Gaza | The American Task Force on Palestine

Two Israeli soldiers accused of using human shield
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem - Two Israeli soldiers involved in the Gaza Strip offensive a year ago used a 9-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield to open packages they believed were booby-trapped with explosives, the Israeli army charged Thursday. The soldiers, whose names were not released, have been indicted in military court for "unauthorized conduct" and "exceeding their authority in a manner that endangered life or health," the army said. The boy, whose case was forwarded to the Israel Defense Forces by the United Nations, was unharmed.

Egypt expels hundreds of Palestinians to Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Gaza - Ma'an - Palestinian border officials said Friday that 224 Palestinians were sent back to the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Thursday night. The Palestinians, most of them former medical patients, were sent back via Rafah, the de facto crossings authority officials told Ma'an. The reports came amid larger allegations that Egypt had hardened its policies on issuing visas to Hamas leader from Gaza

Israeli warplanes bomb southern Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 12, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes struck southern Gaza on Thursday night in response to rocket fire from the coastal strip, said an army announcement. The airstrike was targeted at a weapon factory and a smuggling tunnel near the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, said the announcement from Israeli army spokesperson's office. The attack was a response to the firing of a rocket that hit an Israeli village on Thursday.

Hamas frees British journalist in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - March 11, 2010 - 12:00am

A British journalist left the Gaza Strip on Thursday after nearly four weeks in a Hamas-run Palestinian jail facing accusations of spying for Israel. Paul Martin, a London-based freelance film-maker and writer, said as he left the enclave for Israel: "My release today is a great victory for freedom of the media, freedom of the press, to be able to follow the difficult stories in war zones." Hamas insisted on branding him a spy for Israel but said it had decided to deport rather than prosecute Martin, who is in his 50s and also holds South African citizenship.

What has Gaza gained since Hamas won four years ago?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) March 11, 2010 - 12:00am

As Israel and the Palestinian Authority prepare to resume indirect talks, through American mediation, some are insisting that the Islamist movement Hamas must be brought into the process. Hamas, the argument goes, is capable of obstructing progress in negotiations, so that only by engaging the group can the United States and the international community avoid such an outcome. The rationale is naive.

Gazan hairdressers protest Hamas restrictions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
March 10, 2010 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza's male hairdressers have filed a complaint with a human rights group over a Hamas edict banning them from cutting women's hair. Gaza's Islamic militant rulers announced the ban last week. It affects only five coiffeurs but highlights Hamas' increasing attempts to impose a strict version of Islam in the already conservative Palestinian territory.

Pointless move
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Opinion) March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas is reportedly banning male hairdressers from styling women’s hair in Gaza. If true, it is a sad indictment of the Islamist movement’s rule today that it has come to this. Indeed, it sometimes is very hard to recollect that Palestinians voted for Hamas not out of any sense of growing religiosity, but because the movement promised change and reform and seemed to mean it.

Israel to allow international officials to enter Gaza for the first time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel will allow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a senior European Union (EU) official to enter Gaza, said a statement of Israeli Foreign Ministry, in an attempt to ease the international pressure on the Jewish State for besieging Gaza. It is the first time Israel has permitted international officials to cross Israeli border to enter Gaza since the operation Cast Lead in December 2008, according to local daily Ha' aretz.

The People of Gaza and a Reporter: Victims of the NY Times' Subbornness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The people of Gaza appear to have been the recent victims of the arrogance (or what some believe to be the bias) of the NY Times. The stubbornness of Bill Keller, the executive editor of the NY Times, in refusing to relocate his Jerusalem reporter has caused a considerable drop in the paper's coverage of Gaza. The Times has refused to relocate their reporter covering Israel and Palestine after the appearance of a conflict of interest surfaced. The Electronic Intifada and the US media watchdog FAIR first reported the conflict of interest case in January 25th and 27th respectively.

PA sends medicine to Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 5, 2010 - 12:00am

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.