UN says Gaza unemployment rate at 45%
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 11, 2011 - 1:00am

The unemployment rate in Gaza has continued to climb in 2011, reaching 45.4%, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told reporters in Gaza City on Wednesday. At a news conference for the UN Relief and Works Agency, Gunness warned that the increasing unemployment was a sign of a hugely fragile Gaza economy, which he described as on the "brink of collapse." Israel's continued siege on the coastal enclave, Gunness warned, would push the economy over the edge.

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Egypt unrest cuts fuel lifeline to Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - February 8, 2011 - 1:00am

Gaza is facing acute fuel shortages as a result of the unrest in neighbouring Egypt, which has caused supplies of petrol and diesel smuggled through tunnels to almost dry up. Although some fuel is imported into the Gaza Strip from Israel, it costs three times as much as diesel and petrol smuggled in from Egypt. Gazans depend on diesel for generators during power cuts of about eight hours a day. Long queues of cars, motorcycles and people on foot carrying containers have formed at gas stations. Smuggled construction materials and Egyptian cigarettes are also in short supply.

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Hamas launches Gaza rebuilding program
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
January 18, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas launched a program on Tuesday to rebuild 1,000 homes in the Gaza Strip destroyed during an Israeli offensive two years ago, a project that could boost the Islamist group's standing in the enclave it controls. Hamas, shunned by the West for refusing to renounce violence, declined to disclose the project's cost or the source of its funding. International donations towards reconstruction in Gaza have been held up by Hamas' split with the Palestinian Authority controlling the West Bank.

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In search of scrap, Gaza children risk lives in border zone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
by Katie Nguyen - January 18, 2011 - 1:00am

Children in Gaza risk regular gunfire from Israeli troops while looking for construction material in destroyed buildings close to the blockaded enclave's border with Israel, Save the Children said on Tuesday. Citing a report by a UNICEF-led group on children caught up in conflict, it said 26 children were shot by Israeli soldiers near the border last year, including 16 outside the buffer zone which extends 300 metres (yards) from the border security wall and fence.

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WikiLeaks: Israel charged bribes for Gaza access
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - January 6, 2011 - 1:00am

A U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks on Thursday quoted American officials as saying a key Israeli cargo crossing for goods entering the Gaza Strip was rife with corruption. The June 14, 2006, cable, published Thursday by Norway's Aftenposten daily, says major American companies told U.S. diplomats they were forced to pay hefty bribes to get goods into Gaza. It was unclear whether the practice still continues. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

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Gaza Mends, but Israelis See Signs of Trouble
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - December 16, 2010 - 1:00am

The shops are full of Israeli food and clothes but most people here can barely afford them. Construction projects — sewage treatment plants, schools — are getting started but far fewer than needed. The border with Egypt, once sealed, is open but few people cross because security clearance is hard to get. And rockets and mortar shells fly daily from here into Israel, as Israeli troops carry out brief raids.

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Gaza blockade over? Not according to the UN.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Kristen Chick - December 10, 2010 - 1:00am

More than two months after Israel approved the entry of construction materials for humanitarian projects in Gaza as part of the loosening of its blockade of the coastal enclave, only a tiny fraction of the needed materials have arrived. In Gaza, electric cars offer a way around Israel’s blockade Gaza busts out of its blockade Israel-Hamas standoff deepens water woes

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Israel allows Gaza to add flowers to farm exports
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alternet
December 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel has allowed the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to export flowers through Israeli territory, in addition to strawberries it permitted earlier, officials said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement Israel's security cabinet had approved an "additional easing of restrictions to permit and expansion of commercial exports from the Gaza Strip," without giving details.

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Gaza farmers satisfied as products exported
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Ahmed al-Dabba - November 30, 2010 - 1:00am

GAZA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Gaza flower grower Hamdan Hejazi could not hide his happiness as his roses now can be exported to Europe despite an Israeli ban on export. Hejazi, who inherited the business from his ancestors, hopes to export more than 7 million roses to Holland if the borders remain open. Looking at the trucks carrying his flowers, he sighed with relief, hoping this season would compensate the losses he suffered during the past years of the Israeli blockade that started in 2006.

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Rights groups accuse Israel of ducking pledge to ease Gaza blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 30, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel has only marginally eased its three-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaving business and construction largely frozen in the impoverished and war-damaged Palestinian territory, a report by several aid groups said Tuesday. The groups accused Israel of ducking promises to ease the blockade's effects on civilians, a pledge it made under pressure after a deadly Israeli commando raid in May on an international flotilla protesting the restrictions. A Palestinian girl stands by sacks of humanitarian aid in Shatie refugee camp, in Gaza City on June 6, 2010. Photo by: AP

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