Fighter Sees His Paradise in Gaza’s Pain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Taghreed El-Khodary - January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The emergency room in Shifa Hospital is often a place of gore and despair. On Thursday, it was also a lesson in the way ordinary people are squeezed between suicidal fighters and a military behemoth. Dr. Awni al-Jaru, 37, a surgeon at the hospital, rushed in from his home here, dressed in his scrubs. But he came not to work. His head was bleeding, and his daughter’s jaw was broken.

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The Security Council Resolution is an Opportunity for a New Chapter between the US and the Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) January 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Shared Arab effort at the level of Foreign Ministers this week in New York was excellent. It aimed at driving the Security Council to adopt a resolution that would demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Such a resolution would also call for deploying a force of UN observers who would monitor the implementation of the cease-fire and an effective mechanism to prevent Hamas from launching rockets from Gaza, and would ensure that no weapons are smuggled to it, as well as opening the crossings into Gaza and lifting the siege.

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Nothing accidental about attack on school
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Craig Nelson - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli intelligence officers call it “mowing the grass”; the continual trimming of the ranks of Palestinian militants and activists to keep the populace from getting out of control. The truth about the events that led to the deaths of at least 39 people at the United Nations Al Fakhoura school in Gaza will have to wait until the end of the war and investigations by organisations with no stake in the conflict.

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Israeli media focus on Hamas rockets, keep gore to a minimum
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Ashraf Khalil, Batsheva Sobelman - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

There's no visceral wartime imagery; details on injured Israeli soldiers are handled delicately. Bloody scenes such as the carnage after Tuesday's shelling of a U.N. school in the Gaza Strip appear only in snippets, and often in the context of analysis as to how the world will react. There is, however, round-the-clock coverage of the Israeli south, where rockets fired by Gazan militants have killed three Israeli civilians and injured dozens since the conflict began Dec. 27.

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An Unnecessary War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jimmy Carter - (Opinion) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

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The Gaza blame game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Rosa Brooks - (Opinion) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

How to be stupid . . . . . . Hamas style Refuse to recognize Israel. Remind the world that the establishment of Israel in 1948 was accompanied by the often violent displacement of 700,000 Palestinians, but ignore the fact that more than 60 years have gone by, making it a bit late for a do-over. Ignore the fact that most Israelis weren't even born in 1948, and that Israel is recognized as legitimate by an overwhelming majority of the world's states. Keep insisting on its destruction.

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At least two Lebanon rockets hit north Israel; Hezbollah denies involvment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

At least two Katyusha rockets fired from south Lebanon exploded in northern Israel on Thursday morning, leaving two people lightly wounded and a number of others suffering from shock. The rockets struck the Nahariya area at around 8 A.M., one of them scoring a direct hit on the roof a nursing home in the city. A Hezbollah minister in Lebanon's Cabinet has denied any involvement by the militant group in the firing of the rockets. In 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon fired almost 4000 rockets at Israel during the Second Lebanon War.

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Updated: Lebanon-Israeli Border Heats Up After Rockets, Mortars Fly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Andrew Wander - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

At least three rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday, prompting the Jewish state to lob several mortars at the town of Tair Harfa. Katyusha rockets landed in the Nahariya area of Israel, slightly wounding two people according to Israeli officials. Israel hit back by firing five mortar shells across the border. There were no reported casualties.

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Palestine and the Need for Clarity and Transparency
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mshari Al-Zaydi - (Opinion) January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

Amid the bombing that has struck Gaza in its entirety and the battles on the ground between Israeli troops and Hamas, there is an Arab and non-Arab regional division, which is deep and complex. Amid the smoke, bloodshed, and Palestinian and Arab division, one should stop and think about the situation even if our words are restricted.

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Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Craig Whitlock, Griff Witte - January 8, 2009 - 1:00am

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had found at least 15 bodies and several children -- emaciated but alive -- in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip, and officials with the agency accused the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching the bombed-out site for four days.

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