Israel Wants To Cut Gaza Links After Border Breach ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous, Rebecca Harrison - January 24, 2008 - 5:58pm Israel wants to cut its links with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory's border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade, Israel's deputy defense minister said on Thursday. Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, pulled troops and settlers out in 2005 but still controls its northern and eastern borders, airspace and coastal waters, and has imposed a blockade it says is meant to counter militant rocket fire. » Read more

Breach In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post (Editorial) January 24, 2008 - 5:57pm THE HAMAS movement provided a dramatic illustration yesterday of its ability to disrupt any movement toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians. As tens of thousands of residents of the Gaza Strip surged across the border into Egypt, Hamas security forces directed traffic; earlier, they stood by as organized groups of militants blew up the fence along the previously sealed border. » Read more

Trapped In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) January 24, 2008 - 5:56pm The neglect and mistreatment of the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip is a disgrace, and a very dangerous one. They are pawns in the struggle among Hamas, which controls Gaza and uses the territory to bombard Israel daily; its rivals in the Fatah movement that run the Palestinian Authority and the West Bank; and Israel. If something isn’t done quickly to address the Gazans’ plight, President Bush’s Annapolis peace process could implode. » Read more

As Gazans Pour Across, A Region Alters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Rushdi Abu Alouf, Richard Bourdreaux - January 24, 2008 - 5:55pm The collapse of Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday altered the region's political and security landscape as suddenly as it changed the fortunes of Palestinians who poured out of the enclave to stock up on goods made scarce by an Israeli blockade. After masked gunmen used land mines to blast through a 7-mile-long border wall, tens of thousands of jubilant Gazans went on an Egyptian spree, buying gasoline, heating oil, rice, sugar, milk, cheese, cigarettes, tires, cement, television sets and cellphones. » Read more

Gaza Busts Out Of Its Blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Dan Murphy, Ilene Prusher - January 24, 2008 - 5:54pm In a coordinated effort using explosives and bulldozers, militants in the Gaza Strip pulled down much of a seven-mile border fence with Egypt Wednesday, allowing tens of thousands of Gazans to cross into Egypt to buy everything from fuel to baby formula. » Read more