Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Bone, Martin Fletcher - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am

A plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides.

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Gaza Strikes Reverberate in Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Sudarsan Raghavan - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am

Rarely has an Arab leader been so widely perceived as backing Israel and the United States against the Palestinians, whose struggle has been a fundamental rallying point for Arabs and Muslims for more than six decades. But Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has rejected popular and regional pressure to open the Gaza-Egypt border and toughen his stance against Israel. In recent days, his government has voiced support for Palestinians in an effort to defuse mounting criticism, but officials continue to suppress anti-Israeli demonstrations.

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The price to be paid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am

On Wednesday, as foreign emissaries and mediators shuttled across the Middle East, the latest defense establishment assessment was that Hamas was not yet ready for a cease-fire. "They are adamant about ending this war with some sort of political achievement," an Israeli security source said. "Otherwise, the heavy price they paid will be seen to be in vain."

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Fierce Focus on Tunnels, a Lifeline for Gazans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Stephen Farrell - January 10, 2009 - 1:00am

Fifty feet underground, the tunnel looked like a giant wormhole: large enough for a man to crawl through, worn smooth by constant use and disappearing into the subterranean darkness beneath the Gaza-Egypt border. Waist high, three feet wide and equipped with a motorized winch and electric lights, it was one of scores of Palestinian tunnels beneath the southern Gaza town of Rafah in March 2008, when a reporter visited.

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Israel and Hamas Rebuff U.N. Cease-Fire Call
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel and Hamas rebuffed a United Nations call for a cease-fire in the 14-day Gaza war on Friday, with Israel saying continued barrages of rocket fire from its adversaries made the United Nations resolution “unworkable.” In a statement after a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Israeli military would “continue acting to protect Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions it was given,” according to news reports. Officials from Hamas dismissed the United Nations resolution, according to news reports, although one official said it was being studied.

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Israel rejects UN truce resolution, widens Gaza ground op
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid, Shlomo Shamir - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The diplomatic-security cabinet rejected on Friday a United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution and ordered the Israel Defense Forces to expand its current ground operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

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Egyptians Seethe Over Gaza, and Their Leaders Feel Heat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Michael Slackman - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

CAIRO — Inside Al Azhar Mosque, a 1,000-year-old center of religious learning, the preacher was railing on Friday against Jews. Outside were rows of riot police officers backed by water cannons and dozens of plainclothes officers, there to prevent worshipers from charging into the street to protest against the war in Gaza.

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UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar, Barak Ravid - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the shelling. In addition, UNRWA Thursday announced it will cease activities in the Strip due to the death of an UNRWA staffer in an IDF shelling during Thursday morning's humanitarian hiatus. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Haaretz yesterday that the army had conceded wrongdoing.

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U.N., Red Cross curtail aid in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Rushdi Abu Alouf, Richard Boudreaux - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

On a day of rising tension between Israel and international relief agencies, the Red Cross and the United Nations curtailed operations in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday, and the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Palestinian territory. In a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining, the Security Council called for an "immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire" in Gaza that would lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

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100 Survivors Rescued in Gaza From Ruins Blocked by Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Reyham Abdel Kareem, Craig Whitlock - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Emergency workers said they rescued 100 more trapped survivors Thursday and found between 40 and 50 corpses in a devastated residential block south of Gaza City that the Israeli military had kept off-limits to the International Committee of the Red Cross for four days. Relief agencies said they feared more people remained in the rubble of several shattered houses in the Zaytoun neighborhood. Red Cross officials said that they began receiving distress calls from people in the houses late Saturday but that they were blocked by the Israeli military from reaching the area until Wednesday.

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