Poll: Palestinian Majority Wants Pro-abbas Forces On Gaza Crossings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from China View January 31, 2008 - 6:05pm Majority of Palestinians support that President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces take control on Gaza Strip crossing points, a poll showed on Wednesday.     According to the poll, conducted two days ago by An-Najah University, 73.9 percent of the surveyed said the pro-Abbas security forces should be deployed on the crossings in order to reopen them. » Read more

Leading Article: A Disastrous War And A Weakened Leader ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent (Editorial) January 31, 2008 - 6:04pm The Winograd Commission into the 2006 Lebanon war has already drawn blood in the form of the departure of the Israeli Defence minister and Chief-of-Staff who were in office at the time of the operation. But Winograd looks unlikely to force the resignation of the man many Israelis hold responsible above all others for the debacle: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. » Read more

Olmert Survives, For Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian January 31, 2008 - 6:04pm The retired justice Eliyahu Winograd, who headed the panel investigating Israel's 34-day war in Lebanon in 2006, said yesterday what everybody already knew. The ground offensive launched in the last 60 hours of the war "did not achieve any military objective, nor did it fulfil its potential". A total of 33 Israeli soldiers died, but the offensive did not reduce the number of Katyusha rockets falling on northern Israel, and it was also unclear how it affected the position of the Lebanese government or Hizbullah on a ceasefire. » Read more

Ujc Sees Fund For Israeli Arabs As Fresh Start In Fund Raising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Jacob Berkman - January 31, 2008 - 6:03pm As part of a move to revamp its fund-raising strategy, the United Jewish Communities has started a joint venture fund to raise significant dollars to help Israeli Arabs. The organization, which serves as the umbrella of the North American federation system, is raising $750,000 from 15 private donors, foundations, federations and service organizations to start the UJC Venture Fund for Jewish-Arab Equality and Coexistence. » Read more

Methodist Church Renews Drive For Divestment From Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - January 31, 2008 - 6:02pm Tensions are re-emerging between Jewish organizations and some mainline Protestant churches in the wake of a renewed drive for churches to divest from companies doing business with Israel. » Read more

No Progress On Gaza Border Breach ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Jeffrey Fleishman - January 31, 2008 - 6:01pm Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday underscored the complexity of resolving the Gaza Strip crisis when he insisted anew that his administration alone should be responsible for the coastal enclave's border crossings. Speaking to reporters after meeting here with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas said he would not negotiate with Hamas, the militant party that controls the Gaza Strip, to end a security breach that has allowed more than 500,000 Palestinians to cross into Egypt through the Rafah post in the last week. » Read more

Abbas Sets Conditions For Gaza Talks With Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Alaa Shahine - January 31, 2008 - 6:00pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected demands on Wednesday by Hamas rivals for control of the breached Gaza-Egypt border and told the Islamist group to "end its coup in Gaza." Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas's more secular Fatah forces, blasted open the Egyptian border last week in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade, letting Gazans pour into Egypt to stock up on goods. » Read more

High Court Affirms Plan To Reduce Power To Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Ellen Knickmeyer - January 31, 2008 - 5:58pm srael's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the government's decision to reduce fuel and electricity deliveries to the Gaza Strip as a form of "economic warfare" against the armed Hamas group in control there. In doing so, the three-judge panel rejected the arguments of Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups that the blackouts and shortages caused by the cuts represent a form of collective punishment against Gaza's 1.5 million residents. » Read more

Bush Has Little Credibility Among Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Angus Reid Global Monitor January 31, 2008 - 5:57pm Few residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank believe George W. Bush actually intends to assist in the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of this year, according to a poll by An-Najah National University. 80.3 per cent of respondents think the United States president is not faithful in his promise. » Read more

Palestinians Feud, But Egypt And Hamas Working More Closely ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Dan Murphy - January 31, 2008 - 5:54pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dug in his heels Wednesday after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to address the crisis over the Gaza border, publicly refusing to work with his Palestinian rival Hamas and calling for forces loyal to his government to take control of the border. While his defiant tone favors the status quo – he called the Hamas seizure of the Gaza Strip last June "a coup" – it came in the face of changing realities on the ground. » Read more