Morsi's challenge: An Israel-Hamas truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is facing one of the most difficult diplomatic challenges of his brief tenure. Recalling his ambassador from Israel for “consultations” hasn’t eased the pressure for stronger action from his own party and others. His decision to send Prime Minister Hisham Qandil to Gaza on Friday is thus in part an effort to show his own people that his government supports Hamas and the Palestinian people in Gaza.

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Israel Girds for Ground Assault in Gaza; Egypt’s Premier Visits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Alan Cowell, Isabel Kershner, Jodi Rudoren - November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — After a morning of heavy rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the Israeli military seemed to be edging closer to a ground invasion of Gaza on Friday, saying forces were “on standby” and “ready to enter should it be decided that a ground operation is necessary.”

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Middle East peace takes a beating
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

After months of relative quiet — broken, in this country, only by the pandering of the presidential candidates — the century-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict has burst back into the news.

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Fire continues during Egypt PM visit to Gaza, despite ceasefire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - A ceasefire that Israel declared for a visit by Egypt's prime minister to the Gaza Strip on Friday collapsed after Palestinians continued cross-border rocket attacks and Israel launched air strikes in the enclave. Rockets fired from Gaza hit several sites in southern Israel shortly after Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil arrived. The Israeli air force responded with an attack on the house of Hamas's commander for southern Gaza, and a Palestinian was killed in a separate air strike near Gaza City, the Islamist group said.

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Palestine calls for UN action on Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 15, 2012 - 1:00am

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Wednesday called on the United Nations and its Security Council to take a stand on Israel's latest strikes on the Gaza Strip in a bid to "ensure that the international peace and security is maintained in our region."

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Bolder Hamas Tests Alliances in a Shifting Arab World
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - November 15, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY — Instead of the wedding drums that typically provide the evening soundtrack in this forlorn coastal strip, the black, still air was pierced by gunshots on Thursday, as citizens fired celebratory rounds after the ruling Hamas faction announced that one of its rockets had hit an Israeli aircraft.

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Israel attack on Gaza: Familiar tension, new circumstances
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - November 15, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's surprise air assault on Gaza Strip militants killed the top military commander of Hamas and set the rivals on a familiar course that could end with another major confrontation — but in unpredictable new circumstances created by the "Arab Spring."

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With Gaza Attacks, Egypt’s President Balances Hamas Against Israeli Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mayy El Sheikh, David Kirkpatrick - November 15, 2012 - 1:00am

CAIRO — The escalating conflict in Gaza has confronted President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt with a wrenching test of his commitments — to his fellow Islamists of the militant group Hamas and to Egypt’s landmark peace agreement with Israel.

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Obituary: Ahmad al-Jaabari (1960 - 2012)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 15, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- An Israeli airstrike killed Ahmad Said Khalil al-Jaabari, Hamas' most senior military commander, in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Al-Jaabari was born in 1960 in the Shujaiyya neighborhood of Gaza City, where he obtained a bachelors degree in history from the Islamic University. The military leader survived several Israeli targeted assassination attempts and was lightly injured in one of the attempts in 2004.

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Obama presses Egypt to help rein in Hamas as Gaza conflict escalates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris McGreal, Harriet Sherwood - November 15, 2012 - 1:00am

Barack Obama is pressing the Egyptian leadership to help de-escalate the bloody conflict in Gaza amid concern that a further ratcheting up of violence, such as a major Israeli ground assault, could damage the peace accords between Cairo and Jerusalem.

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