Israel Begins Pullout; Gazans Survey Debris
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jonathan Finer, Craig Whitlock - January 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli soldiers flashed the victory sign Sunday as they began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Shellshocked Palestinians emerged from shelters and counted their dead. But as a tenuous cease-fire took hold, few people on either side predicted an end to the cycle of violence that has endured for generations. The 22-day war ended without surrender. Neither Israel nor Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, made any concessions, except to stop fighting temporarily.

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Israel Scored a Tactical Victory
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
(Opinion) January 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Atop a little hill near the beleaguered Israeli town of Sderot, a gaggle of TV crews train their cameras on the Gaza Strip, sentinels to a unilateral Israeli cease-fire that's barely 12 hours old. Earlier the same day, Sunday, Hamas fired 20 rockets into Israel, raising questions about its intentions but causing little serious damage. Later, a pair of Israeli F-15s streak over Gaza City, releasing bursts of chaff but dropping no bombs.

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This violence in Gaza has killed the moderates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) January 18, 2009 - 1:00am

After three weeks of bloodshed in the Gaza Strip a ceasefire is finally forthcoming, yet there is little to celebrate. Over 1,000 Palestinians have died as a result of the bombardment of densely populated urban areas. Much of Gaza’s infrastructure, already depleted after six months of crippling economic blockade, is demolished or non-functioning. And this ceasefire contains nothing that ensures that the violence will not resume in the immediate future. For, despite international efforts to impose a bilateral ceasefire on Hamas and Israel, little progress was made.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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