January 28th

George Mitchell and the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Gerry Adams - (Opinion) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am In the crowds of Washington's Union Station last week, I bumped into George Mitchell. We were both in the city for Barack Obama's inauguration, but at that point there was only speculation that George might be made US special envoy for the Middle East – it wasn't until I returned to Ireland that the appointment was confirmed. » Read more

A Bibi-Barack Collision? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Creators Syndicate by Pat Buchanan - (Opinion) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am "Where there is no solution, there is no problem," geostrategist James Burnham once wryly observed. Ex-Sen. George Mitchell, the latest U.S. negotiator to take up the Palestine portfolio, may discover what it was that Burnham meant. For Israel's three-week war on Gaza, where Palestinians died at a rate of 100 to one to Israelis, appears to have been, like Israel's wars in Lebanon, another Pyrrhic victory for the Jewish state. » Read more

Abdullah II: The 5-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am In February 2002, I traveled to Saudi Arabia and interviewed the then crown prince, now king, Abdullah, at his Riyadh horse farm. I asked him why the next Arab summit wouldn’t just propose to Israel full peace and normalization of relations, by all 22 Arab states, for full withdrawal from all occupied lands and creation of a Palestinian state. Abdullah said that I had read his mind (“Have you broken into my desk?” he asked me) and that he was about to propose just that, which he later did, giving birth to the “Abdullah peace plan.” » Read more

At a Border Crossing, Drivers and Truckloads of Aid for Gaza Go Nowhere ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Michael Slackman - January 27, 2009 - 1:00am France sent technical equipment to help Gazans draw water from the ground. The Swiss sent blankets and plastic tarps. Mercy Corps, a relief agency, sent 12 truckloads of food. And on Tuesday all of it, including dozens of other trucks carrying sugar, rice, flour, juice and baby formula, sat in the hot sun here going nowhere. » Read more

Gaza ceasefire of critical importance, says US envoy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ewen Macaskill, Rory McCarthy, Peter Walker - January 28, 2009 - 1:00am A continued ceasefire in Gaza is of "critical importance", Barack Obama's Middle East peace envoy, George Mitchell said today, as Israeli jets bombed smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border amid the worst violence in the territory since a truce began 10 days ago. Mitchell arrived in Israel this afternoon after talks in Cairo with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. In Jerusalem, he held talks with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and was due to meet the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, before travelling to the West Bank to see the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

January 27th

Bibi won't rule out Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Hoffman - January 27, 2009 - 1:00am Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and three quarters of the Likud's candidates declined to sign a loyalty oath ruling out a Palestinian state that was distributed to all the parties on the Right. The oath, distributed by the Matot Arim organization, included a vow not to lend a hand to the formation of a Palestinian state. The National Union, Habayit Hayehudi, Israel Beiteinu and Shas signed the document. Shas chairman Eli Yishai signed the document on behalf of his party. Meir Porush was the only United Torah Judaism MK who made the pledge. » Read more

Turkey calls on Hamas to pick politics over arms ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters January 27, 2009 - 1:00am Turkey's government, accused of siding with Hamas during Israel's Gaza offensive, has called on the Islamist group to use peaceful means to achieve its aims rather than armed struggle, its foreign minister said. The government has come under criticism for the strong rhetoric it used against Israel during the offensive in the Gaza strip. Turkish opposition parties, ex-diplomats and columnists have accused the government of taking a pro-Hamas stance. » Read more

Gaza: Humanitarian situation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News January 22, 2009 - 1:00am Gaza: Humanitarian situation Aid agencies are battling to meet the urgent needs of tens and thousands of displaced, homeless and injured people in Gaza, as well as to get damaged water, power and sewage infrastructure back even to their ailing pre-war levels. That stage alone will cost "hundreds of millions" of dollars, while long term reconstruction will run into "billions," the UN has said. Two separate Palestinian surveys have put the cost of the damage just under $2bn. » Read more

Israel 'must sack' military rabbi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News January 26, 2009 - 1:00am A human rights group in Israel has called for the military's chief rabbi to be dismissed for alleged incitement against Palestinians. The group, Yesh Din, said Rabbi Avichai Rontzki distributed a booklet to troops in the Gaza offensive, which advised them they were fighting "murderers". The booklet, citing an ultra-nationalist rabbi, told soldiers to show no mercy to a "cruel enemy". The Israeli military has not yet commented on the issue. » Read more

Did Israel Commit War Crimes in Gaza? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Speigel International by Thomas Darnstadt, Christoph Schult - January 26, 2009 - 1:00am Did Israel violate international law in Gaza? The immense number of Palestinian civilian casualties suggests that it did. But can the laws of war really be applied to asymmetrical conflicts such as Israel's war with Hamas? The Palmachim air force base is 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Tel Aviv, tucked away in the dunes along the Mediterranean shore. A thin, bald man wearing rectangular, rimless glasses is standing in front of half a dozen combat helicopters on the airfield at the base. » Read more