February 8th, 2008

Egyptian President Views Gaza Border Crisis, Iran Ties, Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
(Interview) February 8, 2008 - 7:43pm

Text of report by Italian leading privately-owned centre-left newspaper La Repubblica, on 31 January [Interview with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak by Nicola Lombardozzi and Alix Van Buren in Cairo on 30 January: "'Israel Will Not Offload Gaza On to Us'"]

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Israel To Intensify Strikes If Rocket Fire Continues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ellen Knickmeyer - February 8, 2008 - 7:41pm

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened Thursday to intensify military operations in the Gaza Strip if fighters continue using the Palestinian territory for rocket attacks on southern Israel. Earlier in the day, Israeli troops supported by tanks, artillery and fighter jets raided Gaza, killing six Palestinian gunmen, according to Palestinian and news service accounts.

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February 7th

The Washington Post (1) and BBC (2) monitor ongoing developments in Gaza. Reuters reports on Salam Fayyad’s view of the near future (3). MJ Rosenberg offers advice for future negotiations (5). Daniel Kurtzer discusses America’s role in the negotiations. In domestic news, The Daily Star’s Ghassan Rubiez analyzes Super Tuesday from an Arab-American perspective (8) while Shmuel Rosner discusses John McCain’s Israel policy(10).

Barak Is The Wrong Man
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Israel Harel - (Opinion) February 7, 2008 - 7:34pm

The main reason given by Defense Minister Ehud Barak for remaining in the government is to contend with the state's grave security threats, from both near and far. To be prepared, he said, our operational capabilities must be restored and a moral change must be implemented. Barak is thus telling the public he is the right man in the right place, and if he were to step down now there would be no one to carry out these tasks as well as he can.

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Hamas: Egypt Should Voice Its Anger Against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
February 7, 2008 - 7:33pm

Egypt has warned Palestinians against trying to break through its resealed Gaza border about two weeks after Hamas militants blew it open to defy an Israeli-led blockade.   After allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to cross into the Sinai peninsula last month, Egypt on Sunday closed the border to Palestinians seeking entry.     

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Shas Leader: Early Elections Possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Neta Sela - February 7, 2008 - 7:30pm

Shas Chairman Eli Yishai said Thursday that general elections may be held as early as this year. Speaking at a convention in northern Israel, Yishai said: "I don't know how long this government will last. I estimate that soon we will have elections."  

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Abbas: Fatah Ready To Control Crossings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Etgar Lefkovits - February 7, 2008 - 7:29pm

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that his security officials are ready to take responsibility for the border crossings in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as part of a moribund international border agreement that was scrapped after the Islamic group seized control over the coastal strip last year. "We are ready to take over responsibility of the crossing points together with the European Union, the Egyptians and the Israelis," Abbas told a group of European parliamentarians in his West Bank headquarters.

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Israel Can Expect More Suicide Attacks - Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
February 7, 2008 - 7:28pm

Gaza: Hamas' representative in Iran said Israel can expect a wave of suicide bombings inside its 1967 borders, not just the West Bank. The announcement of more attacks came as Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip launched at least 10 Qassam rockets into Israel, lightly wounding a two-year-old girl and 12-year-old girl.

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Israel Must Stop Changing Facts On The Ground - Fm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
February 7, 2008 - 7:26pm

Jordan on Wednesday warned against Israeli measures “to alter facts on the ground” in the occupied Palestinian lands in a way that affects final status talks. During a meeting with US Undersecretary for Middle East Affairs David Walsh, Foreign Minister Salah Bashir called on Israel to stop its settlement activities, stressing the need to ease the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people through softening the restrictions on their movement.

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Politics Of Illusions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Alon Ben-meir - (Opinion) February 7, 2008 - 7:24pm

I have just returned from an extended trip to the Middle East, hoping that I would come back feeling recharged by the progress made in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, especially in the wake of the Annapolis peace conference. To my dismay, not in Israel or in Jordan or in talking to Palestinian and Egyptian officials, have I felt or seen much optimism. Those who still believe that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is possible by the end of 2008 – U.S. President George W. Bush's stated desire – are few and far between.

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