February 1st

Who Is More Pro-palestine? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times (Editorial) February 1, 2008 - 6:41pm The choice has been whittled down to four candidates in the U.S. presidential race, so their various positions on the outstanding issues of Middle Eastern politics are becoming increasingly important. It is also becoming interesting, because while the staunchly pro-Israeli positions of senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton are well known, Senator Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney are relative newcomers to the international scene. » Read more

The Anti-israel Factor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) February 1, 2008 - 6:40pm On Tuesday, millions of voters in 21 states will make their choice for President. Although it is unlikely that the two nominations will be sewed up on February 5, Super Tuesday will mark the end of the preliminary stage of “The Making of the President 2008” and will move us very close to the main event. From a roster of more than a dozen potential Presidents, we are now down to just Senators Clinton and Obama on the Democratic side and Senator McCain and Governors Romney and Huckabee for the Republicans. This early deciding is relatively new. » Read more

Palestinian Majority Opposes Rocket Attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Angus Reid Global Monitor February 1, 2008 - 6:38pm Many residents of the Palestinian Territories believe a series of rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel should stop, according to a poll by An-Najah National University. 52.7 per cent of respondents share this view. » Read more

Egypt Issues Ultimatum To Pa, Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 1, 2008 - 6:38pm Egypt has threatened to close its border with the Gaza Strip indefinitely unless the Palestinian Authority and Hamas reach an agreement on controlling the Rafah border crossing, Palestinian sources in Ramallah said Wednesday. The threat came as PA and Hamas representatives arrived in Cairo Wednesday for talks with Egyptian leaders on ways of ending the crisis along the Gaza-Egypt border. The PA delegation, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other senior government officials in Cairo. » Read more

Fate Of Israeli Coalition In The Balance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck - (Opinion) February 1, 2008 - 6:35pm The future of Israel’s shaky coalition government is set to be decided this weekend, with the centre-left Labor party expected to announce by Monday morning whether to withdraw its support for Ehud Olmert, the embattled prime minister. » Read more

Olmert Walks Friendless On Road From Annapolis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Philip Stephens - (Opinion) February 1, 2008 - 6:33pm Before I visited Israel the other day, some of my friends in the foreign policy community had admonished me for being overly pessimistic about the new road map drawn at Annapolis for a Middle East peace. » Read more

Olmert's Real Moment Of Truth Has Yet To Come ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald Macintyre - (Opinion) February 1, 2008 - 6:28pm Talking with a few foreign journalists 10 days before Wednesday's Winograd report on the 2006 Lebanon war, a senior member of Israel's cabinet suggested that the report would not unseat Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but that his negotiations with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas might. » Read more

Putting Humpty Together Again In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tim Mcgirk - February 1, 2008 - 6:27pm Egypt's efforts to restore order on its breached border with Gaza suffered a setback Wednesday in Cairo, when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to talk to the leaders of Hamas. Needing a Palestinian partner to police the Rafah crossing, President Hosni Mubarak had invited his Palestinian counterpart to meet with leaders of the Islamist movement that has, since last summer, been the only effective authority in Gaza. But Abbas's refusal to acknowledge the facts on the ground created by Hamas's takeover of the territory left the Egyptians with no easy way forward. » Read more

The Shifting Balance Of Power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist February 1, 2008 - 6:27pm ABSORBED by speculation about their government's future after an inquiry commission this week released its final report on the 2006 Lebanon war (see article), Israelis seemed briefly to forget about last week's dramatic breach of the Gaza-Egypt border by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. Yet in Gaza as in Lebanon, the short-sighted planning that the Winograd commission criticised was much in evidence. » Read more

Defiant Hamas Bulldozes Rafah Crossing Wider ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-mughrabi - February 1, 2008 - 6:24pm Hamas used a bulldozer to widen a breach in the Gaza-Egypt border on Friday so trucks could pass out of the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory despite Egypt's efforts to seal the crossing, witnesses said. An armed Hamas militant clung on to the outside of the yellow bulldozer's cab as the driver went about his work, and a number of other armed men close by provided additional cover. » Read more