January 1st

Israel's Attacks On Gaza Deepen Palestinian Rift ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Griff Witte - January 1, 2009 - 1:00am Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip has exacerbated the deep divisions between Palestinians who want to make peace with Israel and those who support Hamas's militant struggle against the Jewish state. The fractures are stark in the West Bank, where sympathy for Hamas appears to be rising in the streets even as the territory's leaders suppress pro-Hamas demonstrations and blame the Islamist movement for the breakdown of a six-month truce with Israel. » Read more

Saudis blame Hamas amid calls for talks with Fatah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ian Black - January 1, 2009 - 1:00am Saudi Arabia yesterday blamed Hamas for Israel's continuing offensive in the Gaza Strip and urged it to resolve bitter differences with the western-backed Palestinian Authority - even as divisions deepened with a new charge of treachery. Arab League foreign ministers meeting in emergency session in Cairo warned it was not possible to help until the Islamist movement in control of Gaza returned to national unity talks with its rival Fatah. » Read more

Divisions Deep at Arab League Meeting ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Steven Erlanger - December 31, 2008 - 1:00am Arab countries appeared deeply divided on Wednesday over how to respond to the latest escalation in fighting between Israel and Hamas, with sharply differing comments from foreign ministers at the opening of an emergency Arab League meeting here. Moderate Arab states generally allied to the United States blamed Palestinian disunity for the crisis and more radical states, some of whom did not attend, urged collective action to defend the Palestinians against Israel. » Read more

Bush administration struggles over Gaza approach ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Sue Pleming - December 31, 2008 - 1:00am With three weeks to go, the Bush administration is struggling over how to tackle Middle East violence, hobbled by the exit of key diplomats and cautious after a dismal diplomatic effort in Lebanon in 2006. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush have worked the phones with Western and Arab allies since Israel attacked Gaza and Hamas fired rockets into the Jewish state with the collapse of a ceasefire. » Read more

In Dense Gaza, Civilians Suffer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Taghreed El-Khodary - December 31, 2008 - 1:00am A dentist stood at the bed of a doctor, his good friend Ehab Madhoun, 32, who had just died, his shrapnel-pitted body wrapped in a white shroud. » Read more

Israel's Punishing Assault on Gaza Continues for Sixth Day ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Sudarsan Raghavan, Griff Witte - January 1, 2009 - 1:00am A top Hamas leader and several members of his family were killed Thursday in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, as Israel pressed its offensive for a sixth day and a Hamas rocket destroyed part of an apartment building in the Israeli port city of Ashdod. » Read more