January 22nd

Stench Wafts Through Gaza As Sewage System Falters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Rebecca Harrison - January 22, 2008 - 7:04pm

Yussef Al-Jayar jolted awake this week when gallons of raw sewage spewed out of the pumping station next door and started to seep under his door and into his mattress. "We had to grab buckets and get the neighbours to help bail us out," the 74-year-old Palestinian said at his house in Gaza City, pointing to a mark about a metre above the floor where the rancid water reached. "It stank." Jayar and his family have just about scraped all the black slime off their walls since the main pipe burst at Gaza City's water pump no.

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Palestinian Group Sounds Like Al Qaeda But Forgoes Violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - January 22, 2008 - 7:01pm

A new fundamentalist player is emerging in Palestinian politics. The group sounds like Hamas – or even Al Qaeda – but doesn't support suicide bombings or secret militias. In recent months, it has shown it can put tens of thousands of supporters into the streets.

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Red Cross Warns Of Gaza Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Eliane Engeler - January 22, 2008 - 7:00pm

The international Red Cross issued a dire warning on the state of basic services in Gaza on Tuesday, calling on Israel to lift a blockade it has imposed in response to increased rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Israel eased the siege for a day on Tueday, allowing in shipments of fuel and medicine. But the International Committee of the Red Cross said aid needed to be allowed into the territory on a regular basis to prevent a complete collapse of health and sanitary services.

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Gazans Fear Crisis After Four Days Of Blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ellen Knickmeyer - January 22, 2008 - 6:59pm

Four days into an Israeli blockade that has cut off food and fuel to the Gaza Strip, residents of the strip contemplated Monday how long it would be until disaster hit. One family of 13, shivering in the cold, counted its eight remaining candles. A bakery that normally feeds thousands had three days' worth of flour. Hospital generators with enough fuel for three days and no spare parts powered incubators in which twin boys born 2 1/2 months prematurely were being kept alive, their thin chests heaving convulsively.

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January 21st

The Associated Press reports on warnings by the Red Cross that Gaza's health and sanitary system is on the verge of total collapse unless Israeli eases its total blockade (2.) Reuters looks at the effect to-date on Gaza's sewage system of the tightening Israeli sanctions (4.) In the American Prospect, Israeli author Gershom Gorenberg urges a debate over what it means to be 'pro-Israel' to assist newly elected public leaders in 2009 in making more constructive decisions on Israel-Palestine (5.) A Boston Globe opinion by H.D.S. Greenway urges President Bush to draw lessons from Israel's Mideast experience on the ineffectiveness in using military force to address political issues (6.) BBC (UK) analyzes the impact of the economic blockade of Gaza on Hamas and divisions within the organization on how to address the issue (7.) The Guardian (UK) looks at how the civilian population of Gaza is paying the price of Israel's policy of stopping militant rocket through a total blockade of the territory (9.) A Daily Star (Lebanon) editorial urges Palestinians to unite in order to better confront their current challenges (10.) Haaretz (Israel) looks at a UN report showing a sic percent increase in the number of Israeli barriers to movement in the occupied West Bank (12.) Also in Haaretz, Avi Isaacharoff analyzes Israeli DM Barak's decision to impose a total blockade on Gaza in response to rocket fire (13.)

January 18th

Peek At An Agreement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - January 18, 2008 - 6:44pm

President George W. Bush has given Israel and the Palestinian Authority until the end of his term to reach an agreement on the creation of a viable democratic Palestinian state that will live peace with Israel. The assumption is that the sides will negotiate in secret and will reach a declaration of principles which will then be brought to the electorate in Israel and Palestine - either through full elections or through referenda.

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The March Of Cynics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Meron Benvenisti - January 18, 2008 - 6:43pm

The prize for the most sharply cynical remark goes to President George W. Bush, who said in Ramallah of the Israel Defense Forces crossing points: "You'll be happy to hear that my motorcade of a mere 45 cars was able to make it through without being stopped." No doubt, he was speaking ironically, but even if he added that he wasn't "so exactly sure that's what happens to the average person," he should be reminded of the saying that one doesn't mention rope in a hanged man's home.

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A Shameless Deserter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - January 18, 2008 - 6:39pm

There is nothing more dishonorable than a soldier who deserts his unit during a war. There is nothing more cowardly and despicable than a soldier who runs off and abandons his comrades on the battlefield to save his own skin. How selfish, spineless and ugly of the Yisrael Beiteinu party to quit the coalition while a bloody battle is underway in Gaza. How egotistical of its chairman, Avigdor Lieberman, to choose the worst possible moment to shirk his government responsibility.

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President Bush — Neither A Peacemaker Nor A Warmonger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-sharif - January 18, 2008 - 6:37pm

There were two sides to President Bush as he toured the Middle East last week. One was Bush the peacemaker, who called for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and vowed to see negotiations culminating in a peace treaty between the two sides before the end of his term in about a year. The other side was Bush the Iran basher — not exactly the warmonger since no one believes the president of the United States has the clout or the stomach to launch another war in this troubled region.

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Is It A Budding Partnership?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 18, 2008 - 6:35pm

Even the most sceptical of us would have to concede that things are better now than they were a few months ago, as they hasten to add that we have been here before and that this too shall pass. Yes, things are better: Palestinian and Israeli officials are talking, and final status issues are being discussed, though they are not being resolved.

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