Hamas' Strategic Defeat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Dror Ze’evi - (Opinion) February 8, 2008 - 7:49pm

Ever since the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, the Hamas movement has boasted a series of impressive tactical victories. These wins started with the elections victory over Fatah and continued with the rapid takeover of the Gaza Strip, the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the “candle operation” aimed at forcing Israel to boost the supply of electricity to the Strip, and finally, the breaching of the Rafah border wall and the lifting of the siege.  

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Israel Trims Gaza Electricity, Prompting Warning From U.s.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Isabel Kershner - February 8, 2008 - 7:47pm

Israel has begun reducing the amount of electricity it sells to Gaza as part of sanctions against continued rocket fire, Israeli officials said Friday. The move prompted a warning from the United States not to "worsen the humanitarian situation" of civilians in Gaza, and was followed by the firing of yet more rockets at Israel by militants there.

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Palestinian Pm Sees No '08 Israel Accord
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ed Stoddard - February 8, 2008 - 7:46pm

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday a lasting peace accord with Israel was unlikely in 2008 despite renewed diplomatic efforts to resolve the long-running conflict. In an interview with Reuters in the Texas capital, Austin, where he is on a private visit, he highlighted the lack of progress on the issue of Israeli settlements and military incursions into the West Bank as among the chief obstacles in the "road map" to peace and Palestinian statehood.

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Israel To Intensify Strikes If Rocket Fire Continues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ellen Knickmeyer - February 8, 2008 - 7:41pm

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened Thursday to intensify military operations in the Gaza Strip if fighters continue using the Palestinian territory for rocket attacks on southern Israel. Earlier in the day, Israeli troops supported by tanks, artillery and fighter jets raided Gaza, killing six Palestinian gunmen, according to Palestinian and news service accounts.

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Israel Can Expect More Suicide Attacks - Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
February 7, 2008 - 7:28pm

Gaza: Hamas' representative in Iran said Israel can expect a wave of suicide bombings inside its 1967 borders, not just the West Bank. The announcement of more attacks came as Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip launched at least 10 Qassam rockets into Israel, lightly wounding a two-year-old girl and 12-year-old girl.

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Gazan Students In Limbo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Mel Frykberg - February 7, 2008 - 7:23pm

The future of hundreds of Gazan students, trapped in el-Arish in the Egyptian Sinai and in the Gaza Strip, hangs in the balance as they wait in a state of uncertainty for permission to leave Egypt and Gaza to continue their studies abroad.

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Self-defense, Not Occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Sheldon Schreter - (Opinion) February 6, 2008 - 8:03pm

In my January 30 op-ed in The Jerusalem Post, I contended that our settlements weaken rather than strengthen us by seriously eroding both our own and the world's belief in the justice of our cause. That cause is asserting the right of the Jewish people to a sovereign state in their ancient homeland. In over 100 "talkbacks" on jpost.com, letters to the editor, and some personal communications, my views were mostly attacked, though occasionally supported. Let me address some of the criticisms of my argument.

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Olmert Too Weak To Deliver
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-sharif - February 6, 2008 - 7:59pm

n the intricate and volatile workings of Israeli politics a day is a lifetime and the chances of survival are measured not by how many are on one’s side but by the weakness or strength of one’s opponents. Thus Ehud Olmert finds himself relatively stronger after the final findings of the Winograd Commission on the 34-day-war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 were published last week.

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Running In Place From Lebanon To Dimona
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) February 5, 2008 - 7:36pm

The suicide bombing in Dimona and the ongoing Qassam rocket fire on Sderot reveal that the "running in place" did not begin and end with the Second Lebanon War. The Winograd Committee asks how it is possible for a war that lasted more than a month to have ended with neither a diplomatic nor military victory. The war against Hamas has been going on for more than seven years, but victory seems about as close as the diplomatic horizon.

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Security Experts Fear New Wave Of Terrorism In Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Speigel International
by Pierre Heumann - February 5, 2008 - 7:22pm

Terrorists struck again in Israel on Monday in the first suicide bombing the country has seen in a year. It was an attack that politicians and military officers say they have seen coming for days. The bloody deed, which claimed the lives of one Israeli woman and the two suicide bombers, came as no surprise for many Israelis. Now that the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is open, it has become easier for terrorists to reach Israel from Gaza. Security experts have been warning that terrorists in Gaza would see this as a new opportunity -- and would take advantage of it.

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