Gaza agreement eludes Arab leaders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English January 20, 2009 - 1:00am Arab leaders have failed to agree on a specific mechanism to support reconstruction in Gaza following Israel's offensive there, despite vowing to provide Gazans with "all forms of support". Disagreements over how aid should be chanelled to Palestinians blighted the Arab ministers' meeting, held on the sidelines of an Arab economic summit in Kuwait, on Tuesday. "We have not reached a conclusion because of time constraints and some positions," Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, told Kuwait Television, without giving details. » Read more

Gaza rebuild 'to cost billions' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News January 20, 2009 - 1:00am Rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel's three-week offensive will cost billions of dollars, the UN has warned. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless and 400,000 people still have no running water, it says. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is currently visiting northern Gaza to see what assistance can be provided. Ceasefires declared by Palestinian militant groups and Israel are holding, and Israeli troops are expected to complete their pull-out later. » Read more

IAF bombs Gaza target after 8 mortar shells fired at Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am The Israel Air Force on Tuesday evening bombed a target in the Gaza Strip used earlier in the day Palestinian militants to fire eight mortar shells at Israel. Militants on Tuesday also opened fire at Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Gaza in two separate incidents, in the first violation of a shaky cease-fire in the coastal strip that ended Israel's 3-week offensive against Hamas. No IDF soldiers were wounded in the incidents, one of which took place near the Kissufim border crossing, and the other in the center of the Strip. In one of the incidents the troops returned fire. » Read more

Many Civilian Targets, but One Core Question Among Gazans: Why? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Sabrina Tavernise - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am Three young medical students were snapping photographs of a scene of devastation on Monday: five stories of mint-green, concrete rubble that until Israel’s war with Hamas began had been their science lab. “They hit my future with a rocket,” said Muhammad Baroud, one of the students at the Islamic University in Gaza City. “This is a university. What does it have to do with war?” » Read more

In the Silence, Gazans Take Stock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Reyham Abdel Kareem, Craig Whitlock - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am For the first time in 24 days, there was no fighting in the Gaza Strip on Monday -- no shelling or shooting by Israeli soldiers, no launching of rockets by Hamas guerrillas. But there was still plenty of death, as rescue crews and survivors dug under demolished buildings to retrieve the last victims of the war. » Read more

Hamas claims victory, of sorts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Ashraf Khalil - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am Uniformed police officers returned to the streets of Gaza on Monday with machine guns in tow as Hamas sought to reassert control over the battered coastal enclave, declaring that Israel’s 22-day air and land assault had done nothing to weaken the militant group’s authority here. “Hamas emerged from this battle with its head held high,” said Hamad Ruqb, a Hamas official in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. “Every Israeli attack only increases our support.” » Read more

Hamas leader says he never expected scale of IDF op in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz January 20, 2009 - 1:00am The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram quoted Hamas' political leader Khaled Meshal on Tuesday as saying his Islamist group was surprised by the force Israel recently used against it in the Gaza Strip. Meshal, who was speaking at an Arab conference on Gaza in the Qatari capital Doha, reportedly told a closed forum that Hamas had believed that Israel's 22-day campaign against it would last no longer than three days. The offensive ended Sunday, after Israel and Hamas separately declared a cease-fire. » Read more