Date
Type

October 26th

‘israel Lobby’ Writers Miss The Real Jewish Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Opinion) October 26, 2007 - 5:40pm

Among the (many) things that John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt get wrong in their controversial book, “The Israel Lobby,” is their characterization of the American Jewish community. According to their understanding, there’s a substantial contrast between the policies “the lobby” espouses and the more dovish views of the community at large. For the most part, as they see it, the lobby opposes a two-state solution to the chronic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, while most American Jews very much favor such a solution.

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Olmert Pledges Gaza Won't Face Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 26, 2007 - 5:36pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised the Palestinian president Friday that Israel would not cause a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip despite his government's intention to cut power to the territory in hopes of curbing rocket attacks He made the pledge during a working lunch with Mahmoud Abbas at the Israeli leader's Jerusalem residence, responding to Abbas' concern that electricity stoppages could hit hospitals and other essential services, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

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Chaotic Nablus: Testing Ground For Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 26, 2007 - 5:35pm

The Palestinian president has chosen the West Bank's most chaotic city to show he's in control, winning U.S. praise Thursday for beefing up his security forces here as part of an attempt to reassure Israel that he can implement a future peace deal. However, Mahmoud Abbas' campaign to disarm hundreds of militants in Nablus has had mixed results.

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October 25th

The Associated Press reports on continuing Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at producing a joint document at the Mideast fall meeting (2.) A Forward opinion by Leonard Fein examines the 'psychic dissonance' that is characteristic of an American Jewish community that both supports a two-state solution yet are resistant to assigning any blame to Israel for actions undermining such a solution (3.) Inter Press Service looks at the discrimination and marginalization facing the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (6.) In the Guardian (UK), filmmaker Clancy Chassay goes to Gaza to witness a debate on the issues that divide the organization (9.) In The Times (UK), former BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston recounts the 144 days he spent as a hostage in Gaza (10.) In Dar Al Hayat (Lebanon) Raghida Dergham contrasts the Mideast fall meeting with the 'Damascus Conference' planned as a counter, suggesting ways for the fall meeting to succeed (12.) Haaretz (Israel) analyzes as two-fold Israel's reasons for imposing further sanctions against the Gaza Strip (15.)

The Voice Of The Old Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - October 25, 2007 - 11:37am

Three days before he announced that he was dropping out of the presidential race, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition, and succinctly summed up his opinion on the Bush administration's moves toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "It's time we looked at other ideas."

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Policy In No-man's-land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - October 25, 2007 - 11:35am

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to Europe this week once again illustrated that the "peace process" is the most convenient diplomatic situation for Israel. Conducting high-level talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; Israel's willingness to discuss the principles for ending the conflict; and gestures such as the release of prisoners are in themselves sufficient to remove international pressure on Israel to withdraw from the territories and to end the occupation.

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Breaking The Taboo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Special Report) October 25, 2007 - 11:34am

The general feeling in Washington is that most Americans - there are over 300 million Americans - are not knowledgeable about world affairs, certainly the Middle East, and especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In small part, this explains the lopsided US policy towards the region and, in greater part, exposes the failure of Arab governments and to some extent the Arab-American community in meeting this challenge.

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Images That Shock
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Special Report) October 25, 2007 - 11:33am

Occasionally the mask slips and unpalatable truths emerge. The Guardian has filmed rare scenes inside Hamas-controlled Gaza which the various players in the unfolding tragedy of the Middle East would rather we did not see - Hamas beating up Fatah dissenters, Palestinian doctors forced by their Fatah paymasters to go on strike or forfeit their salaries, the militants who log on to Google Earth to search for Israeli targets for their Qassam rockets. The images, now on the Guardian's website, affront our concept of right and wrong, but they serve our understanding of what is going on.

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Israeli Seeks Hamas Participation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
October 25, 2007 - 11:32am

An Israeli minister has called on his government to invite "moderate" members from the Palestinian movement Hamas to an upcoming Middle East conference. Minister without portfolio Ami Ayalon said any invitation would be conditional on Hamas members fully recognising Israel right to exist. Mr Ayalon said that Israel should be talking to moderates regardless of their political stripes. The conference is planned for late November in Annapolis in the US.

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Don’t Rush Mideast Talks, Experts Urge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 25, 2007 - 11:31am

Skepticism was the name of the game as leading Middle East analysts and policymakers gathered last weekend and discussed the prospects for an upcoming Middle East peace conference. Diplomats, administration officials and regional experts all seemed to agree that the task facing the American-led conference is nearly impossible if peace between Israelis and Palestinians is the goal. Among the impediments mentioned were the lack of time for ironing out differences before the summit, significant gaps in expectations and a lack of commitment on behalf of the Bush administration.

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