Polls Show Even Split in Israeli Elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press October 26, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel moved closer Monday to a bruising election campaign that will decide the future of peace talks, as polls showed the moderate foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, in a surprisingly close race with hard-line opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Neither of Israel's two leading political parties would have enough seats to form a government on its own, according to the surveys, which also showed an even split between the country's hawkish and center-left blocs. That signals more deadlock in peacemaking with Syria and the Palestinians. » Read more

My descent into Gaza's smuggling underworld ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - October 24, 2008 - 8:00pm Crawling south in the dank metre-high passage, you have to hope the crude wooden supports will keep the thick layers of clay and sand above your head from crashing down on to you. Anyone who has been in a narrow-seam coal mine can relate to the mild sense of claustrophobia induced by a visit to Gaza's smugglers' tunnels, in which workers were killed at roughly the rate of three a week last month. » Read more

Livni Abandons Effort to Form Israeli Coalition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Linda Gradstein - October 26, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday gave up trying to form a coalition government, paving the way for new elections in early 2009. Palestinian officials worried that her decision could also mean the end of the fragile Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which resumed just under a year ago and had been a priority of the Bush administration. » Read more

US's Dayton Views PA-US Security Coordination, Denies US Targeting HAMAS ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam by General Keith Dayton - (Interview) October 26, 2008 - 8:00pm Interview with General Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator, by Abd-al-Ra'uf Arna'ut; Dayton: These Are the Objectives of My Task, Truth of What I Did in Gaza [Arna'ut] You are very well known in the Palestinian arena, but few people actually know what you do. What do you specifically do? » Read more