Spain okays Gaza war crimes probe against Israeli officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Spanish National Court judge Fernando Andreu announced Monday that he will pursue his investigation into a 2002 Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip, despite contrary advice by prosecutors at the court. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he would call on the Spanish government to prevent the investigation, reiterating Israel's stance that the Israel Defense Forces is the most "moral" army in the world.

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Mr Lieberman, eyeless in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) May 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Chutzpah is a Yiddish word that means shameless audacity. Soon, it may have a synonym: to do a Lieberman. Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing caricature who is foreign minister in the cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu, is taking his first steps on the international stage with trips to Italy, France, the UK and the Czech Republic, and he is making waves even before landing on European soil. According to one of his senior officials, Europe is in danger of making itself irrelevant and losing its seat at the peace process table if its criticism of Israeli policies continues.

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Britain raps 'unbalanced' UN rights Gaza report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
April 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Britain criticised Wednesday a report by a UN human rights investigator on Israel's Gaza offensive as "unbalanced", but insisted it was extremely concerned by the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Last month, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, said in a report that there was "reason" to conclude that Israel's massive military offensive on Gaza in December and January was a war crime, but the Jewish state slammed the report as "one-sided".

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ATFP hosts Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish
Press Release - Contact Information: Mohammed Maraqa - April 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, April 21, 2009 – The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) hosted a meeting with Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor who tragically lost three daughters and a niece during Israel’s military incursion into Gaza last January. The meeting was attended by ATFP board members and supporters.


Rights Group Challenges Israel's Gaza War Probe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
April 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Israeli army's investigation of troop conduct during its war on Gaza appeared to be an attempt to cover up "violations of the laws of war." The army defended its conduct during the massive 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of Gaza in December and January, saying five military probes found its forces "operated in accordance with international law." But Joe Stork, a deputy director of Human Rights Watch, said: "The conclusions are an apparent attempt to mask violations of the laws of war by Israeli forces in Gaza."

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White phosphorus in Gaza: from flat denial to final admission
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by Catherine Philp - April 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The “media buzz” to which Israel claims to have bowed began on the morning of January 5. The Times broke news that Israel was using white phosphorus against Gaza and carried a photograph of the distinctive white plumes above densely populated civilian streets. The Israeli military was quick to deny the story, but as the days and weeks wore on, the evidence mounted.

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Israeli Military Says Actions in Gaza War Did Not Violate International Law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - April 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli military on Wednesday presented the conclusions of several internal investigations into its conduct during the war in Gaza and stated that it had operated in accordance with international law, countering widespread international criticism over its actions and continuing accusations of possible war crimes.

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Egypt’s Escalating War on Hezbollah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Analysis) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

After months of relative passivity, Egypt effectively declared war in mid-April on Iranian-backed terrorist groups operating in its backyard, executing an unprecedented wave of arrests of alleged terrorists, smugglers and arms-makers linked to Hezbollah and Hamas.

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'Israel unlikely to assist UN war crimes probe'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel is "very unlikely" to cooperate with a UN agency's probe into whether Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the recent Gaza war, a government official said Wednesday. Hamas, meanwhile, said it is ready to work with the investigators, to be led by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge who served as chief UN prosecutor of war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. International and local human rights groups have said there is strong suspicion both sides violated the rules of war in three weeks of fighting early this year that followed years of cross-border conflict.

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'Sounds worrying'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram
by Dina Ezzat - April 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Karen Abu Zayd is commissioner general of UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). Her job is to make sure that relief and human development are accessible to Palestinians under occupation, in Gaza, the West Bank and refugee camps scattered in countries neighbouring the occupied Palestinian territories. This mission is met through providing education, healthcare, social services and emergency aid to over 4.6 million refugees living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic.

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