Border Crossings and Security | The American Task Force on Palestine

Hamas opens memorial to dead flotilla activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
May 31, 2011 - 12:00am

The Islamic militant group Hamas has unveiled a memorial for nine activists killed last year in an Israeli raid on an international flotilla seeking to break a blockade of the Gaza Strip. The memorial at Gaza's harbor includes nine 12-yard-(meter)-high metal statues shaped as sails, and a new public park. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the memorial commemorates "the heroes who drew the world's attention to the siege of Gaza."

Israel arrests eight in West Bank prior to clashes between Palestinians, settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army arrested eight Palestinians in the West Bank before clashes erupted between dozens of youths and Jewish settlers, witnesses and security sources said Monday. The Israeli forces demolished a store selling construction materials in Qalqilya city and leveled agricultural lands near the holy city of Bethlehem, which the Palestinians said was to expand roads leading to a Jewish settlement in the area. Israel Radio reported that the wanted Palestinians were arrested in several cities in the West Bank.

A window opens, but Egypt refuses responsibility for Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Mouin Rabbani - (Opinion) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

The Egyptian decision to permanently reopen the Rafah border crossing does not end the blockade of the Gaza Strip, but is nevertheless a highly significant development. According to the new regulations, Rafah will operate for 12 hours, six days a week as a passenger terminal only. Men aged 18 to 40 will require permits to use the crossing and trade - the passage of goods and materials in commercial quantities - continues to be prohibited.

Palestinian makes artistic mark on passports
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
by Jihan Abdalla - (Analysis) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

It is like no other passport control on earth. No stern official sitting behind a glass wall, no scanning of travel documents, no terse questions about where you are going. Instead, a lone artist greets arriving visitors and politely asks them if they would like an entry stamp. Living in occupied territory, the Palestinians do not have the right to set up their own frontier controls. Anyone who passes through Israeli checkpoints is swiftly absorbed into the bustling streets of West Bank cities like Ramallah.

Medics: Palestinian beaten by Israeli soldiers at checkpoint
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 29, 2011 - 12:00am

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers brutally attacked a Palestinian man at an army checkpoint near Hebron on Saturday evening, medics said. Israeli soldiers stopped Mahmoud Al-Battat, 19, at around 7 p.m. at a checkpoint near Ad-Dhahiriya in the southern West Bank as he returned from work in Israel, medical officials told Ma'an. Soldiers beat him until he fainted, director of operations at the Palestinian Red Crescent Nasser Al-Qabaja said. Al-Battat recovered consciousness at around 11 p.m. and phoned his family.

Israel braces for border clashes in coming days
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Josef Federman - May 29, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli military is preparing for the possibility of violent protests along its borders in the coming days, aiming to avoid a repeat of deadly unrest that erupted earlier this month, a senior military official told The Associated Press on Sunday. Facebook-organized activists have called for demonstrations next weekend in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

Egypt Lifts Blockade, Along With the Gazans’ Hopes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by David Kirkpatrick - (Analysis) May 28, 2011 - 12:00am

RAFAH BORDER CROSSING, Egypt — Hundreds of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip arrived here by the busload on Saturday to pass through the reopened border into Egypt, taking the first tangible steps out of a four-year Israeli blockade. “I feel this is the start of freedom,” said Hasna el-Ryes, 45, a Gaza resident waiting to cross into Egypt so she could travel to visit sons studying in Britain. “You can’t imagine how much we have suffered.”

Israel struggles to stop weapons smuggling at sea
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Aron Heller - May 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel's navy is casting its net wider and deeper in an effort to stop Gaza militants from receiving weapons by sea, a difficult mission made harder, Israel says, by political turmoil in Egypt and the Egyptian decision to fully reopen its border crossing with Gaza. In recent weeks, Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza have aimed rockets at Israeli cities, far enough away that Israel is convinced the projectiles came from abroad, probably Iran.

Are pre-1967 borders indefensible for Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Aron Heller - May 26, 2011 - 12:00am

During a swing through Washington this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly said his country's pre-1967 lines are "indefensible." A total withdrawal from the West Bank, a strategic highland looming over central Israel, would certainly leave the Israeli heartland more vulnerable to attack or invasion. But some experts say that long-range missiles, weapons of mass destruction and cyber-warfare mean that in the modern world the greater risks lie elsewhere — especially if a future Palestine is demilitarized.

Egypt to Open Border With Gaza, in the Face of Israeli Objections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by David Kirkpatrick - May 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Egypt will permanently open its border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday despite Israeli protests, Egypt’s transitional government confirmed Wednesday, upending the dynamics of regional politics in a bid to shake up the deadlocked peace process and better respond to Egyptian public opinion. The opening of the border will be the latest geopolitical aftershock of the Egyptian revolution, and it is likely to strengthen the militant group Hamas, while easing life for 1.6 million residents.

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