Siege That Spells Slow Death For The Innocents
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sunday Herald
by Ed Oloughlin - December 10, 2007 - 7:09pm

FOR three weeks, seven-month-old Mohammed Abu Amra has been lying in Gaza's main paediatric hospital, suffering from immune deficiency and suspected cystic fibrosis. His doctors do not have the drug they need to relieve his symptoms, which include fever and distressed breathing, racking his thin ribs at almost twice the healthy rate of breaths per minute.

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Policy On Hamas / An Egyptian-saudi Slap To Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Commentary) December 7, 2007 - 5:50pm

The news from the Rafah border crossing earlier this week astounded the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah. They had arranged with Israel to allow some 2,000 Palestinians from Gaza to go to Saudi Arabia via the Kerem Shalom and Allenby Bridge border crossings for the hajj celebrations. But Cairo apparently had different plans. The Egyptians allowed 700 Palestinians on Monday and 1,300 on Tuesday to cross the border into Sinai, where buses were waiting to take them to Saudi Arabia.

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After Annapolis, Abbas Faces Hamas Challenge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi And Adam Entous - (Analysis) November 30, 2007 - 5:09pm

A U.S.-backed push for a future Palestinian state hinges on President Mahmoud Abbas doing what may seem impossible -- getting Hamas Islamists to give up the Gaza Strip and disarm. Abbas has done little to explain how he expects to achieve such a feat, either through new elections or militarily. He and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched their peoples' first formal peace talks in seven years this week with the goal of forging a deal next year to create a state in Gaza and the West Bank, together home to 4 million Palestinians.

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In Annapolis, Conflict By Other Means
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report
by Robert Blecher , Mouin Rabbani - November 27, 2007 - 1:33pm

At an intersection in front of Nablus city hall, a pair of women threaded a knot of waiting pedestrians, glanced left, then dashed across the street. “What’s this?” an onlooker chastised them. “Can’t you see the red light?” Not long after, his patience exhausted, the self-appointed traffic cop himself stepped off the curb and made his way to the other side of the boulevard.

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Under Siege, Life In Gaza Just Shrinks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - November 19, 2007 - 4:18pm

IT’S a miserable time to be a Gazan. EMPTY STREETS Gaza City can feel like a ghost town on a Friday morning, with its factories closed, jobs scarce and gas too expensive for many people to use. SCRIMPING Majid Ajour used to sell pigeons for $3 apiece. With the principal border crossings to Israel and Egypt closed, the price of imported feed has risen. Now he tries to sell his pigeons for nearly $4 each.

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Israel Accused Of ‘punishment’ Over Gaza Fuel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - October 29, 2007 - 7:06pm

srael on Sunday restricted fuel supplies to the 1.4m Palestinians living in Gaza, part of a crackdown on ­militants operating in the coastal strip and the latest attempt to weaken the grip on the territory of Hamas, the Islamist movement. Ehud Barak, defence minister, last week gave the green light to a plan to reduce the flow of electricity and fuel into the strip. His decision was prompted by the recent rise in the number of rockets fired from inside Gaza at the Israeli town of Sderot.

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Israel Can't Cut Power To Gaza - Attorney General
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - October 29, 2007 - 6:59pm

Israel's attorney general told the government on Monday it could not cut electrical power to the Gaza Strip as part of its sanctions against the Hamas controlled territory, although he did approve other measures. Israel began implementing economic sanctions on Sunday in what it said was a response to Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli towns from the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave.

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Israel Draws Up Plan To Cut Gaza Energy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Laurie Copans - October 24, 2007 - 2:18pm

Israeli military experts have formulated a plan to gradually cut off electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip in response to ongoing rocket fire from the Palestinian area, defense officials said Wednesday. Israel provides more than half of Gaza's electricity, and any power cutoff is sure to make life more difficult for residents of the already impoverished territory. The move is also certain to draw harsh international condemnation.

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Inside Gaza: Redemption Games
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Newsweek
by Kevin Peraino - (Special Report) October 23, 2007 - 11:23am

At the Game Zone video arcade in Gaza City, the most popular new attraction, according to its owner, Hamdi Abu Sido, is the "redemption machine." Winning involves using a joystick to successfully direct a mechanical puppet on a surf board—the "Shark Hunter"—to wave-riding glory. If you win, the machine spits out a string of white tickets printed with the word WONDERFUL that can be redeemed at the counter for prizes.

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Where Is The Occupation?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 3, 2007 - 6:30pm

The occupied territories and the Palestinians living there are slowly becoming virtual realities, distant from the eye and the heart. Palestinian workers have disappeared from our streets. Israelis no longer enter Palestinian towns for shopping. There is a new generation on each side that does not know the other. Even the settlers no longer meet Palestinians because of the different road systems that distinguish between the two populations; one is free and mobile, the other stuck at the roadblocks.

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