July 11th, 2008

Hamas Arrests Fighters After Rockets Are Fired Into Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News July 11, 2008 - 2:42pm Hamas has arrested three fighters who fired cross-border rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip  on Thursday. It is the first such detentions since the Islamists and Israel agreed a truce last month, fighters said. An official with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said Hamas security forces arrested three of its members who were involved in firing two rockets at Israel. "They chased them after they fired the rockets and abducted them," the official said. » Read more

Israeli Troops Kill Gunman In West Bank Clash ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ali Daraghmeh And Diaa Hadid - July 11, 2008 - 2:40pm West Bank (AP) -- Israeli troops killed a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on an Israeli civilian driving in the West Bank early Friday, the military and Palestinian officials said. An Israeli officer was also wounded in the nighttime clash, the military said. The gunman opened fire on the civilian driving near the Palestinian town of Qalqilya just after midnight, lightly wounding him, the military said, and then shot at troops who arrived on the scene. » Read more

Fayyad Calls On Palestinians To Defy Israeli Army ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters July 11, 2008 - 2:35pm Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on Palestinians on Thursday to defy an Israeli army attempt to shut down a major commercial center in Nablus. In a striking intervention in an affair that Israel says is aimed at disrupting funding for Fayyad's Islamist opponents in Hamas, the Western-backed premier visited the modern complex which rises above the center of the West Bank city and urged businesses to reopen there despite an Israeli raid on Tuesday. » Read more

Un Criticises West Bank Barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News July 11, 2008 - 2:33pm The West Bank barrier Israel is building will be devastating for Palestinians if completed along its proposed route, the UN says. In a report, the UN said thousands of Palestinians had already been cut off from their jobs, land or key services. The report blamed Israel's decision to build the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the agreed border. The report was compiled to mark four years since an International Court of Justice ruling on the barrier. » Read more

Ehud Olmert Will Not Contest Leadership, Officials Say ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by Sheera Frenkel - July 11, 2008 - 2:31pm Ehud Olmert's tenuous grip on power weakened further yesterday when officials of his ruling Kadima party suggested that he would not contest the leadership primaries in September. Already reeling from a corruption scandal, the fallout from the disastrous war in Lebanon two years ago and poor opinion poll ratings, the Israeli Prime Minister is being asked not to run for re-election by concerned members of his own party. » Read more

Obama In Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by M.J. Rosenberg - July 11, 2008 - 2:29pm Senator Obama’s decision to include Israel in his overseas tour makes a lot of sense. Although he has been there before, the ever-changing Israeli scene needs to be experienced firsthand. I only hope Obama is not going to Israel in order to impress a small but vocal minority of Jewish Democrats who are uncomfortable with his candidacy. » Read more

Palestinians: Let Us Tame Wild Jenin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - July 11, 2008 - 2:28pm Throughout most of the decade, Jenin has been synonymous with what Palestinians generally call fawda: a mix of chaos with the might of gun-toting militants trying to impose their own brand of law and order. Today, the Palestinian Authority (PA) police and paramilitary forces, recently returned from US-sponsored training in Jordan, have fanned out around Jenin as part of a new security campaign to regain control of West Bank cities such as this one, which have been in disarray since the start of the Al Aqsa intifada nearly eight years ago. » Read more

U.s. Tries To Help 3 Scholars Barred From Leaving Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - July 11, 2008 - 2:26pm American consular officials drove from Jerusalem to the Gazan border on Thursday in an unusual effort to interview three Gazan Fulbright scholars who Israel says are too dangerous to allow into the country. Using a portable fingerprinting machine flown in from Washington for the interviews, the Americans were seeking to expedite the granting of study visas to the three scholars, despite Israeli concerns. » Read more

July 10th

Mostafa: Israel Is Seeking Reviving Negotiations To Buy Palestinian Gas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Atef Sa'ad - (Opinion) July 15, 2008 - 8:00pm The managing director of the Investment Fund, Mohammaed Mostafa, has revealed yesterday that Israel is seeking to revive negotiations to buy Palestinian gas, while the Palestinian side and the British Gas company, the main developer of gas from Gaza's beaches, are being cautious in making a decision over this issue until they are certain of Israel's seriousness. » Read more

Pa Official: We'll Freeze Talks If Settlement Building Continues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz July 10, 2008 - 3:19pm Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo said Thursday that the Palestinians were considering freezing their peace talks with Israel over Israeli construction plans for East Jerusalem. The Palestinians hope to establish the eastern sector of the city as capital of their future state, and see continued Israeli construction there as undermining that goal. » Read more