Not one penny has reached Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am

It has been six months since the international community pledged nearly US$5 billion (Dh18bn) in aid to the Palestinian people, chiefly for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s devastating offensive there this year. None of this aid has reached Gaza and no reconstruction has started.

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Israel Launches Air Strike in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America
by Robert Berger - August 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel has launched an air strike in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. There was damage, but no reports of injuries. The Israeli air force bombed a tunnel the army said was meant to smuggle Palestinian terrorists from Gaza into Israel. A building over the entrance to the tunnel was destroyed about a kilometer and a-half from the Israeli border fence. The military said the air raid was in response to Palestinians firing a rocket into Israel on Saturday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has adopted a new policy of deterrence since he took office five months ago.

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Israeli academics must pay price to end occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anat Matar - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Several days ago Dr. Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev published an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times. In that article he explained why, after years of activity in the peace camp here, he has decided to pin his hopes on applying external pressure on Israel - including sanctions, divestment and an economic, cultural and academic boycott. He believes, and so do I, that only when the Israeli society's well-heeled strata pay a real price for the continuous occupation will they finally take genuine steps to put an end to it.

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Israel opens door to West Bank compromise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel and the US are within sight of a compromise deal on halting settlement construction in the West Bank and paving the way to a resumption of political negotiations with moderate Palestinian leaders. Widespread indications that Israel will agree to a partial freeze on settlement construction were reinforced yesterday when its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped a "bridging formula" on settlement building would be reached. Mr Netanyahu will hold detailed negotiations in London today with the US presidential envoy George Mitchell.

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Israeli airstrike kills three in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

sraeli airstrikes overnight on a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah killed two Palestinians and injured nine others. According to medical sources Nael Ali Batiniji, 22, and Mansour Ali Batiniji, 32, and Ibrahim Batiniji 24, arrived dead at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah. The three were brothers. Rescue workers were still searching for more bodies in the rubble of the tunnel. The medics also said nine injured people were taken to hospitals in ambulances after the strike.

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Accusation of Organ Theft Stokes Ire in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - August 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel urged the Swedish government on Sunday to condemn an article in a Swedish newspaper last week accusing the Israeli Army of harvesting organs from Palestinians wounded or killed by soldiers.

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Swedish government disagrees with embassy in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - August 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Sweden's Foreign Ministry on Thursday said a response by the Swedish Embassy in Israel to a report by the Aftonbladet news saying IDF soldiers killed Palestinians in order to harvest their organs does not represent the government's stance. The embassy had stated that the report was "appalling". But the Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman said, "The embassy in Tel Aviv responded in accordance to Israeli public opinion, however the Swedish government is committed to freedom of the press." She added that Israel had not issued an official complaint on the report.

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Swedish daily: IDF killed Palestinians for organs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - August 19, 2009 - 12:00am

Leading Swedish daily Aftonbladet claimed in one of its articles that IDF soldiers killed Palestinians in order to trade in their organs. On Tuesday the Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by saying that the article "is a shocking example of Israel's demonization." According to the ministry, the Stockholm-based paper accused the Israeli army of organ theft.

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Israel wrecked Arafat, crowned Hamas, and gave birth to Al-Qaida in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Analysis) August 18, 2009 - 12:00am

This week marked four years since the Gaza disengagement, and it seems that the Strip is becoming increasingly radical - that peace is more distant and the settlers who were removed from the enclave are more embittered. Did Ariel Sharon and the majority of the Israeli public that supported the move make a bad deal?

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Rights group: IDF killed Gazans waving 'white flags' during war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
August 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Human Rights Watch called on Israel on Thursday to investigate seven incidents in which it said Israeli troops shot and killed Palestinian civilians who were flying white flags during the war in the Gaza Strip in January. Expressing disappointment with Israel's response so far to a range of allegations of war crimes made by international bodies, the New York-based lobby group said governments should press for prosecutions under international law if Israel and its enemies in Gaza's Islamist authorities did not act themselves.

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