January 20th, 2009

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).

The Egyptian paradox in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram
by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) January 19, 2009 - 1:00am

The nightmare of politics is when political leaders have to deal with deeply contradictory goals. And when these contradictory goals characterise an environment of armed conflict, "war" for short, the nightmare is at its worst. Nothing represents this nightmare better for Egypt than the Israeli war in Gaza, where contradictory objectives describe both external and internal policy.

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This violence in Gaza has killed the moderates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) January 18, 2009 - 1:00am

After three weeks of bloodshed in the Gaza Strip a ceasefire is finally forthcoming, yet there is little to celebrate. Over 1,000 Palestinians have died as a result of the bombardment of densely populated urban areas. Much of Gaza’s infrastructure, already depleted after six months of crippling economic blockade, is demolished or non-functioning. And this ceasefire contains nothing that ensures that the violence will not resume in the immediate future. For, despite international efforts to impose a bilateral ceasefire on Hamas and Israel, little progress was made.

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Israel is good at using sticks, but its carrot approach needs work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Alex Sinclair - (Opinion) January 19, 2009 - 1:00am

During its three-week offensive on Hamas, Israel has used a great big stick on the Palestinians of Gaza. Most Israelis, myself included, have supported our right to use that stick, pained as we are at the suffering we have inflicted on many innocent Palestinians. But when the core narrative of the situation was "We got out of Gaza; you continued to attack us" - which, despite Israel's continued blockades and targeted assassinations, remains the basic truth of the Gaza story over the past 3 years - then we were justified in taking action to prevent these attacks.

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So, I asked the UN secretary general, isn't it time for a war crimes tribunal?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) January 19, 2009 - 1:00am

It's a wrap, a doddle, an Israeli ceasefire just in time for Barack Obama to have a squeaky-clean inauguration with all the world looking at the streets of Washington rather than the rubble of Gaza. Condi and Ms Livni thought their new arms-monitoring agreement – reached without a single Arab being involved – would work. Ban Ki-moon welcomed the unilateral truce. The great and the good gathered for a Sharm el-Sheikh summit. Only Hamas itself was not consulted. Which led, of course, to a few wrinkles in the plan.

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