Finally, A Popular Uprising
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) January 30, 2008 - 5:56pm


The fall of the Rafah wall was a fitting combination of planning and the precise reading of the social and political map by the Hamas government, mixed with a mass response to the dictates of the overlord, Israel.


Bush's Delusions Die In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com
by Gary Kamiya - January 30, 2008 - 5:44pm


It was a heart-wrenching story. Hundreds of thousands of people, trapped for endless years in an open-air jail and recently subjected to an airtight siege, blew up their prison wall and poured out to freedom.


Excluding The Militant Group Won't Secure Peace In The Middle East.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Helena Cobban - (Opinion) January 29, 2008 - 6:40pm


Last week, the Palestinian militant organization Hamas masterminded a spectacular "bust-out" into Egypt of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel has been maintaining a tight siege for many years. That bust-out reinforced the strength of Hamas's popular support among Palestinians and has started to change the political map of the region.


Living With The Breach: Israeli Strategists Weigh Gaza Options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - January 29, 2008 - 6:40pm


The collapse of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt has done much more than break Israel’s siege of the Hamas-run strip. It also has opened up new, far-reaching strategic options for Israel while exposing it to grave new dangers.


Gaza's Falling Wall Changes Middle East Map For Ever
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
January 28, 2008 - 7:25pm


They came and went in lorries and gas tankers, in flatbed trucks loaded with cattle and sheep, in coaches and mini-buses, loaded by the dozen in the backs of trucks, all shuttling across Gaza's southern border. Four days ago they went on foot like refugees, but yesterday for the first time the trucks drove through and it felt like an unstoppable momentum had been reached.


Palestinians Clash Over Control Of Border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Hider - January 28, 2008 - 7:22pm


The Palestinian Government of Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that it had reached a deal with Egypt to take control of the Gaza border, which Hamas militants breached with blowtorches and explosives last week, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to cross. Within hours Hamas officials denied that any such agreement side-lining the Islamists had been sealed with Cairo, which is struggling to contain the chaos that erupted on its border last week.


Gaza Border Crisis Puts Egypt On The Spot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Ian Pannell - January 28, 2008 - 7:20pm


Alaa smiled and pulled me by the arm. Firstly he wanted to check my credentials. "You are a foreign correspondent?"   I nodded and we got the camera ready to record an interview.  He shook his head - not an interview, he just wanted to just tell me something. In faltering English he declared: "This is the happiest day of my life!"


360 Days
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) January 28, 2008 - 7:18pm


Reading about the Vietnam War, as I have been doing lately, is maddening. As President Lyndon B. Johnson makes fateful decisions that will ultimately leave 50,000 Americans dead and destroy his presidency, I almost want to shout out, “Stop! Are you blind? Can’t you see where this is leading?” But, of course, LBJ couldn’t see that.


January 28, 2008 - Vol. 9, Issue 21
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Middle East Peace Report - January 28, 2008 - 7:15pm


Military Escalation is a Boon for Hamas: Even before the breach of the Gaza-Egypt border, the escalation in cross-border attacks between Gaza and Israel had pumped up public support for Hamas. This was the principle finding of a poll conducted in the West Bank and Gaza by the Ramallah-based AWRAD research center, when compared with an AWRAD survey from shortly before the November Annapolis peace conference.


Bush Hits A Wall In The Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jim Hoagland - January 28, 2008 - 7:14pm


Watching Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner and other congressional leaders craft a stimulus package to calm the turbulent economy is like watching President Bush pursue his equally implausible and belated Middle East peace initiative. In each case, the challenges are so much larger than the means suddenly being brought to bear that you don't know whether to laugh or to cry.



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