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Military Escalation is a Boon for Hamas: Even before the breach of the Gaza-Egypt border, the escalation in cross-border attacks between Gaza and Israel had pumped up public support for Hamas. This was the principle finding of a poll conducted in the West Bank and Gaza by the Ramallah-based AWRAD research center, when compared with an AWRAD survey from shortly before the November Annapolis peace conference.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel promised the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday that Israel would no longer disrupt the supply of food, medicine and necessary energy into the Gaza Strip and intended to prevent a “humanitarian disaster” there.
Last Wednesday, the Hamas rulers of Gaza broke open the border to Egypt, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to seek goods that Israel had restricted in its clampdown on the region.
At Cafe Malcha in this city's French Hill neighborhood, Hebrew and Arabic newspapers sit on the counter and both languages are spoken amid the din of espresso machines and customers' laughter.
The cafe’s back room is a well-known meeting place for Jewish and Arab businessmen, some of whom live in French Hill, a quiet neighborhood of stone apartment buildings and pine trees around Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus.
Alaa smiled and pulled me by the arm. Firstly he wanted to check my credentials. "You are a foreign correspondent?"
I nodded and we got the camera ready to record an interview. He shook his head - not an interview, he just wanted to just tell me something.
In faltering English he declared: "This is the happiest day of my life!"
The Palestinian Government of Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that it had reached a deal with Egypt to take control of the Gaza border, which Hamas militants breached with blowtorches and explosives last week, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to cross.
Within hours Hamas officials denied that any such agreement side-lining the Islamists had been sealed with Cairo, which is struggling to contain the chaos that erupted on its border last week.
Editorial
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) yesterday released a pessimistic report summarizing the living conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2007. The report said that 49 percent of Palestinian households in the West Ban and 79 percent in the Gaza Strip live in poverty. 34 percent of Palestinians face “food insecurity” (which is defined as households with income and consumption of 1.6 dollars per day).
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Monday that there is a "constant virulent campaign" being waged against him as he strives to win the party's nomination, aimed particularly at weakening support for him from within the Jewish community.
Obama told Haaretz and writers from several Jewish-American newspapers that the campaign against him - calling him Muslim and accusing him of not pledging allegiance to the United States - is especially visible in the Jewish community.
The collapse of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt has done much more than break Israel’s siege of the Hamas-run strip. It also has opened up new, far-reaching strategic options for Israel while exposing it to grave new dangers.
The European Union's foreign ministers called on Israel on Monday to halt all settlement activity in Palestinian areas, saying that it was illegal.
"The EU considers that settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal under international law. This includes Israeli settlements in both East Jerusalem and the West Bank," the ministers said in a joint statement.
The dramatic recent developments on the Palestinian-Egyptian border are direct and predictable results of the internationally supported Israeli siege on Gaza. It should have been expected that the mounting pressure on Gaza would cause a popular explosion. The Egyptian border was the weakest link in the prison wall, since all other escape routes, including the sea, are blocked by Israel.
Even after the disengagement from Gaza, Israel remained legally responsible for the welfare of the 1.5 million Palestinians there. International law considered the Gaza Strip to be under Israeli occupation even after every single settler and soldier left. The reason for Israel's continued legal responsibility is mainly based on the fact that Israel sealed all of Gaza's borders to the outside world and prevented the opening of a sea or airport in Gaza for the use of the Palestinians. Israel furthermore continues to control Gaza's territorial water and airspace.
A packed auditorium was waiting for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama to receive a pivotal endorsement and his aide was rushing him along, but he had something important to say first -- to American Jews.
"Before we go, I'd like to add one last comment," the Democratic presidential hopeful told the aide in a conference call with the Jewish news media Monday morning, just minutes before being endorsed by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) at American University here. "My strong and deep commitment and connection to the Jewish community should not be questioned."
As part of a move to revamp its fund-raising strategy, the United Jewish Communities has started a joint venture fund to raise significant dollars to help Israeli Arabs.
The organization, which serves as the umbrella of the North American federation system, is raising $750,000 from 15 private donors, foundations, federations and service organizations to start the UJC Venture Fund for Jewish-Arab Equality and Coexistence.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/5878
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/5878
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/5878
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/world_press_roundup/20080128t000000
[6] http://peacenow.org/mepr.asp?rid=&cid=4439
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&pagewanted=print
[8] http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/2008012420080124jerusalem.html
[9] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7210650.stm
[10] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3261643.ece
[11] http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&article_id=88434&categ_id=17
[12] http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=105977&d=23&m=1&y=2008
[13] http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948960.html
[14] http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/200801280128gazabreach.html
[15] http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=22333
[16] http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal1.php
[17] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201523778465&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
[18] http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/2008012820080128obamacall.html
[19] http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20080128collaborative.html
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