Living With The Breach: Israeli Strategists Weigh Gaza Options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - January 29, 2008 - 6:40pm

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.

»

Border Crisis Bolsters Islamists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman - January 29, 2008 - 6:38pm

Egypt's main Islamist party and other opposition groups are strengthening their appeal by using images of desperate Palestinians streaming out of the Gaza Strip to provoke wider protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 26-year-old government.

»

Israel Won't Resist Abbas Control At Egypt Crossing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - January 29, 2008 - 5:59pm

Israel will not stand in the way of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas taking control of Gaza's breached border with Egypt as part of a deal to sideline Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave, officials said on Tuesday. But it is unclear how Abbas, the Fatah leader, would be able to assert control over the crossing with Egypt given opposition from Hamas, which seized the coastal territory in June and blasted open the Egyptian border wall last week in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade.

»

Egypt Presses For Abbas To Control Border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - January 29, 2008 - 5:59pm

Egypt said Monday that it preferred that the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, take control of the breached border between Gaza and Egypt, seeming to exclude Hamas, the Islamist group that took control of Gaza from Mr. Abbas in June.

»

Reuters reports on Israel's looking with favor at the Palestinian government's proposed plan to take control over the breached Gaza border crossing with Egypt (2.) The Los Angeles Times looks at how Islamist and opposition Egyptian groups are using the Gaza crisis to strengthen their appeal and provoke wider protests against the Egyptian government (3.) A Christian Science Monitor opinion by Helena Cobban argues that the Gaza crisis demonstrates the need for direct or indirect U.S. talks with Hamas (5.) In Middle East Times, editor Claude Salhani analyzes President Bush's state of the union address with regards to Mideast issues (7.) DPA (Germany) reports on a European Union foreign ministers' statement calling on Israel to halt all settlement activity in Palestinian areas, referring to it as illegal (9.) The Independent (UK) reports on a unique guided tour of the West Bank city of Hebron offered by a retired Israeli army reservist and meant to highlight the abuse of the Palestinian civilian population by Israeli settlers (10.) In BitterLemons (Israel/Palestine) former Palestinian minister of planning Ghassan Khatib examines why the Gaza border breach is a short term victory for Hamas but a long term contributor to the separation of the West Bank from Gaza (12.) A Jerusalem Post (Israel) opinion by Gershon Baskin looks at how the formal opening and regulating of Gaza's border with Egypt could work out in all parties' favor (14.)

American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017