Palestinian state on track says World Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian government is on track to deliver on its promise of building the institutions of an independent state, the World Bank said on Monday. In its latest report, the bank offers a clear endorsement of the policies of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister and the architect of an ambitious programme designed to achieve independence and statehood by the middle of next year. It notes the impressive economic growth in the West Bank in 2009, and praises recent improvements in the management of public finances.

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Islamic Jihad: Hamas has secret ceasefire deal with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

De facto government police in Gaza released on Sunday a group of resistance fighters affiliated with the militant wings of Islamic Jihad and Fatah following a four-hour detention, sources within the movements said. The release was conditional, sources said, and the men were asked to promise to abstain from any resistance activity in the near future. According to a second source, the group was planning a "qualitative operation" against Israeli forces somewhere in Gaza.

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Human Rights Groups Warn of New Powers for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - April 11, 2010 - 12:00am

A recently amended military order that allows Israel to remove people from the West Bank if it does not recognize their legal status could lead to the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians, Israeli human rights groups warned Sunday. The amendment — to a 1969 order on dealings with those judged to be infiltrators of the West Bank — was signed by military officials last October and is due to take effect on Tuesday.

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IDF order will enable mass deportation from West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - April 11, 2010 - 12:00am

A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years. When the order comes into effect, tens of thousands of Palestinians will automatically become criminal offenders liable to be severely punished.

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With Ashkenzi out of the way, Barak can finally have his way
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

The sky did not fall on Tuesday afternoon. Israel's security situation will apparently survive even the latest petty scrap between the defense minister and the army chief of staff. Indeed, it is not at all certain that Ashkenazi's term needed to be extended by another year. As is quite usual with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the problem was not with the content, but with the style and the timing of his announcement that the chief of staff's term would be over as planned, after four years, in February 2011.

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Israel lifts gag order on ex-soldier spy case
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel lifted months of censorship on a military espionage case Thursday, confirming the house arrest of a former female soldier charged with leaking more than 2,000 military documents to a newspaper. Anat Kamm, 23, has been under house arrest since December, but the case was kept under wraps by a court-imposed gag order. The restrictions were eased Thursday after details of the case were reported by foreign media, including The Associated Press.

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The real moral of the Anat Kam story
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Daniella Peled - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli reporter Anat Kam – whose long period of house arrest has been subject to a stringent gagging order that has been lifted only today – was not arrested for doing her job as a journalist. She was arrested for stealing and passing on classified military documents. Not that that makes her case any less unjust.

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Statehood bid forces Israel to pay attention
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

There are several sure-fire ways for Palestinians to get Israel’s attention to their grievances. One is to carry out military attacks, including suicide bombings. Another is to threaten to abolish the Palestinian Authority, saying in effect to Israel: “You want to collect our garbage and clean our streets? Go ahead.” It’s a third way, however, that has succeeded in really getting under Israel’s skin recently. By again floating the idea of unilaterally declaring an independent state, Palestinian officials have sent their Israeli counterparts into convulsions.

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IDF: Palestinian who died was not held up at checkpoint
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Hanan Greenberg - April 6, 2010 - 12:00am

An IDF investigation determined that the 63-year-old Palestinian who died of dehydration and cardiac arrest on Saturday after waiting for several hours at an army checkpoint in the Jordan Valley was not delayed by soldiers manning the checkpoint. The army claims that Muhammad Alian, from the West Bank village of Deir Abu De'if, arrived at the checkpoint without an identification card and was not forced to wait there.

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Israel Mounts Air Attacks in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - April 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli warplanes struck at least four times across Gaza on Friday, damaging a number of structures that the Israeli military said were sites for weapons manufacturing or storage. A workshop destroyed early Friday morning in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City. A military spokesman said the strikes were in response to a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza on Thursday that hit the Ashkelon area on Israel’s central coast. The spokesman added that nearly 20 rockets or mortars had come from Gaza during March, and more than 40 since the beginning of the year.

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