UN seeks close Gaza scrutiny
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Barbara Plett - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The probe, headed by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, concludes that Israel "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during its Gaza offensive in December last year. It asks the UN Security Council to call on Israel to conduct "appropriate investigations," to monitor them, and to refer the matter to the ICC if they're deemed not to meet international standards. The report found that the firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups also amounted to war crimes, and called for a similar process of accountability for the Gaza authorities.

»

Israel, Jewish groups seek to discredit new U.N. report on Gaza war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's government and its supporters are promoting a one-sentence strategy to counter a 574-page U.N. report on last winter's Israel-Hamas war in Gaza: Consider the source. "The same U.N. that allows the president of a country to announce on a podium its aspiration to destroy the State of Israel has no right to teach us about morality," Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said, referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

»

Israel threatened with international law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Controversy surrounded Richard Goldstone's investigation for the UN Human Rights Council into the Gaza war from the very start, with Israel flatly refusing to co-operate because it regarded it as irredeemably biased. But Palestinians and their supporters will see it as an authoritative if long overdue indictment.

»

Gaza border violence heats up: Israel enters, factions retaliate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Clashes erupted as Israeli bulldozers and armored vehicles entered 800 meters beyond the Gaza border near Beit Hanoun and began destroying agricultural land near the border, witnesses said Wednesday afternoon. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired on civilians in the area as they began bulldozing lands. Farmers fled the area and shortly after they reported hearing explosions from the same direction. The Military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed they launched a rocket propelled grenade shell at the invading forces.

»

B'Tselem: 773 of Palestinians killed in Cast Lead were civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

How many Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead? Eight months after the operation, it seems as though the differences between the two sides' figures are only getting bigger.

»

Israel 'understated' Gaza deaths
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

B'Tselem said detailed research with careful cross-checking showed 1,387 Palestinians died, over half of them civilians and 252 of them children. This contradicts an Israeli army report stating fewer than 300 civilians died in fighting in December and January. Israel launched the assault to halt rocket attacks from Hamas-run Gaza. The overall B'Tselem total broadly tallies with the official Palestinian death toll and the findings of other non-governmental organisations, although the proportion of civilians it identifies is lower.

»

Media war rages over Gaza conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Gone are the days when history was written solely by the victors. In today's democratised climate of instantly disseminated words and images, those on either side of a battlefield have the potential to feed facts and figures to media outlets around the world, or to pass on video footage and photographs that their opponents might prefer never saw the light of day.

»

The rise of Israel's military rabbis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Katya Adler - September 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Military rabbis are becoming more powerful. Trained in warfare as well as religion, new army regulations mean they are now part of a military elite. They graduate from officer's school and operate closely with military commanders. One of their main duties is to boost soldiers' morale and drive, even on the front line. This has caused quite some controversy in Israel. Should military motivation come from men of God, or from a belief in the state of Israel and keeping it safe? The military rabbis rose to prominence during Israel's invasion of Gaza earlier this year.

»

Following night airstrike, Israeli bulldozers invade Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli warplanes bombed a tunnel allegedly linking the southern Gaza Strip with Israel early on Friday morning. Also on Friday, witnesses in Gaza said Israeli military vehicles, including three armored bulldozers, razed farmland about 100 meters east of Gaza City. Israeli forces also reportedly fired on houses in the area.

»

In Israel's Sderot, a reprieve from rockets, but not fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - September 3, 2009 - 12:00am

During nearly a decade of intermittent attacks from Gaza, Mivtzah Kadesh Street became infamous in this battered town as a frequent target for rockets as well as a bombed-out backdrop for visits from foreign VIPs expressing solidarity. Now, eight months after Israel's Gaza offensive to punish Hamas for attacks, Sderot's wrecked homes have been largely rebuilt. But after eight years of being on constant alert for unpredictable rocket attacks, it has not been as easy for Sderot's 19,000 residents to restore their peace of mind.

»


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