March 4th

Abbas Calls For Middle East Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
March 4, 2008 - 6:30pm

After meeting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah, he urged Israel to "halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created" Mr Abbas suspended the talks in protest at Israel's offensive in Gaza, in which more than 110 Palestinians have died. Ms Rice insisted she still believed a peace deal could be achieved this year. Before flying to the West Bank, Ms Rice held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and other senior government officials.

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New Israeli Gaza Incursion Overshadows Rice Peace Push
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
March 4, 2008 - 6:29pm

Israel launched a brief incursion into Gaza on Tuesday, overshadowing a new peace push by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who held talks at the time in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Palestinian medics said the Israelis shot dead a 20-day-old baby girl during exchanges of fire with gunmen, and that 10 people had been wounded, including at least three gunmen.

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Israel Says Will Take Further Action In Gaza Despite Pullout
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 4, 2008 - 6:27pm

Hamas declared victory after Israeli troops pulled out of the Gaza Strip on Monday following a US appeal to end days of fighting that killed more than 100 Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said despite the culmination of the five-day operation, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, Israel would take further action in the Gaza Strip until cross-border rocket fire was cut significantly.

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Israel Pulls Troops From Northern Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Taghreed El-khodary And Isabel Kershner - March 4, 2008 - 6:27pm

As Israel withdrew its forces from the northern Gaza Strip yesterday after a two-day assault on Hamas militants, and as Palestinians emerged from their houses to inspect the damage, Hamas leaders seemed to be following the playbook of their Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, in its 2006 war with Israel. more stories like this Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, said that like Hezbollah, Hamas had "gone from the stone to the rocket." "What we learned from Hezbollah," he said, "is that resistance is a choice that can work."

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The Gaza Dilemma
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) March 4, 2008 - 6:26pm

THE UPSURGE in fighting between Israel and Hamas over the weekend, and the resulting suspension of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, demonstrates again a crucial flaw in the Bush administration's Middle East strategy. President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have assumed that Hamas could be bottled up and ignored in the Gaza Strip while a deal for a Palestinian state was worked out.

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Rice To Raise Humanitarian Issues With Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - March 4, 2008 - 6:25pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she planned to tell Israeli officials to ease the humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip and avoid attacks that might kill civilians, but she repeatedly refused to say whether she supported a cease-fire.

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Israeli Exit From Gaza's Maze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Opinion) March 4, 2008 - 6:24pm

Israel long ago figured out how to protect itself from stone-throwing Palestinians and, to some degree, suicide bombers. It's made a formal peace with two Arab states and tacitly with others. Can it now stop Islamic rulers in nearby Gaza from raining small rockets on Israeli civilians in the name of terror? The aerial attacks by Hamas have escalated in recent weeks, largely for two reasons:

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March 3rd

A Christian Science Monitor opinion discusses how restraint in defense can help give Israel moral strength (1). A Washington Post editorial opines that the peace process will stall as long as Hamas controls the gaza strip (3). The Agence France Presse reports on attempts by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to salvage the Mideast peace process (6) while BBC News reports on calls by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a truce in the region (7). An editorial in Haaretz examines the role of Shas in the Israeli political system (10).

On The Path To Bitter Disappointment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uzi Benziman - (Opinion) March 3, 2008 - 7:02pm

It was hard not to be confused yesterday by the reports and statements concerning the aims of the Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza Strip. Defense Minister Ehud Barak explained on Israel Radio that the operation is meant "at the end of the day" to stop the Qassam rocket attacks, but in and of itself it will not end the shooting. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was even more unequivocal: During the cabinet meeting he stated, "Israel has no intention to end the fighting against terror," and that "over the coming days we will hold security discussions...

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A Dark Overcast Warm Winter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Dr. Bernard Sabella - (Opinion) March 3, 2008 - 7:02pm

The weather here in Jerusalem and Gaza is overcast with many a dark cloud. It mirrors what is felt inside by so many Palestinians whose loved ones have been killed or injured by Israel’s army “Warm Winter” campaign against Gaza. The 110 Palestinians killed so far since Wednesday February 27th include at least ten children, the youngest a few months old, and an equal number of women. “Warm Winter” continues and it has put all of us Palestinians in a state of shock.

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