In Shattered Gaza Town, Roots of Seething Split
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Sabrina Tavernise - February 3, 2009 - 1:00am

The phosphorus smoke bomb punched through the roof in exactly the spot where much of the family had taken refuge — the upstairs hall away from the windows. The bomb, which international weapons experts identified as phosphorus by its fragments, was intended to mask troop movements outside. Instead it breathed its storm of fire and smoke into Sabah Abu Halima’s hallway, releasing flaming chemicals that clung to her husband, baby girl and three other small children, burning them to death.

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UN backtracks on claim that deadly IDF strike hit Gaza school
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - February 2, 2009 - 1:00am

The United Nations has reversed its stance on one of the most contentious and bloody incidents of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, saying that an IDF mortar strike that killed 43 people on January 6 did not hit one of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools after all.

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U.S. envoy Mitchell: Mideast peace process faces substantial hurdles
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - January 30, 2009 - 1:00am

United States Mideast envoy George Mitchell said on Friday the new U.S. administration's push for Israeli-Palestinian peace after the war in the Gaza Strip faced substantial hurdles, and he predicted further setbacks. The somber assessment by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell followed two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders about shoring up a shaky cease-fire that ended Israel's 22-day offensive on Gaza. Mitchell said consolidating the truce and "addressing immediately the humanitarian needs" of Gaza's 1.5 million residents were the Obama administration's priorities.

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Hamas wants new leadership for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - January 30, 2009 - 1:00am

The Islamist Hamas group is calling for new leadership for Palestinians to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) dominated by its arch-rival President Mahmoud Abbas and the factions loyal to him. Claiming victory in a devastating 22-day war with Israel in which 100 Palestinians were killed for every Israeli who died, the militant group is reasserting control over the enclave and resuming its central political challenge to the moderate Abbas.

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U.S. peace envoy rolls up his sleeves in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - January 29, 2009 - 1:00am

George J. Mitchell, the new U.S. envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Israel on Wednesday to begin testing his axiom that there's no such thing as a conflict that cannot be ended. Yet even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders offered ideas on how the Obama administration can help bring about peace, the prevailing mood on both sides was that their decades-old fight had become almost hopelessly deadlocked.

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The One-State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Muammar Qaddafi - (Opinion) January 21, 2009 - 1:00am

THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which ended with this weekend’s cease-fire, reminds us why a final resolution to the so-called Middle East crisis is so important. It is vital not just to break this cycle of destruction and injustice, but also to deny the religious extremists in the region who feed on the conflict an excuse to advance their own causes.

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Gaza operation weakens Palestinian Authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

With Israel and Hamas both claiming victory in the Gaza Strip, there is one clear loser: the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority, which desperately wants a peace accord with Israel and a unified Palestine in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel's 22-day assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza made the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority look ineffective and marginalized, unable to stop the carnage. Popular support for its peace talks with Israel, already declining, now seems weaker than ever.

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Gaza divide dogs Arab economic summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Rania El Gamal, Ulf Laessing - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Arab leaders agreed at a summit on Tuesday to help rebuild the battered Gaza Strip, but differences persisted over finding a united stance on the three-week Israeli offensive that killed more than 1,300 people. The conflict in Gaza underscored the Arab divide between those allied to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on one side, and those allied to Syria and Qatar on the other.

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Meeting of Arab leaders on Gaza ends in discord
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Diana Elias - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Arab leaders trying to come up with a plan to rebuild Gaza ended their meeting Tuesday in discord, unable to agree on whether to back Egyptian peace efforts or even set up a joint reconstruction fund for the devastated Palestinian territory.

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Q. and A. With Taghreed El-Khodary in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Interview) January 19, 2009 - 1:00am

This afternoon we have answers from Taghreed El-Khodary, our correspondent in Gaza, to some of the many questions submitted by readers for our Q&A. Ms. El-Khodary, who was born in Gaza, has reported for The New York Times since 2001. During the recent conflict, Ms. El-Khodary was one of the few people reporting from inside Gaza, in part due to the fact that the Israeli military refused to give Western reporters access to the Palestinian territory during the fighting.

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