Nothing accidental about attack on school ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Craig Nelson - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli intelligence officers call it “mowing the grass”; the continual trimming of the ranks of Palestinian militants and activists to keep the populace from getting out of control. The truth about the events that led to the deaths of at least 39 people at the United Nations Al Fakhoura school in Gaza will have to wait until the end of the war and investigations by organisations with no stake in the conflict. » Read more

Gaza War Role Is Political Lift for Ex-Premier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am A few weeks ago, Defense Minister Ehud Barak was considered a dead man walking in Israeli politics. Members of his Labor Party were plotting to replace him after elections on Feb. 10, if not before. Under his leadership, the storied party of David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir had sunk so low in the polls that there was serious talk it might disappear. » Read more

ANALYSIS-Gaza crisis defers dispute over Abbas presidency ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Alistair Lyon - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose original four-year term expires on Friday, faces a legitimacy challenge that Israel's Gaza war has only postponed. How it plays out will affect Abbas's ability to pursue peace talks with Israel. These have so far proved fruitless, earning him only derision from Hamas, which preaches armed resistance. The Israeli onslaught on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has temporarily eclipsed the dispute between Abbas's secular Fatah faction and its Islamist rivals over whether he must quit now. » Read more

Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Craig Whitlock, Griff Witte - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had found at least 15 bodies and several children -- emaciated but alive -- in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip, and officials with the agency accused the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching the bombed-out site for four days. » Read more

Grief and Rage at Stricken Gaza School ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Taghreed El-Khodary - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am The bodies of the children who died outside the United Nations school here were laid out in a long row on the ground. Some were wrapped in the vivid green flag of Hamas, some were in white shrouds, and some were in the yellow flag of Fatah, which is rarely seen these days in Hamas-run Gaza. Hundreds of Gazans crowded around, staring at the little faces, some of them with dark eyes still open, but dulled. » Read more

Rafah offensive looms despite ceasefire talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Mitchell Prothero - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the Rafah refugee camp last night warning residents within two kilometres of the Egyptian border to flee their homes by eight this morning in anticipation of a massive armoured invasion, said residents, who began to leave immediately. The threat came at about the same time as an announcement that Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials – who do not represent the Hamas militants – appeared to agree to an Egyptian-French proposal for a ceasefire to end the 12-day conflict in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Updated: Lebanon-Israeli Border Heats Up After Rockets, Mortars Fly ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Andrew Wander - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am At least three rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday, prompting the Jewish state to lob several mortars at the town of Tair Harfa. Katyusha rockets landed in the Nahariya area of Israel, slightly wounding two people according to Israeli officials. Israel hit back by firing five mortar shells across the border. There were no reported casualties. » Read more

At least two Lebanon rockets hit north Israel; Hezbollah denies involvment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jack Khoury - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am At least two Katyusha rockets fired from south Lebanon exploded in northern Israel on Thursday morning, leaving two people lightly wounded and a number of others suffering from shock. The rockets struck the Nahariya area at around 8 A.M., one of them scoring a direct hit on the roof a nursing home in the city. A Hezbollah minister in Lebanon's Cabinet has denied any involvement by the militant group in the firing of the rockets. In 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon fired almost 4000 rockets at Israel during the Second Lebanon War. » Read more