January 29th

Excluding The Militant Group Won't Secure Peace In The Middle East.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Helena Cobban - (Opinion) January 29, 2008 - 6:40pm

Last week, the Palestinian militant organization Hamas masterminded a spectacular "bust-out" into Egypt of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel has been maintaining a tight siege for many years. That bust-out reinforced the strength of Hamas's popular support among Palestinians and has started to change the political map of the region.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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January 28th

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.)

My Talks With Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Dror Ze’evi - (Opinion) January 28, 2008 - 7:29pm

Now I can reveal this: Several months ago, I participated in a series of meetings in Europe that involved a small group of Israeli and Palestinian public figures and academicians, including senior Hamas supporters.

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Obama: Opponents Trying To Weaken My Support In Jewish Community
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - January 28, 2008 - 7:28pm

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.

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57% Of Palestinians Live In Poverty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - January 28, 2008 - 7:26pm

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).

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Palestinian Factionalism Is Speeding Up Its Trip To Nowhere
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) January 28, 2008 - 7:26pm

  Editorial

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