January 10th

Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by James Bone, Martin Fletcher - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am A plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides. » Read more

'Viva la Gaza!' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am The list of objectives for Operation Cast Lead that the political-security cabinet dictated to the Israel Defense Forces on the eve of the operation was characterized by restraint. It included halting the rocket fire and terror, reducing Hamas' capacity to rearm, continuing talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, striking a blow to Hamas' rule in Gaza, preventing a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and improving the odds for the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. » Read more

Report: PA seen coming back to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) January 10, 2009 - 1:00am GAZA, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Diplomats are proposing that the Palestinian Authority be brought in to govern the area of the Gaza Strip near the border with Egypt, sources say. The proposal has come up as part of a peace initiative pushed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which calls for an immediate cease-fire to be followed by talks on securing the Gaza-Egypt border and reopening its crossings, The Times of London reported Saturday without naming sources. » Read more

Gaza Strip tunnels prove daunting for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Jeffrey Fleishman, Peter Spiegel - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am Reporting from Washington and Rafah, Egypt — Some of them are said to be big enough to accommodate railroad cars. They may reach a depth of 60 feet, and are reported to be equipped with cables and electric motors that move food, fuel -- and probably some of the heaviest rockets that Hamas aims at Israel. They also are one of the main reasons fighting is continuing in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

UN warns Israel over Gaza family 'herded' into shelled house ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by Martin Fletcher, Azmi Keshawi - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am More than 100 members of one extended Gazan family were allegedly herded by Israeli soldiers into a house that was subsequently shelled, killing up to 30 people and leaving others wounded and living with the corpses for three days. » Read more

Egypt, Abbas see no foreign force on Gaza border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters January 10, 2009 - 1:00am CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt and the Palestinian Authority said Saturday they did not envisage any international forces in Egypt or on the Gaza border under a possible truce agreement between Israel and Gaza. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said Egypt had received no request. "No one has asked for this, and this is a non-issue for us," he said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said: "We want an international presence in the Gaza Strip, and not on the Egypt-Gaza border." » Read more

For Arab Clan, Days of Agony in a Cross-Fire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Taghreed El-Khodary, Isabel Kershner - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am GAZA — Israel’s attack has razed buildings and upended families in much of crowded Gaza. But few neighborhoods suffered more than Zeitoun, a district of eastern Gaza City. And few families felt the wrath of the Israeli military more than the Samounis. » Read more

Israeli forces pound targets, draw near Gaza City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak, Josef Federman - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces pounded dozens of targets and edged closer to Gaza City on Saturday while southern Israel came under renewed rocket fire after one of its quietest nights in the two-week offensive against Hamas. In the day's bloodiest incident, an Israeli tank shell landed outside a home in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya, killing nine people as they sat outside in their garden. Separately, a woman was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Rafah. » Read more

January 9th

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Nations News Service January 8, 2009 - 1:00am SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE, DURABLE, FULLY RESPECTED CEASEFIRE IN GAZA LEADING TO FULL WITHDRAWAL OF ISRAELI FORCES Resolution 1860 (2009) Adopted by 14 in Favour, Abstention by United States; Also Calls for Unimpeded Humanitarian Assistance, Welcomes Egyptian Initiative » Read more

How Not to Make Peace in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books by Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - January 15, 2009 - 1:00am 1. Foreign affairs had no more than a small part in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and the Middle East peace process only a fraction of that. Yet the sorry prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians make a break with past US policy on this matter imperative, regardless of the new administration's priorities. » Read more