January 9th

Israel 'shelled civilian shelter'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli forces shelled a house in the Gaza Strip which they had moved around 110 Palestinians into 24 hours earlier, the UN quotes witnesses as saying. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it "one of the gravest incidents" since the beginning of the offensive. The shelling at Zeitoun, a south-east suburb of Gaza City, on 5 January killed some 30 people, the report said. Israel said the allegations were being investigated.

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UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar, Barak Ravid - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the shelling. In addition, UNRWA Thursday announced it will cease activities in the Strip due to the death of an UNRWA staffer in an IDF shelling during Thursday morning's humanitarian hiatus. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Haaretz yesterday that the army had conceded wrongdoing.

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Israel rejects UN truce resolution, widens Gaza ground op
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid, Shlomo Shamir - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The diplomatic-security cabinet rejected on Friday a United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution and ordered the Israel Defense Forces to expand its current ground operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

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Israel and Hamas Rebuff U.N. Cease-Fire Call
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel and Hamas rebuffed a United Nations call for a cease-fire in the 14-day Gaza war on Friday, with Israel saying continued barrages of rocket fire from its adversaries made the United Nations resolution “unworkable.” In a statement after a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Israeli military would “continue acting to protect Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions it was given,” according to news reports. Officials from Hamas dismissed the United Nations resolution, according to news reports, although one official said it was being studied.

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January 8th

ATFP Reiterates call for Ceasefire, Settlement Freeze at Major USIP Conference
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

Washington, DC, Jan. 8 -- ATFP reiterated its calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and a settlement freeze in the occupied territories at a major United States Institute of Peace conference at the Washington Convention Center. ATFP President Dr. Ziad Asali spoke on a panel about "Reinvigorating Prospects for Arab-Israeli Peacemaking" with fellow panelists Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer and David Makovsky, director of The Washington Institute's Project on the Middle East Peace Process. The Honorable Samuel W. Lewis moderated the panel.


Two rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel, as the IDF responds with artillery shells (1) (2). Fear of an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah looms despite continued talk of a cease fire (3). An analysis by Allistair Lyon examines what the Gaza crisis means for the upcoming expiration of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ term in office (6). A pair of articles in the Los Angeles Times discuss the differences between the Arab and Israeli media portrayal of the conflict (9) (10). An op-ed by Rashid Khalidi in the New York Times offers a crash course on the Gaza strip and its people (12). In an op-ed for The Washington Post President Jimmy Carter delivers his assessment of the situation (14).

The Gaza blame game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Rosa Brooks - (Opinion) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

How to be stupid . . . . . . Hamas style Refuse to recognize Israel. Remind the world that the establishment of Israel in 1948 was accompanied by the often violent displacement of 700,000 Palestinians, but ignore the fact that more than 60 years have gone by, making it a bit late for a do-over. Ignore the fact that most Israelis weren't even born in 1948, and that Israel is recognized as legitimate by an overwhelming majority of the world's states. Keep insisting on its destruction.

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AP Gaza reporter finds hometown in rubble
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

I live alone in my office. My wife and two young children moved in with her father after our apartment was shattered. The neighborhood mosque, where I have prayed since I was a child, had its roof blown off. All the government buildings on my beat have been obliterated. After days of Israeli shelling, the city and life I have known no longer exist.

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An Unnecessary War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jimmy Carter - (Opinion) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

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The Gaza Boomerang
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nicholas D. Kristof - (Opinion) January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

At a time when Israel is bombing Gaza to try to smash Hamas, it’s worth remembering that Israel itself helped nurture Hamas. When Hamas was founded in 1987, Israel was mostly concerned with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement and figured that a religious Palestinian organization would help undermine Fatah. Israel calculated that all those Muslim fundamentalists would spend their time praying in the mosques, so it cracked down on Fatah and allowed Hamas to rise as a counterforce.

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