January 20th

Report: Olmert privately proposed division of Jerusalem to Arab leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Were Ehud Olmert running in the upcoming election, his spokesmen would most likely hasten to deny the revelation of the Ir Amim organization, according to which the outgoing prime minister proposed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Jerusalem be divided along lines that strongly resemble the Clinton outline of December 2000.

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Mahmoud Abbas seen as big loser after fight between Israel and Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune
by Joel Greenberg - (Analysis) January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

The Gaza Strip has been devastated by Israel's punishing offensive against Hamas, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appears to be the war's most serious political casualty. Sidelined during the fighting and now struggling to play a role in Gaza's reconstruction, Abbas' Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, is battling to stay relevant. "Marginalized is a very good choice of words," Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian government in the West Bank, told journalists on Monday.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?”

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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January 19th

As the fragile ceasefire in Gaza takes hold, both Israel and Hamas claim “victory” while Palestinians mourn the dead and survey the devastation (1), (2), (3), (6). Several papers provide analysis of political gains and losses from the conflict for Israel and Hamas (4), (5), (11), (12). Israel says it is moving to block the rearmament of Hamas, while UN SG Ban urges support for Palestinian President Abbas (8), (9). Saudi Arabia pledges $1 billion for Gaza reconstruction, but says that the Arab Peace Initiative is not an open-ended offer (10). A Ha’aretz commentary urges Israel to use carrots as well as sticks, while the National worries that the Gaza conflict has done serious political harm to moderates (14), (15). Robert Fisk thinks its time for a war crimes tribunal for Israeli leaders, and al-Ahram explains the complicated Egyptian position on Gaza (13), (16).

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