Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Israeli troops push into Gaza City, with the Palestinian death toll during the offensive reportedly reaching 900 (1), (2). Israel is accused of using illegal white phosphorus munitions, while the Hamas leadership is accused of hiding in the basement of a hospital (3), (4). Numerous articles examine Hamas' performance in the conflict, its positions regarding a cease-fire, and political status (5), (6), (7), (8). Quartet envoy Tony Blair says elements of the cease-fire are in place, but the New York Times says that Egypt and Jordan fear being drawn into de facto responsibility for parts of the occupied Palestinian territories (9), (10). After two weeks of intense criticism, Egypt starts to defend its policies (11). Ha'aretz argues that Israel has overcome the stigma of its failed 2006 campaign in Lebanon (12). A commentary article by ATFP President Ziad Asali in the Daily Star urges an end to Israeli settlement activity (14). Roger Cohen of the New York Times complains that President-elect Obama's presumptive Middle East policy team apparently will include no Arab or Iranian Americans (15).

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Israeli Troops Push Into Gaza City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Steven Erlanger - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am On the 17th day of the war against Hamas, Israel said its ground forces called in a series of air strikes after troops pushed into a heavily populated area of Gaza City from the south on Sunday in fierce fighting that continued on Monday. Senior Israeli officials said Sunday for the first time in the war that they believed that the Hamas military wing was beginning to crack and that Hamas leaders inside Gaza were looking for a cease-fire. But news reports on Monday said Hamas militants fired as many as 10 missiles out of Gaza into southern Israel without causing casualties. » Read more

Israeli Bombing Continues, Palestinian Death Toll Tops 900 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Luis Ramirez - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli warplanes have been attacking the homes of Hamas leaders in Gaza, during the 17th day of Israel's assault. Palestinian medical officials say nearly 900 people have died in the attacks, which are showing no signs of letting up. The fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas raged on, as thousands of Israeli reservists entered the Gaza Strip. Israeli ground troops battled militants in house-to-house combat, edging closer to the center of Gaza City. » Read more

1 dead, dozens injured in Gaza by suspected white phosphorus munitions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Yasser Ahmad, Richard Boudreaux - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian villagers said the shelling came from the direction of the Israeli border, less than a mile away, scattering flaming objects in their midst and burning down 20 homes and the local United Nations-run school. "One landed in my kitchen and caused a fire," said Zohair Mohammed abu Rejila, 35. "I went to put it out, but another one landed on Mayar, my baby daughter. It was like a block of fire, a piece of plastic on fire. When I knocked it off her, it exploded and out came this heavy white smoke with a very bad smell." » Read more

Sources: Hamas leaders hiding in basement of Israel-built hospital in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a "bunker" built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect: Many are believed to be in the basements of the Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip. Shifa, the coastal strip's largest hospital, was built while Gaza was under Egyptian rule, before 1967. During the mid-1980s the building underwent massive refurbishment as part of a showcase project to improve the living conditions of residents. » Read more

Battered by Israel, Hamas faces tough choice ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Rushdi Abu Alouf, Jeffrey Fleishman - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Hamas fighters are scattered in cells across the Gaza Strip, launching rockets, ambushing Israeli soldiers, and vanishing into tunnels and bunkers to escape airstrikes on a pummeled terrain of shattered buildings and bodies curled and crumpled in the streets. » Read more

Israel sees cracks in Hamas's will to fight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune January 12, 2009 - 1:00am On the 17th day of the war against Hamas, Israel said it launched around 15 airstrikes overnight, fewer than in some recent nights, as Israeli troops pushed into a heavily populated area of Gaza City from the south on Sunday in fierce fighting that reportedly continued on Monday. Senior Israeli officials said for the first time in the war that they believed that the Hamas military wing was beginning to crack and that Hamas leaders inside Gaza were looking for a cease-fire. News reports said Hamas fired at least one missile out of Gaza into southern Israel without causing casualties. » Read more

Hamas reportedly rejects Egypt bid for long-term Gaza truce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Hamas has rejected an Egyptian proposal for a long-term truce between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayyat reported on Monday. The newspaper quoted a senior Hamas source as saying: "There are still many details that need to be discussed before we can say that we have reached an agreement of principles. Egypt's state-owned news agency reported on Sunday that talks were progressing between Egyptian officials and a Hamas delegation dispatched to Cairo on finding an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Hamas: A Crisis of Leadership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) January 12, 2009 - 1:00am What is Hamas lacking? » Read more

Blair Says Mideast Cease-Fire Elements in Place ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Griff Witte - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli war planes and gunboats destroyed targets in the Gaza Strip Monday, including homes of Hamas leaders, as special Mideast envoy Tony Blair said after a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that "the elements of an agreement" for a cease-fire are in place. Blair, the former British prime minister, spoke amid intense negotiations aimed at bringing the 17-day war to a halt. Both Israel and Hamas are participating. » Read more

Crisis Imperils 2-State Plan, Shifting a Balance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Michael Slackman - (Analysis) January 11, 2009 - 1:00am With every image of the dead in Gaza inflaming people across the Arab world, Egyptian and Jordanian officials are worried that they see a fundamental tenet of the Middle East peace process slipping away: the so-called two-state solution, an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel. » Read more

Egypt defends its Gaza policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Nadia Abou el-Magd - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am Egyptian officials yesterday launched a public relations offensive aimed at defending the government’s policies towards the Gaza Strip and tempering growing criticism of its handling of the two-week-long conflict. » Read more

Israel's victories in Gaza make up for its failures in Lebanon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Analysis) January 12, 2009 - 1:00am The war on Hamas is a war for the sovereignty of Israel. It was launched due to repeated rocket attacks from Gaza following Israel's disengagement from the coastal strip. No country in the world would put up with a situation in which its sovereignty is being undermined and its citizens are being threatened. Given its small geographical territory and many enemies, Israel can not put up with this situation. Therefore, it is up to every decent person who wants Israel to strive for peace and end its occupation and return to its original borders to support its fight for sovereignty. » Read more

Security First ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by J.D. Crouch II, Montgomery Meigs, Walter B. Slocombe - (Opinion) January 12, 2009 - 1:00am When the dust settles in Gaza, the Obama administration will take up the mantle of moving the two sides toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace. American efforts must focus on strengthening the capabilities of the Palestinian party upon whom hope for peace can rest, the Palestinian Authority, and ensuring the stability of the West Bank. » Read more

Gaza, a chance to reaffirm the two-state solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 12, 2009 - 1:00am The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians. Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel. » Read more

Mideast Dream Team? Not Quite ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) January 11, 2009 - 1:00am The Obama team is tight with information, but I’ve got the scoop on the senior advisers he’s gathered to push a new Middle East policy as the Gaza war rages: Shibley Telhami, Vali Nasr, Fawaz Gerges, Fouad Moughrabi and James Zogby. This group of distinguished Arab-American and Iranian-American scholars, with wide regional experience, is intended to signal a U.S. willingness to think anew about the Middle East, with greater cultural sensitivity to both sides, and a keen eye on whether uncritical support for Israel has been helpful. » Read more

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