Hamas accuses Israel of escalation as fragile ceasefire on edge of collapse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly - February 28, 2011 - 1:00am


The deposed government of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, on Monday accused Israel of escalating violence against the Palestinians in the coastal enclave as an undeclared fragile ceasefire between military factions and Israel is about to collapse. Taher al-Nouno, spokesman for the Hamas government, told Xinhua that the current Israeli military escalation on the Gaza Strip "is part of the Zionist enemy's nature, where it expresses the internal crisis that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is passing through and the failure of the peace process."


Israeli Farms and Villages Around Gaza See Tough Times Ahead
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - February 23, 2011 - 1:00am


Artist Shosh Segal is busy preparing her art gallery for the expected rush of tourists heading to southern Israel for the annual wild flower blooming in the coming weeks. The hills are already bursting with vibrant colors of anemones and turmoses, but reality has often found a way of spoiling plans, especially since she lives just a mile from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.


2 Gaza rockets explode in Israeli towns
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 31, 2011 - 1:00am


The Israeli military says two rockets fired from Gaza have exploded in Israeli towns. No one was hurt, but there was some damage. The attacks came a few minutes apart late Monday. One rocket hit Netivot, 9 miles (14 kilometers) east of Gaza, and the second exploded in Ofakim, 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Gaza. The military says the range indicates the rockets were Grads. Israel charges that Iran supplies Gaza militants with Grads. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.


UPDATE 1-Israeli air strike kills five Gaza militants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
December 18, 2010 - 1:00am


An Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said in a statement that its aircraft "targeted and identified hitting a squad of terror operatives who were preparing to launch rockets towards Israeli territory". Palestinian hospital officials said the five were militants. The Hamas Islamist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, says it has tried to curb rocket fire at Israel, but smaller groups continue to carry the out such attacks.


Israeli army steps up operations along Gaza border as violence escalates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 12, 2010 - 1:00am


JERUSALEM -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is deploying more troops along the Gaza border in response to recent cross-border clashes, and a spike in missile and mortar attacks against Israeli civilians over the last week. On Saturday evening, two Palestinian militants were killed and an IDF paratrooper was moderately wounded in an exchange of fire along the Gaza border after the former were spotted attempting to infiltrate into Israel. The army said the Israeli trooper was wounded by a Palestinian sniper.


With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Karin Laub - October 17, 2010 - 12:00am


RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — The Palestinians are ready to end all historic claims against Israel once they establish their state in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday, addressing a long-standing Israeli demand. In an interview with Israel TV, Abbas also said negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain his preferred choice, but that he will consider other options if talks break down over Israel's continued settlement expansion.


Israel bombs Hamas base in Gaza, no one hurt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - October 7, 2010 - 12:00am


GAZA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Israeli war planes bombed a Hamas Islamist training camp in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Thursday following a rocket launching from the enclave a day earlier, Israeli military sources and Hamas officials said. There were no casualties in the two raids carried out near Gaza City shortly after midnight, Hamas said. The strike came hours after Israel said a rocket fired from the coastal territory struck in an open area in its south, also causing no casualties.


Study shows Israelis, Palestinians both retaliate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Maggie Fox - October 4, 2010 - 12:00am


WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - An unusual attempt to quantify the conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians shows that both act in retaliation for violent attacks, researchers reported on Monday. They said their findings defy the perception that Palestinians attack randomly and demonstrate that both sides damage their own interests with acts of violence. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers also said they hope to shed some light on the psychology that makes both Israelis and Palestinians feel they are the victims in the conflict.


Peace talks highlight internal tensions in Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ehud Yaari - (Analysis) September 17, 2010 - 12:00am


Unsurprisingly, the Hamas leadership – both in Gaza and Damascus, and less so in the West Bank – has greeted the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks with a flood of contrarian rhetoric. Characterizing the process as a “sellout” of the Palestinian “cause,” the movement argues that President Mahmoud Abbas lacks the necessary “mandate” to represent his people. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal went so far as to call Abbas “a zero,” amid accusations of “treason” and “betrayal.”


Second strike in 24 hours hits Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 16, 2010 - 12:00am


An agricultural tools warehouse and an open area in the Rafah tunnels district were the sites of two airstrikes by the Israeli army on Gaza Thursday morning, witnesses said. An Israeli military statement on the strikes said the targets were "two weapons storage facilities in the northern and southern Gaza Strip" and added that the "attack is in response to the nine projectiles fired into Israeli territory over the last 24 hours."



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