February 29th

Kosovo And Palestine: Why Different Standards? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Walid Awad - (Opinion) February 29, 2008 - 6:09pm In July 2000, President Clinton, at the insistence of Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak, invited President Arafat and Barak to Camp David. In less than two weeks of intensive negotiations, Clinton expected Arafat and Barak to arrive at a solution to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Incomplete progress was achieved at Camp David, but an agreement was not. » Read more

Putting The Strategy To The Test ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) February 29, 2008 - 6:09pm Dozens of rockets are fired every day at southern communities, people are being killed and wounded and struggling to retain their sanity in the face of a threat that disrupts their daily routines, and all the while, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is meeting with Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) in an effort to reach a peace agreement. This is the Olmert government's diplomatic strategy. But in order to learn whether it stands a chance, it needs to finally be put to the test. » Read more

An Explosive, Dangerous Balance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Meron Benvenisti - February 29, 2008 - 6:08pm It is hard to say who was responsible for fueling the recent uproar over warnings that Palestinian protesters would try to break through the borders and checkpoints of the Gaza Strip. Was it the defense establishment, or perhaps the media? In any case, the hysteria-mongers succeeded all too well, for the mountain became a molehill. The artillery batteries and thousands of Israeli soldiers who stood before a few thousand Palestinian children turned the Israeli response into a fiasco. » Read more

Thinking The Unthinkable ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) February 29, 2008 - 6:03pm Israel is in a diplomatic and military jam that keeps getting worse, but has no obvious solution. It is rapidly approaching the demographic tipping point, when Palestinian Arabs outnumber Israeli Jews in the land now under Israeli control. When that happens, Israel will find that it has become a minority-rule state, and it will have to make the choice it has avoided up to now: whether to be a Jewish or a democratic state. » Read more

Israel Warns Of Invasion Of Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News February 29, 2008 - 6:02pm Israel's deputy defence minister has said Israel will have "no choice" but to invade Gaza if Palestinian militants step up rocket attacks. Matan Vilnai said Palestinians risked a "shoah", the Hebrew word for a big disaster - and for the Nazi Holocaust. Mr Vilnai made the comments after rockets hit the city of Ashkelon, 10km (six miles) from Gaza. His colleagues insisted he had not meant "genocide". Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said it was ready for a large-scale Israeli attack. » Read more

Far From Glow Of Annapolis, Rice Heads To Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Sue Pleming - February 29, 2008 - 6:02pm Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travels to Israel and the Palestinian territories next week, with U.S. credibility at stake and peace talks stymied by escalating violence in Hamas-run Gaza. Three months ago, Israelis and Palestinians pledged at a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that they would seek a deal by the end of the Bush administration in January 2009. » Read more

Killed While They Played Football, The Child Victims Of Israel's Revenge On Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald Macintyre - February 29, 2008 - 6:01pm Four boys playing football have been killed in Gaza by Israeli air strikes, according to Palestinian officials, as Israel responded to the death of a man from a barrage of rocket attacks with a bloody escalation of violence. At least 16 Palestinians – including the four children – were killed yesterday as Israel responded to the deadly attacks the previous day. » Read more

Amid Lull In Gaza Violence, Palestinians Protest, And Israel Threatens Invasion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Steven Erlanger - February 29, 2008 - 6:00pm JERUSALEM: Friday was a day of threats, protest and rhetoric in Israel's conflict with Hamas, with considerably less violence and death than over the previous two days, when some 33 Palestinians died, five of them children, and one Israeli died in the border town of Sderot. » Read more

Second Day Of Violence May Trigger Israel-hamas Escalation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Arthur Bright - February 29, 2008 - 5:59pm The latest in a series of Israeli airstrikes left at least 20 Palestinians dead Thursday, as Israel considers a new invasion of Gaza to confront Hamas. Reuters reports that Israeli air strikes in Gaza Thursday killed at least 11 militants believed to be involved in rocket attacks against Israeli towns and cities, as well as several civilians, including several children. » Read more

Israeli Minister Warns Palestinians Of ' Holocaust ' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters February 29, 2008 - 5:59pm  Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Friday the Palestinians would bring on themselves what he called a "bigger holocaust" by stepping up rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip. » Read more