January 16th

Arab Ranks Divided as Pressure Mounts to Hold Gaza Summit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Edward Yeranian - January 15, 2009 - 1:00am Arab leaders and diplomats are engaged in an increasingly bitter quarrel over the need to hold an emergency summit to discuss a cease-fire in Gaza, where the death toll has now risen to more than 1,000. Diplomatic efforts continued Thursday in Cairo where Israeli envoy Amos Gilad has been conveying Israel's position to Egyptian mediators. » Read more

Mideast Awaits Signs of Obama’s Stance on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has promised that he will have plenty to say about the Israeli incursion into Gaza once he takes office next week, and expectations are high. But there is a growing consensus among the people who have followed the Arab-Israeli conflict for decades that Mr. Obama must take some quick, decisive steps — within days of being sworn in — or else face the prospect of coming across in the Arab world as continuing President Bush’s tilt in favor of Israel. » Read more

Israel focused on war aims in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters January 16, 2009 - 1:00am The world might be transfixed by scenes of destruction in Gaza, but this cuts little ice with Israelis, grimly focused on achieving their war aims. Some, such as restoring Israel's military deterrence and badly damaging Hamas's armed capacity, have already been achieved, Israeli analysts and officials say. Others, such as stopping Hamas rocket fire into Israel and preventing the Islamist movement from rearming via tunnels bored under Gaza's border with Egypt, are still incomplete. » Read more

Gaza Clan Finds One Haven After Another Ravaged in Attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Reyham Abdel Kareem, Craig Whitlock - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am The Abu Nihil clan, all 16 members, huddled on the living room floor of a friend's Gaza City apartment. All the windows were gone, shattered by explosions. Israeli helicopters churned overhead. But the family has decided this is as good a place as any to make its final stand. The Abu Nihils have seen three houses destroyed since Dec. 27, when Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and began a war that has left civilians with no safe place to go. » Read more

Gaza campaign is war against Amalek, says Chief Rabbi of Safed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nadav Shragai - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am The Chief Rabbi of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Elyahu, visited a Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Ashdod Thursday where he declared the war against Hamas as "a war of the people of Israel against Amalek." The yeshiva had originally been in the settlement of Neveh Dekalim and was evacuated in 2005 along with similar communities in the Gaza Strip. "This is not a private war of Shmuel and Moshe against Muhammad, but a war of the nation of Israel against those wishing to destroy Jews. This is a [Hamas] war against Judaism and that is how it should be seen," Rabbi Elyahu said.

Israeli 'phosphorous shells' incinerate 1,000s of tons of UN food as Gaza starves ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Scotsman by Ibrahim Barzak, Ben Lynfield - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am ISRAELI shells set ablaze a food warehouse at UN headquarters in Gaza yesterday, destroying tons of emergency rations intended for needy Gaza civilians, a senior UN official said. A pall of black smoke rose from the UN compound, visible across Gaza City. Flour spilled on the ground and mixed with soot as Palestinian firefighters tried to douse the flames. "The main warehouse was badly damaged by what appeared to be white phosphorus shells," UN humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said at a news briefing in New York. » Read more

Assault kills top Hamas leader ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck, Andrew England, Heba Saleh - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli forces yesterday launched their most furious assault on the Gaza Strip yet, killing a top Hamas leader and shelling a key United Nations compound, amid intensifying diplomatic efforts to end the 20-day conflict. The strikes killed Saeed Seyyam, the Hamas interior minister and the most senior leader of the Islamist group to die so far. News of his death came as the Israeli security cabinet met last night to discuss an Egyptian ceasefire proposal. However, it decided only to dispatch Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, to Washington. » Read more

U.N. Chief Urges Israel to Halt Attack on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner, Michael Slackman - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am CAIRO — As the war in Gaza entered its 21st day with the quest for an elusive truce resuming in Cairo and Washington, a top exile leader of the Hamas militant group battling Israel’s onslaught rejected Israel’s terms for a cease-fire and urged Arab states to support its resistance. In a speech broadcast across the Arab world and widely followed in the Middle East and elsewhere, Khaled Meshal, the senior leader in exile of Hamas, told an unusual Arab gathering in Doha, Qatar, that “I assure you: despite all the destruction in Gaza, we will not accept Israel’s conditions for a ceasefire. » Read more

Gaza ceasefire imminent as Israel negotiates deals with Egypt and US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by Martin Fletcher - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am The Israeli military sought to inflict maximum damage on Hamas today before Ehud Omert's government submitted to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that would end the fighting before Barak Obama's inauguration on Tuesday. Amos Gilad, Israel's top negotiator, flew to Cairo to hammer out the remaining details of that ceasefire agreement. Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, flew overnight to Washington where she and Condoleezza Rice are expected to sign a second agreement committing the United States to measures to stop Hamas re-arming itself. » Read more

On Day of Heavy Fighting, Moves Toward Gaza Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Griff Witte - January 16, 2009 - 1:00am After one of the most violent days of Israel's nearly three-week-old war against the Hamas movement in Gaza, the conflict appeared late Thursday to be moving toward a diplomatic solution. » Read more