Second Day Of Violence May Trigger Israel-hamas Escalation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Arthur Bright - February 29, 2008 - 5:59pm

The latest in a series of Israeli airstrikes left at least 20 Palestinians dead Thursday, as Israel considers a new invasion of Gaza to confront Hamas. Reuters reports that Israeli air strikes in Gaza Thursday killed at least 11 militants believed to be involved in rocket attacks against Israeli towns and cities, as well as several civilians, including several children.

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Israeli Minister Warns Palestinians Of ' Holocaust '
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 29, 2008 - 5:59pm

 Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Friday the Palestinians would bring on themselves what he called a "bigger holocaust" by stepping up rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

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Abbas: I Oppose Armed Struggle, But Won't Rule Out Option For Future
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoav Stern - February 28, 2008 - 4:50pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that while he opposes taking up armed struggle against Israel at the present time, he would not rule out the option for the future. "I do not support a return to armed struggle at this point in time. But, at a later date, this could be an option for the Palestinian people," Abbas said on Thursday during an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Duster.

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The Israeli Intransigence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) February 28, 2008 - 4:48pm

Every time the Israeli army or its leadership loses a certain battle, it treats its investigation into the causes behind this fiasco as some form of repentance. Many reports and investigations followed the war on Lebanon in 2006 as well as the horrible massacres in Qana and before that Sabra and Shatilla. But nothing really changed in the perspective of an Israeli leadership that fails to see that its policies will backfire and haunt its fate in the future.

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Israel Must Learn From Mistakes Of Others
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 28, 2008 - 4:45pm

Why doesn't Israel learn from the mistakes of other nations, including its arch-supporter, the United States, in conducting its policies, which have been directly responsible for the state of malaise in the Middle East. For a start, all Israel has to do is to closely examine US foreign policy especially the blunders committed during the administration of George W. Bush.

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Rice Concerned About Gaza Civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 28, 2008 - 4:40pm

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced concern on Thursday about Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, but stopped short of an explicit call for Israel to exercise restraint. A surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence along the border of Gaza has raised fears of a full-scale conflict amid public pressure on Israeli President Ehud Olmert for tougher military action to deal with rocket attacks by Islamic group Hamas.

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Israeli Army Accused Of Turning A Blind Eye
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sydney Morning Herald
by Ed Oloughlin - February 27, 2008 - 6:51pm

AN ISRAELI rights group yesterday claimed there was a "culture of impunity" in the Israeli security forces after the army decided not to order a disciplinary investigation into the killing of 21 Palestinian civilians in November 2006. The dead men, women and children included at least 13 members of the Athamneh family, among them a one-year-old girl. Another 35 people were injured as a dozen 155-mm heavy artillery shells struck the north Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

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Drifting Further From The Path Of Common Sense, Realism And Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hasan Abu Nimah - (Opinion) February 27, 2008 - 6:50pm

Israel seems to be concerned by the slow pace of the peace negotiations jump-started by the US-sponsored meeting in Annapolis last November. Months have passed since that “historic” gathering was concluded, and yet there is no sign of any movement. Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continue to meet regularly, but only “like two old men at the doctor’s office who meet up to chat before returning home to their afternoon nap”, as a Haaretz columnist recently put it.

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Officials: Egypt Boosts Border Troops To Double Agreed Number
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 27, 2008 - 6:48pm

Egypt has discreetly boosted the number of troops deployed along the border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, beyond those set in a 30-year-old peace accord with Israel, Israeli officials said Tuesday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said reinforcements started arriving after Hamas Islamists in Gaza blasted open the Egyptian border at Rafah on Jan. 23 in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade of the coastal territory.

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Un Report Calls Palestinian Terrorism Result Of Occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Bradley S. Klapper - February 27, 2008 - 6:46pm

A report commissioned by the United Nations says Palestinian terrorism is the inevitable result of Israeli occupation, an assertion that Israel rejected yesterday as inflammatory. more stories like this The report, posted on the UN Human Rights Council's website, says that while Palestinian terrorist acts are deplorable, "they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid, or occupation." The report accuses the Jewish state of acts and policies consistent with all three.

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