Both Israel and Hamas reject a cease-fire call issued by the UN Security Council, as Israel expands its ground operations in Gaza (1) (2). Full text and statements for UNSCR 1860 (3). Raghida Dergham tracks Arab diplomacy leading to the vote (9). The UN says that the IDF admits there was no gunfire emanating from the school they shelled earlier this week (4). The BBC reports another Israeli attack on a civilian shelter (5). The UN and Red Cross curtail their aid work in Gaza, citing danger to their staff from continued Israeli attacks (6). A pair of opinion pieces discuss how the current conflict will affect the Arab world and beyond (10) (11). Mouin Rabbani and the Economist examine the origins of the conflict (12) (13). The New York Review of Books surveys a group of memoirs about the failed peace talks during the Clinton Administration (14).

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Nations News Service
January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE, DURABLE, FULLY RESPECTED CEASEFIRE IN GAZA LEADING TO FULL WITHDRAWAL OF ISRAELI FORCES Resolution 1860 (2009) Adopted by 14 in Favour, Abstention by United States; Also Calls for Unimpeded Humanitarian Assistance, Welcomes Egyptian Initiative

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How Not to Make Peace in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - January 15, 2009 - 1:00am

1. Foreign affairs had no more than a small part in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and the Middle East peace process only a fraction of that. Yet the sorry prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians make a break with past US policy on this matter imperative, regardless of the new administration's priorities.

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The hundred years' war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Editorial) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

WITH luck, the destructive two-week battle between Israel and Hamas may soon draw to an end. But how long before the century-long war between Arabs and Jews in Palestine follows suit? It is hard to believe that this will happen any time soon. Consider: Israel’s current operation, “Cast Lead”, marks the fourth time Israel has fought its way into Gaza. It almost captured Gaza (behind a pocket containing a young Egyptian army officer called Gamal Abdul Nasser) in 1948, in the war Israelis know as their war of independence.

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Birth Pangs of a New Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report
by Mouin Rabbani - (Opinion) January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Shortly after 11:30 am on December 27, 2008, at the height of the midday bustle on the first day of the Gazan week and with multitudes of schoolchildren returning home from the morning shift, close to 90 Israeli warplanes launched over 100 tons of explosives at some 100 targets throughout the 139 square miles of the Gaza Strip. Within minutes, the near simultaneous air raids killed more than 225 and wounded at least 700, more than 200 of them critically.

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Palestine and the Need for Clarity and Transparency
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mshari Al-Zaydi - (Opinion) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

Amid the bombing that has struck Gaza in its entirety and the battles on the ground between Israeli troops and Hamas, there is an Arab and non-Arab regional division, which is deep and complex. Amid the smoke, bloodshed, and Palestinian and Arab division, one should stop and think about the situation even if our words are restricted.

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The Gaza onslaught will impact on the Arab world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The immediate consequences of the Israeli assault on Gaza are being felt primarily by the Palestinians in Gaza, but its political shockwaves will be felt throughout the Arab world, in forms that cannot be easily predicted today. The Israeli attempt to inflict patrie-cide - the murder of a people and state - on Gaza emphasizes a series of transformational trends that have been clear throughout the Arab region for the past quarter-century.

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The Security Council Resolution is an Opportunity for a New Chapter between the US and the Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Shared Arab effort at the level of Foreign Ministers this week in New York was excellent. It aimed at driving the Security Council to adopt a resolution that would demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Such a resolution would also call for deploying a force of UN observers who would monitor the implementation of the cease-fire and an effective mechanism to prevent Hamas from launching rockets from Gaza, and would ensure that no weapons are smuggled to it, as well as opening the crossings into Gaza and lifting the siege.

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Fighter Sees His Paradise in Gaza’s Pain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Taghreed El-Khodary - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The emergency room in Shifa Hospital is often a place of gore and despair. On Thursday, it was also a lesson in the way ordinary people are squeezed between suicidal fighters and a military behemoth. Dr. Awni al-Jaru, 37, a surgeon at the hospital, rushed in from his home here, dressed in his scrubs. But he came not to work. His head was bleeding, and his daughter’s jaw was broken.

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100 Survivors Rescued in Gaza From Ruins Blocked by Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Reyham Abdel Kareem, Craig Whitlock - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Emergency workers said they rescued 100 more trapped survivors Thursday and found between 40 and 50 corpses in a devastated residential block south of Gaza City that the Israeli military had kept off-limits to the International Committee of the Red Cross for four days. Relief agencies said they feared more people remained in the rubble of several shattered houses in the Zaytoun neighborhood. Red Cross officials said that they began receiving distress calls from people in the houses late Saturday but that they were blocked by the Israeli military from reaching the area until Wednesday.

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