Hamas vows to maintain ceasefire - if Israel reciprocates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas prefers peace to war but will nonetheless resume armed resistance if Israel opts to continue regular attacks on Gaza, senior Hamas leader Ahmad Yousef explained. The official, who serves as an advisor to Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on foreign affairs, said that the current ceasefire between the Islamic movement and Israel was for the benefit of Palestinians in the Strip, but that Hamas reserved the right to defend them.

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UN: number of `abject poor' in Gaza triples
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ben Hubbard - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The number of Gazans living in "abject" poverty has tripled this year to 300,000, or one in five residents, the Gaza head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees said Thursday. Gaza's economy has foundered under an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade imposed after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007 from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. John Ging, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's top official in Gaza, called the rise in poverty a "predictable consequence" of the border blockade.

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PA envoy to Geneva: We'll withdraw support for Goldstone report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian envoy in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraisha, told his Israeli counterpart Aharon Leshno Yaar that the Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to announce that it will be withdrawing its support for the adoption of the Goldstone Report during the UN Human Rights Council's vote on Friday. The report accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes during their conflict in Gaza in January, an allegation Israel condemns and claims is the result of bias against the Jewish state.

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Everything is personal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel should thank Judge Richard Goldstone and his commission's important report. After subjecting him to useless, automatic mudslinging, Israel suddenly realized that it should finally investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead. Why? What happened? The ground has started to tremble under the feet of a number of Israeli statesmen and officers.

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Israel: Airstike on Gaza tunnels following Strip projectile launch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli warplanes blasted two areas in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday morning, reportedly following the launch of a projectile from the northern Strip hours earlier. Israeli news sources said the pilots hit two smuggling tunnels at Rafah. One tunnel worker was killed by an electrical shock in a nearby tunnel shortly following the strikes.

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Accounting for Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Mary Robinson - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council will debate the report of the fact-finding mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone on human rights violations in the Gaza conflict. Let us hope it is a full and fair examination based on the report’s findings and recommendations.

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Netanyahu nixes call for Israeli inquiry into Gaza war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed the idea of setting up an inquiry committee into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip as a means of dealing with the Goldstone Commission's report.

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Goldstone's Gaza probe did Israel a favor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel should thank Judge Richard Goldstone and his commission's important report. After subjecting him to useless, automatic mudslinging, Israel suddenly realized that it should finally investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead. Why? What happened? The ground has started to tremble under the feet of a number of Israeli statesmen and officers.

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Goldstone defends UN Gaza report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

As the UN human rights watchdog debated the report, which accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes, he rejected what he called a "barrage of criticism". A US official dubbed the report "deeply flawed". Israel dismissed it as biased. Separately, a UK court has rejected an attempt by a Palestinian group to have Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak arrested for alleged war crimes. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, war crimes suspects can be tried in British courts. But the British court ruled that Mr Barak had diplomatic immunity.

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Israel vs. Human Rights
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Adam Horowitz, Philip Weiss - (Opinion) September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vigorously took up the country's latest strategy for responding to allegations of human rights abuses: kill the messenger. He denounced a recent report by the UN's Human Rights Council that had accused Israel of possible crimes against humanity during its assault on Gaza last winter, calling it a "travesty," a "farce" and a "perversion." The Hamas terrorists Israel was up against had committed acts akin in history only to the Nazi blitz of British civilians during World War II, Netanyahu asserted.

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