U.N.'s Gaza flotilla report adrift at sea
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Sari Bashi - (Editorial) September 2, 2011 - 12:00am

For months, since the contents of the report prepared by a UN panel charged with reviewing the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident (the Palmer Report) began to appear in news media coverage, it has been clear that the report would not provide a credible legal analysis of the issue that was the reason for the flotilla in the first place -- Israel's closure of Gaza.

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Israel arrests Hamas leader in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
September 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli military says a militant Hamas leader whose son collaborated with Israel has been arrested in the West Bank. The military would not say why Hassan Yousef of the Islamic Hamas group was taken into custody or provide any other details. Yousef was released from an Israeli prison a month ago after serving six years. Shortly afterward, he told an Israeli TV station that the Palestinians are planning demonstrations to support their quest for U.N. endorsement of a Palestinian state after the General Assembly convenes in late September.

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Israeli Strikes in Retaliation Kill 9 Gazans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram - August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Nine Gazans have been killed in Israeli strikes since Wednesday night, with Israel’s southern communities withstanding 20 rockets from Gaza over the same 24-hour period. Warning sirens repeatedly sent Israelis across the south into bomb shelters, but most of the rockets landed in empty fields near the Israeli cities of Ofakim, Ashkelon and Beersheba. However, a 9-month-old baby was slightly hurt in Ashkelon when a car was hit with shrapnel.

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Woman injured as missile hits Rafah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

A missile from Gaza that hit Rafah in North Sinai Wednesday has left one woman injured, a source told the state-run news agency MENA. The woman was transferred to a hospital for treatment after the missile landed in Rafah's Nafoura Square. MENA did not give further details about the incident. The missile may have been fired by Hamas in Gaza at southern Israel. Palestinian factions on Monday announced a ceasefire following bloody clashes at the border between Gaza and Israel. But some factions rejected the truce.

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Gaza cease-fire tested by Israeli airstrike, Palestinian rocket fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

A tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip was punctured Wednesday by a deadly Israeli airstrike that triggered rocket and mortar fire at Israel. After 48 hours in which air attacks were suspended, an Israeli drone strike killed Ismail Asmar, a senior member of the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, in his car in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, according to the military and local medical officials.

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7 killed in overnight airstrikes on Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Seven Palestinians were killed and at least 30 injured as multiple Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza overnight Wednesday. Hisham Adnan Abu Harb was killed as an airstrike hit a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza. Earlier, reports said that three people were unaccounted for after the Rafah airstrike. Four bodies were later pulled from rubble in the Rafah area. Hamas official Imad Muhammad Hamada had earlier said that crews were searching for the missing persons.

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Rights group: Rockets injure Palestinians inside Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Eight Palestinians, including two children and three women, were injured this week by rockets fired in populated areas across the Gaza Strip, a human rights group charged Wednesday. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights says a woman was seriously injured. After one incident, according to the PCHR, an ordinance disposal unit arrived at the scene and collected the rocket's shrapnel, but the civil police never showed up to investigate.

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Israeli military: Aircraft strike Gaza gunmen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Violence along the Gaza-Israel border heated up on Wednesday, with Israeli airstrikes on militant targets and militant rocket fire at Israel. Israeli media reported that security forces sent down reinforcements to the area. A music festival that was to be held in the southern city of Ashkelon was canceled, conforming with military recommendations against large gatherings in tense security times, the military said.

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Netanyahu tells cabinet: Israel lacks legitimacy for major Gaza operation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 23, 2011 - 12:00am

The cabinet voted Monday to refrain from any action that could lead to an escalation in the south and to cooperate indirectly with the truce Hamas declared on Sunday. So far, the truce has largely held, although three rockets did hit southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday. The cabinet meeting began at about 11 P.M. Sunday and adjourned at about 3 A.M. Monday morning. The ministers were briefed by senior defense officials, but were not asked to approve any further military action. Instead, the meeting focused on ways to contain the situation and prevent an escalation.

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Gaza factions agree ceasefire as overnight calm holds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Reports of a Sunday evening ceasefire deal reached between factions in Gaza and Israel appeared to hold overnight Sunday, as residents paused for breath after four days of Israeli airstrikes. Israeli media and army reported that 12 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel overnight, with no injuries. But the cessation deal, described by a Hamas official as "informal", seemed to take Gaza residents safely through the night. No faction claimed rockets attacks after the deal was in place, around 9 p.m. Israel time, 8 p.m. in winter-saving time.

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