was focused on carving out a life for himself in Houston. Palestinian identity was a frame of mind but never something he engaged personally. “Sometimes people who went to the US or Europe or South America were running away from bad economics, running away from occupation, running away from political circumstances,” Elqutub says. » Read more

Facebook details cancel IDF raid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - March 4, 2010 - 1:00am The IDF was forced to cancel a recent arrest operation in the West Bank after a soldier posted information about the upcoming raid on his Facebook page. The operation was scheduled to take place several weeks ago in the Binyamin region. The soldier, from an elite unit of the Artillery Corps, posted on his Facebook page: “On Wednesday, we are cleaning out [the name of the village] – today an arrest operation, tomorrow an arrest operation and then, please God, home by Thursday.” » Read more

On brink of next intifada ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Shaul Mishal - (Opinion) March 3, 2010 - 1:00am Part 1 of article There are fears that Jerusalem will be turning into the focal point of an outburst that would prompt the next intifada. It will be a civilian rather than armed intifada, although it may certainly escalate into a bloody uprising. This intifada may spread like wildfire across the rest of the West Bank and its main centers of activity will be protests around the settlements and mostly near the security fence. Bilin will turn into a focal point that will spread along the fence area. » Read more