IPS on Israel's Ongoing Assault on Gaza

Hamas Is Not Going Away
Analysis by Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH (IPS) - Despite intensive efforts by Israel, the international community and a number of Arab leaders to weaken and destroy Hamas through economic, punitive and military action, the Islamist organisation continues to be a force to reckon with.

Ceasefire Broken From Day One
By Eva Bartlett
GAZA CITY (IPS) - At 7.30 am Jan. 22, five days after Israeli authorities declared a 'ceasefire' following their 22-day air, land and sea bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Israeli gunboats renewed shelling off the Gaza city coast, injuring at least six, including four children.

So What Was the Assault All About
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) - Just over a week before they go to the polls, Israelis are in a grim mood. The gloom is fed by the leading candidates, all of whom are seeking to outdo one another in sombre assessment of the challenges that lie ahead.

Q&A: "A Lot of the Gaza Story Is Being Left Out"
Miren Gutierrez* interviews NANCY SNOW, propaganda expert
ROME (IPS) - The war of words continues in Gaza, in spite of the ceasefire. Nancy Snow, propaganda expert, talks to IPS about information spin strategies and whether we, the public, have learnt any lessons from Iraq.

MEDIA-US: Gaza Coverage Echoed Govt Support of Israel
By Marina Litvinsky
WASHINGTON (IPS) - U.S. television coverage of the recent three-week conflict in the Gaza Strip failed to tell both sides of the story, according to a number of media analysts.

What an Aid Worker Saw, Then and Now
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH (IPS) - As fears rise of renewed violence in Gaza, Elena Qleibo, a French-Costa Rican aid worker from Oxfam, gives IPS a first-hand account of surviving Israel's three-week bombardment of Gaza.

Cornering of Civilians Unprecedented, Says UN Official
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS (IPS) - Israel's refusal to allow civilians any exit route from Gaza as its defence forces rained bombs down on schools and houses appears unprecedented in modern warfare, a United Nations investigator has said.

U.N. Chief Sets Bar High in Aftermath of Gaza
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - When Ban Ki-moon visited Gaza after the destructive bombing of a U.N. compound last month, the usually reticent secretary-general lashed out at the Israelis, accusing them of using "excessive force" and describing the assault as "an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the United Nations".

ICC Investigating Israel War Crimes Charges
By Daniel Luban
NEW YORK (IPS) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced a preliminary analysis Tuesday into whether Israel committed war crimes during the recent Gaza war, following the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) move to recognise the ICC's authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Unexploded Bombs Hold More Deaths
By Erin Cunningham
GAZA CITY (IPS) - At first the 44 children that live in the Zani family home in Beit Hanoun were wary of the unexploded F-16 rocket whose tail has protruded menacingly from their garden since it landed in the first week of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Now, they have grown used to it - playing excitedly near it and even building fires next to it, a relative says.

Settlement Expansion Cutting Into Peace
By Daan Bauwens
TEL AVIV (IPS) - A secret government database revealed last week the real extent of settlement construction on the West Bank. In violation of the Road Map to peace agreed with the U.S., Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, it turned out, agreed to the construction of another settlement on the West Bank. Many now question how devoted Israeli leaders really are to the idea of achieving peace.

TURKEY: Long Friendship with Israel in Peril
Analysis by Hilmi Toros
ISTANBUL (IPS) - For decades, isolated Israel could count on Turkey as its only Muslim friend, if not ally, in the tumultuous Middle East. After Israel's assault on Gaza, that friendship is in doubt.

Gaza Tensions Shadow U.N. Holocaust Ceremony
By Daniel Luban
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The president of the United Nations General Assembly was a last-minute no-show at the U.N.'s annual ceremony commemorating the Holocaust, following an intense lobbying campaign by pro-Israel organisations to have him removed from the programme.

Israel Heads Right
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) - And then there were four. Just days until Israel's general election, the three front-running parties have been joined by an anti-establishment surge from the far right that has the Israel Beiteinu party vying for a major role in the next government.