Hundreds Demonstrate on Border With Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - December 31, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on both sides of the Israeli-Gazan border on Thursday to mark a year since Israel’s three-week war in Gaza, and to call for an end to the blockade of the area imposed by Israel and Egypt. About 85 of the several hundred demonstrators inside Gaza were foreigners, part of a group of more than 1,000 who arrived in Cairo in hopes of entering the territory but who were stopped by the Egyptian authorities. After days of negotiation, Egypt permitted a small delegation to cross the normally closed border at the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

»

In reversal, Egypt allows some foreign activists to enter Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
December 31, 2009 - 1:00am

Cairo, Egypt — Egypt has allowed 84 pro-Palestinian foreign activists to march to Gaza, which is under an Israeli-led blockade, an Egyptian official in the North Sinai governorate said. Some 1,400 activists from 43 countries had gathered in Cairo since Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the Israeli three-week offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Egypt said 100 activists would be allowed to pass through.

»

Smuggling fuels Gaza's stalled economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Heather Sharp - December 31, 2009 - 1:00am

The day Israel launched its 22-day offensive on Gaza , a year ago, Osama and his family lost most of their $70,000 life savings. The Gaza accountant, who gives only his first name, had put his money into a local investment scheme - even selling an apartment and his wife's jewelry to do so. The scheme initially produced excellent returns, which Osama understood came from trade through the smuggling tunnels from Egypt to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

»

MIDEAST: New Year Reopens Wounds of the Old
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Eva Bartlett - December 30, 2009 - 1:00am

For many survivors of the last Israeli war on Gaza, time has not healed their wounds, physical or emotional. Amal Samouni, 10, still suffers vision problems in her right eye. The shrapnel remaining in her head causes her constant pain and she is unable to concentrate at school. Her concentration is broken, also, by memories of her martyred father and younger brother, both of whom she saw shot dead at close range by Israeli soldiers during the 2008-2009 winter war on Gaza.

»

Communal Groups Back Somali in Bid To Block Israel Lawsuits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - December 30, 2009 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON — American Jewish organizations that fought to establish the jurisdiction of U.S. courts for suits against terrorist groups are taking an opposite tack in suits involving human rights abuses. Jewish groups have filed briefs siding with a former Somali official now living in Virginia who is alleged to bear responsibility for atrocities committed during his tenure.

»

Shin Bet: 2009 was quiet year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Hanan Greenberg - December 30, 2009 - 1:00am

The year 2009 saw a significant decline in the number of attacks both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank compared with previous years, according to data released Wednesday by Israel's Shin Bet to mark the end of the year. At the same time, many attempts by terror groups from the Gaza Strip to plant booby traps inside Israel were thwarted by removing the devices from the Strip into the Sinai, and from there to Israel.

»

Child born into a life of conflict in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Katya Adler - December 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Mariam El-Sharif was born a year ago into a world of conflict and violence. Her extended family crowds around a cake with one pink candle on it. The walls of this front room in northern Gaza are still riddled with bullet and mortar shell holes. Israel began a three-week long assault on Gaza, a couple of hours after Mariam came in to the world. Panic and chaos spread throughout Gaza's main hospital. Israel says its operation was aimed at Palestinian militants, who for years had been firing rockets at Israeli families over the border.

»

Gaza: both sides learned lessons for the next battle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am

Walid Abu Khalid is a cautious man. He agreed to meet only at a location and time of his choosing and then only in a car that he directed to keep moving in and out of the narrow alleys of the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza to no obvious destination. Abu Khalid, 27, a former journalism student is a field commander with the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Although Israel’s assassination policy has all but ended since last year’s war, Abu Khalid, an assumed name, knows that one phone call from an informer could seal his fate.

»

Gaza: many Israelis believe attack was justified, but ended too soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am

Few Israelis today have qualms about the high death toll inflicted by their country’s assault on the Gaza Strip last year. But even though many Israelis still believe the 22-day onslaught, which ended on January 18, was justified in a bid to curb Hamas rocket fire on their country’s southern communities, some have begun to question whether the attack achieved its goals. They say the military campaign ended too early and warn that another offensive may be necessary to complete the job.

»

The Gaza scorecard, one year later
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) December 29, 2009 - 1:00am

A year after the Israeli attack on Gaza, a scorecard of “winners and losers” suggests that nobody won anything, but Israel has probably suffered political losses that it could not have envisioned when it decided to invade Gaza. I count seven main aims that Israel had in mind when it launched its war a year ago and tightened its siege of Gaza; one of them was achievable without a war, and the six others have either remained unachieved or have turned things to Hamas’ and the Palestinians’ favor. Here is my review of where things stand a year after the Gaza war.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017