Two die in smuggling tunnels after airstrike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Two Palestinians died as a result of a gas leak inside a smuggling tunnel along Gaza’s border with Egypt in the city of Rafah, medics said on Wednesday. Medicals at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah said Muhammad Jalal Abu Sef, 45, and Riziq Al-Masri, 28, were dead when they arrived. Thirteen others were injured as a result of the gas leak, which occurred after Israeli warplanes bombed the tunnels. It was not immediately clear if the gas leak was a direct result of the airstrikes.

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Netanyahu finally agrees to Sarkozy request to rebuild Gaza hospital
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally agreed Tuesday to a request by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to rebuild a Gaza hospital damaged during Operation Cast Lead. Netanyahu told Sarkozy by phone Tuesday that he had decided to approve the project as a humanitarian gesture. The premier also said he wished to accommodate Paris due to the "strident stance that France has taken on Iran's nuclear program." Sarkozy made the request during Netanyahu's visit to Paris earlier this year. The hospital in question is Al-Quds Hospital, which is managed by the Red Crescent Society in Gaza.

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UN scrutinises Gaza 'war crimes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The UN's main human rights watchdog has begun a debate on a damning report into Israel's military operation against Gaza eight months ago. It is seen as a test of US engagement with the Human Rights Council, which was shunned by President George W Bush. The US, which is Israel's main ally, has criticised elements of the report. The report, widely lauded by human rights groups, accuses both Israel and its militant Palestinian adversary Hamas of war crimes in the campaign.

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Palestinians seek Barak's arrest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

A group of Palestinian families is attempting to have Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, prosecuted in Britain for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, lawyers have told Al Jazeera. A lawyer working for the families will present their case at a magistrates court in London on Tuesday before British officials decide if it has the jurisdiction to decide the case. The families are accusing Barak of committing war crimes including the assassination of a senior Palestinian minister and unlawful killing of civilians during the Gaza war at the beginning of this year.

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U.N. Investigator Presents Report on Gaza War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nick Cumming-Bruce - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The lead investigator in a recent United Nations inquiry into the Gaza conflict warned on Tuesday that the lack of accountability for war crimes in he Middle East has “reached a crisis point” and is undermining any hope of peace. The investigator, Richard Goldstone, made his comments here as he presented the Human Rights Council with his final report on violations of human rights and international law in the three-week war in Gaza last winter, which accuses both Israel and Palestinian groups of committing atrocities.

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US urges Israel to probe Gaza crimes to boost peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Stephanie Nebehay - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The United States called on its close ally Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Gaza, saying it would help the Middle East peace process. Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, said that Hamas leaders also had a responsibility to investigate crimes and to end what he called its targeting of civilians and use of Palestinian civilians as human shields in the strip.

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A call to moral accounting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chicago Tribune
by Brant Rosen - (Opinion) September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

On Sunday night, the Jewish community will begin our annual Yom Kippur fast. The physical deprivation is a crucial element of the day, but as with many faith traditions, the fasting itself isn't really the point. Going without food and water is, rather, a device, intended to sharpen our senses and lead to reflection. This reflection is notably, pointedly, not a personal pursuit. All through the Yom Kippur prayers, we're called to do "cheshbon nefesh," a moral accounting, as a community: "We have sinned," we pray. "Forgive us."

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Gaza peace protester is imprisoned in own home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Nine months after he helped to organise protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza, Samih Jabareen is a prisoner in his home in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, an electronic bracelet around his ankle to alert the police should he step outside his front door. The 40-year-old actor and theatre director is one of dozens of Arab political activists in Israel who have faced long-term detention during and since Israel’s winter assault on Gaza in what human rights groups are calling political intimidation and repression of free speech by the Israeli police and courts.

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Turkey wants UN body to discuss Gaza 'war crimes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his country would push the Security Council to discuss a report by United Nations investigators accusing Israel and Palestinian gunmen of war crimes in the Gaza war. "We will definitely take the position to discuss this issue on the Security Council," Erdogan told reporters.

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Tunnel collapse in Gaza claims life of youth, injures two
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 25, 2009 - 12:00am

A Palestinian youth died and two others were injured in a tunnel collapse on Friday morning beneath the Egypt-Gaza border, medical sources confirmed. Medics at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah identified the youth as 21-year-old Bassam Adel Mubarak from the An-Nuseirat area in the central the Gaza Strip. They said his body was brought to the hospital after it was dug out of a collapsed tunnel south of the Al-Brazili neighborhood in Rafah city. Two others were brought to the hospital with injuries, they were not identified.

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