While Trying to Mediate, Egypt Blames Israel for Gaza Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by David Kirkpatrick - (Analysis) November 19, 2012 - 1:00am

While holding itself out as an honest broker for truce talks between Israel and Hamas over the 

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NEWS: Gaza-Israel violence continues in spite of cease-fire efforts ongoing in Cairo. Hamas is reportedly trying to link a truce to the end of the blockade of Gaza, trying to leverage the growing clout of regional Islamists. An Israeli attack on an apartment building in Gaza kills 11 Palestinian civilians, with the Palestinian death toll now exceeding 91, mostly civilians, including many children. Longer-range missiles, which Israel insists are from Iran but Tehran denies supplying, give Gaza militants a deeper reach into Israel. Israel attacks a media center in Gaza, injuring six journalists. Pres. Abbas says Israel is trying to undermine a renewed Palestinian UN bid. Residents of southern Israel say they are frightened but determined. Gaza children are trying to cope with the terrors of war. Pres. Obama reiterates Israel's right to self-defense, but recommends against any ground offensive. Israeli government websites are under a massive hacking attack. Gaza doctors say they are running low on medicine and equipment. Palestinians blame settlers for a fire at a West Bank mosque. COMMENTARY: ATFP calls for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants. Yossi Alpher says the Israel-Palestine conflict simply isn't going to go away. Max Fisher says Israel is trying to use social media to support for its Gaza campaign. The LA Times says the two-state solution is still the only answer for Israel and the Palestinians. Amos Harel says Israel's leaders need to think very carefully before launching a ground campaign in Gaza, but the Jerusalem Post thinks it's a good idea. Aluf Benn says PM Netanyahu will take any credit and give DM Barak any blame for the conflict. Shaul Arieli says Abbas wants peace, not the right of return. Nehemia Shtrasler says the current Israeli government is comfortable dealing with Hamas, but not with the PA. Musa Abumarzuq defends Hamas' actions. Sam Bahour says the Israeli-Palestinian relationship is unsustainable. Leonard Fein says Abbas lacks a peace partner in Israel. The National says de-escalation requires US leadership. Dalia Hatuqa says Hamas is trying to use the conflict with Israel as an exit strategy from a sustained crisis. Hugh Naylor says pragmatists are losing out in the leadership struggle within Hamas. Tariq Alhomayed says the people of Gaza, as always, will pay the price for the conflict. The Daily Star calls Israel's actions "rampant butchery."Jonathan Schanzer says there are eight outstanding questions about the conflict that have to be answered. Nahum Barnea says it would be politically catastrophic for Netanyahu for Israeli soldiers to be killed on the battlefield in Gaza. Reuters says Hamas may be politically benefiting from the conflict.

IDF Tracked Rockets From Iran to Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Akhikam Moshe David - November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

The smuggling operation was highly complex. The Fajr-5 rockets made in Iran, each six meters long, were transported all the way from their country of origin — dismantled and re-assembled along the way, smuggled via the Gaza Strip tunnels and then hoisted out using cranes — until they were positioned at their launching sites in Gaza. However, the smugglers were unaware that all that time, for over a year, IDF intelligence, headed by Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, was after them, tracking them down from the moment they left Iran, targeting and destroying the rockets in a matter of minutes.

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Gaza Crisis Poses Threat to Faction Favored by U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) November 20, 2012 - 1:00am

In the daily demonstrations here of solidarity with Gaza, a mix of sympathy and anguish, there is something else: growing identification with the Islamist fighters ofHamas and derision for the 

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PLO leader: Ceasefire talks underway in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 18, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Negotiations in Cairo for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have made progress, but a truce is unlikely in the coming days, PLO official Nabil Shaath said Sunday. Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal and his deputy Mousa Abu Marzouq updated Shaath on talks in Cairo between Palestinian factions and an Israeli delegate. Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas is also in direct contact with Mashaal, Shaath said.

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Clinton Visits in Effort to Defuse Gaza Conflict; Egypt Hints at Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Peter Baker, Eytan Gilboa, Rick Gladstone, Isabel Kershner - (Analysis) November 20, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Diplomatic efforts accelerated on Tuesday to end the deadly confrontation between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, as the United States sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East and Egypt’s president and his senior aides expressed confidence that a cease-fire was close.

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A Palestine That Israelis Can't See
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Sam Bahour - (Opinion) November 18, 2012 - 1:00am

The status quo in Palestine and Israel is unsustainable. Anyone involved in the reality on the ground in this part of the world knows this for a fact. As such, one can view the current Palestinian bid to the United Nations General Assembly for non-member state status as a last-ditch effort by the secular Palestinian leadership to save whatever may be remaining of the two-state paradigm as the basis to ending Israel’s 45 years of military occupation.

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Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 2 children, 12 others
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) November 20, 2012 - 1:00am

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon killed two children, and at least twelve others, bringing the day's death toll to 21.

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Hamas finds cause to smile under Israeli assault
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - (Opinion) November 18, 2012 - 1:00am

 

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The third front
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Nahum Barnea - (Opinion) November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

In political terms, a military maneuver is always risky. What appears in the beginning as a glorious move may turn out to be an electoral disaster. This is why most politicians hate launching a military campaign on the eve of elections. A military operation entails giving up control. The candidate's fate is in the hands of others – a pilot's error, a rocket that lands on a day care center, civilians not following safety guidelines.

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