Forty-two killed after Israeli shell hits UN school in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Hider - January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

Forty-two women and children were killed in an attack at a UN-run school in Gaza today, the third such assault in 24 hours. The attack, which appeared to come from an air strike from two Israeli F16s, happened at the al-Fakhora school in Jabaliya refugee camp, causing carnage inside and outside the building, where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants. Initial reports had said the devastation was caused by a tank shell exploding.

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Blair: Closing smuggling routes key to ceasefire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Andrew Woodcock - January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is attainable within days if the smuggling routes which supply arms and money to Hamas can be shut down, international envoy Tony Blair said today. Mr Blair said that the Hamas movement, which holds power in the Palestinian enclave, is in contact with Egypt over the issue and that Cairo is prepared in principle to take action. All "responsible" players in the region should be working towards an immediate cessation of the hostilities which have now entered their 11th day, he said.

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Israel tightens grip on Gaza, fights off ceasefire pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 5, 2009 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israeli warplanes carried out intensive raids on Hamas targets on Monday as ground troops surrounded Gaza's main city, while Israel faced mounting diplomatic pressure for a ceasefire. The senior Hamas leader in Gaza promised "victory is coming" for the Islamist group, but Israel's defence minister said "we have hit Hamas hard" while insisting the operation to halt Hamas rocket attacks would continue.

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Hamas 'to attend' Cairo truce talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
January 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has announced it will send a delegation to Egypt for ceasefire negotiations as diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in Gaza intensified. Ayman Taha, a Hamas official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that a group would head to Cairo "answering an Egyptian invitation to hold discussions". Taha did not say whether the delegation would include Hamas members from Gaza or exiled leaders.

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Arab and International Efforts Needed to Save Israel and Hamas from Their Predicament
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) January 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel and Hamas have set traps for themselves and for each other; these traps will bring about dangerous repercussions as the escalation in Gaza lacks a clear-cut objective and an exit strategy. Both sides need help to escape this predicament. Otherwise, their recklessness will entail further loss of innocent lives as well as loose wars and catastrophic measures that must be prohibited. Neither Hamas nor Israel is going to win this war. Gaza's women and children and the innocent civilians on both sides will be the sole losers.

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Israel Rejects 48-Hour Cease-Fire Plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Taghreed El-Khodary - January 1, 2009 - 1:00am

After five straight days of punishing air attacks, Israel rejected a proposal for a 48-hour cease-fire in its military onslaught in Gaza on Wednesday, saying it would maintain pressure on Hamas. But it did not rule out future diplomacy and was open to ways of increasing humanitarian aid. The decision was announced after a security cabinet meeting here.

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Israel's Punishing Assault on Gaza Continues for Sixth Day
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Sudarsan Raghavan, Griff Witte - January 1, 2009 - 1:00am

A top Hamas leader and several members of his family were killed Thursday in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, as Israel pressed its offensive for a sixth day and a Hamas rocket destroyed part of an apartment building in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

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Israel set to maintain offensive for 'weeks'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck, Andrew England, Peggy Hollinger - December 31, 2008 - 1:00am

Israel said yesterday its military was ready for "weeks of action" in spite of growing diplomatic pressure and Arab anger over its bombardment of the Hamascontrolled Gaza Strip. The quartet of Middle East peace brokers - the United Nations, the US, Russia and the European Union - last night urged a ceasefire in Gaza and southern Israel. The UN said: "They called for an immediate ceasefire that would be fully respected." An emergency meeting of EU ministers in Paris was expected last night to call for a 48-hour truce to allow medical supplies through to Gaza's civilian population.

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Bush administration struggles over Gaza approach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Sue Pleming - December 31, 2008 - 1:00am

With three weeks to go, the Bush administration is struggling over how to tackle Middle East violence, hobbled by the exit of key diplomats and cautious after a dismal diplomatic effort in Lebanon in 2006. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush have worked the phones with Western and Arab allies since Israel attacked Gaza and Hamas fired rockets into the Jewish state with the collapse of a ceasefire.

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The Gaza Time Bomb
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times
by Patrick Seale - December 23, 2008 - 1:00am

PARIS -- With the ending of the truce between Israel and Hamas, Gaza is now one of the Middle East's most dangerous flashpoints. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has issued a cry of alarm, while Tony Blair, the Quartet's Middle East envoy, has urged Israel to defuse tensions by lifting the siege of Gaza. Everyone is aware that it would take only a spark - such as a Qassam rocket landing on a house in Sderot - to trigger a full-scale war. The paradox is that neither side really wants this to happen.

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