Egypt and Israel Move to Halt Growth of Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Stephen Farrell - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The Egyptian and Israeli governments moved Sunday to ease tensions over fatal cross-border attacks, apparently seeking to stop the crisis from flaring up into a full-scale diplomatic rift. An Israeli official confirmed that an Israeli military delegation arrived in Egypt on Sunday, quietly and unannounced, for behind-the-scenes talks with Egyptian officials, and a second Israeli official issued a public statement of regret for the deaths of Egyptian soldiers.

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Israel apologizes for Egyptian soldiers' deaths
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman, Edmund Sanders - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Eager to head off a diplomatic crisis with its most important peace partner, Israel apologized to Egypt on Saturday over the deaths of three Egyptian soldiers who were accidentally killed last week during an Israeli military incursion into the Sinai peninsula.

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Rush to cover up bloodshed in Palestinian camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by George Hale, Hannah Patchett - August 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Syrian forces scrambled Saturday to destroy evidence of last week's bloody crackdown in Latakia that killed dozens and sent Palestinian refugees fleeing, activists said as UN investigators arrived in Damascus. Security forces were seen scrubbing blood off the streets and walls of al-Ramel refugee camp ahead of the cross-agency mission’s anticipated arrival in the port city. The delegation was dispatched from Geneva in response to a damning report to the Security Council on Syrian leader Bashar Assad's "apparent shoot-to-kill" policy.

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Israelis Hit Gaza and Militants Fire Rockets After Deadly Attacks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner, David Kirkpatrick - August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli warplanes launched air strikes on Gaza and militants fired more than 10 rockets into Israel, the Israeli authorities said early Friday, a day after armed attackers, described by the authorities as Gazans who had crossed into Israel from Egypt, carried out multiple deadly attacks near the popular Red Sea resort of Eilat.

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Gaza-Israel violence escalates after deadly attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Globe and Mail
August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Gaza militants launched barrages of rockets deep into Israel early Friday and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Palestinian territory in the aftermath of the deadliest attack against Israelis in three years. Gunmen who appear to have originated in Gaza and crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert ambushed civilian vehicles traveling on a remote road, killing eight people. Six were civilians, and two were members of Israeli security forces responding to the incursion.

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Israel strikes central Gaza refugee camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli warplanes struck An-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday morning in an ongoing assault which has killed at least seven Palestinians in the coastal enclave since Thursday. One Palestinian was lightly injured as Israeli fighter jets bombed a generator near the camp, causing a power outage across the area, said Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya. Missiles also hit a training camp of the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, witnesses said.

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Who is the Palestinian group blamed for the attacks?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel has blamed a Palestinian faction, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), of launching attacks along its border with Egypt that killed seven Israelis on Thursday. Within hours of the assault, the IAF struck back at the PRC, which is based in Gaza, killing five of its members, including the leader and his lieutenant. Following are some details on the organization, which denied involvement in the attack in southern Israel:

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US urges Egypt to control Sinai
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

The United States pressed Egypt Thursday to follow through on promises to ensure security in the Sinai following a string of attacks in southern Israel said to have been staged from the desert region. The White House denounced the attacks, which left seven Israelis dead and thirty injured, and expressed hope those responsible "will be brought to justice swiftly." "We condemn the brutal terrorist attacks in southern Israel today in the strongest terms," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

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The myth of Israel's Goliath image has been slain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

The planning, time, place and methodology of the attacks in the south indicate that the intention was not just to kill Israelis, avenge Palestinian deaths, or speed up the end of occupation. Whoever sent the terrorists is no friend of President Mahmoud Abbas and his people, who are scurrying around trying to lobby support for a UN General Assembly vote for a Palestinian state next month.

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Deadly direction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

When attacks and counterattacks erupted Thursday in Gaza, it might have been expected to hear analysts and the media talk about a sudden outbreak of violence – in fact, the developments of the last few months represent an instance of deliberately laying the groundwork for such an explosion.

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