Date
Type

November 6th

Annapolis: Behind The Scenes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Dominique Vidal - November 6, 2007 - 12:55pm

“It’s time for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” announced US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after a visit to the Middle East on 15 October. She claimed President George Bush had decided to make ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “one of the highest priorities of his administration”.

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Patriarchs, Property, And Politics In Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - November 6, 2007 - 12:54pm

His Beatitude, Theophilus III, "Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Syria, beyond the Jordan River, Cana of Galilee, and Holy Zion" – to give him his full and ancient title – is nothing if not hospitable.

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Israel’s Economic Growth Defies Experts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - November 6, 2007 - 12:52pm

While Israeli and Palestinian negotiators grope their way towards a US-sponsored peace meeting in Annapolis later this year, investors and economists are struggling with a different problem: how to justify the strength of the Israeli economy. Last year’s botched war in Lebanon, the escalating conflict with Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, the threat of Iran’s nuclear programme and the weakness of an unpopular and fractious government at home – nothing has so far managed to throw the economy off its high-speed track.

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The Art Of The Possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Lee H. Hamilton - (Opinion) November 6, 2007 - 12:50pm

AMERICAN FOREIGN policy confronts a basic paradox. The United States stands alone as the world’s most powerful nation, with the strongest military, the largest economy, the highest level of technological capacity and the most extensive cultural influence around the world. Even after the setbacks of recent years, no other single power or grouping of states comes close to matching the United States. And yet America’s ability to accomplish things abroad has rarely—in recent memory—seemed so limited. Why?

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Rice Sounds Optimistic Tone As She Leaves Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Ashraf Khalil - November 6, 2007 - 12:47pm

As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up her latest Middle East mission, Palestinian officials acknowledged Monday that a timetable to finish negotiations leading to establishment of a Palestinian state will not be finalized before an upcoming U.S.-sponsored peace conference. But Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, after meeting with Rice in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said negotiations carry their own nonnegotiable deadline: the end of President Bush's term in January 2009.

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Stakes Are High At Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - November 6, 2007 - 12:46pm

In the final run-up to the Annapolis peace parley, leaders on all sides are emphasizing the burning need for success and the potentially huge price of failure. Although the focus is on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all the main players see it as only a small part of a much bigger regional drama: the ongoing battle for regional sway between the moderate Middle Eastern camp, led by America, and the radicals, led by Iran.

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Abbas Sees Palestinian State Soon Achievable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karen Deyoung - November 6, 2007 - 12:45pm

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he believes the path to peace with Israel is now clear and that a Palestinian state can be achieved before the end of the Bush administration in January 2009.

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Pm Slams Israel Rightists' Provocation Over Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Joseph Nasr - November 6, 2007 - 12:44pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed on Monday to fight violent "incitement" by Israeli groups opposed to his efforts to negotiate with the Palestinians and said he was ready to make "painful concessions" to secure peace. His speech, heavy with memories of violence within Israeli society, was a reaction to displays of hostility that marked Sunday's 12th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was shot by a Jew angry at his peace efforts.

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Israel Puts Jerusalem On The Negotiating Table
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - November 6, 2007 - 12:41pm

As she visits the Middle East this week, USSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to commit to confidence-building measures and a timetable ahead of an upcoming US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Md. Israel has resisted a timetable, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a major speech Sunday night that he is ready to begin accelerated peace talks – even on final-status issues such as Jerusalem.

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November 5th

The Christian Science Monitor examines Israeli and Palestinian reaction to recent reports concerning Israel's willingness to negotiate the issue of Jerusalem (1.) The Jewish Telegraphic Agency analyzes how the Annapolis meeting is shaping up to have ramifications far beyond Israeli-Palestinian peace (4.) In the National Interest, president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Lee Hamilton lays out in detail his vision for an engaged, realistic and productive U.S. foreign policy (6.) The Independent (UK) looks at how politics and shady real estate sales to extremist Jewish groups factor into the struggle within the Greek Orthodox church over its Jerusalem patriarchate (8.) Le Monde Diplomatique (France) identifies five challenges facing the Annapolis meeting (9.) In BitterLemons (Israel/Palestine) former Palestinian minister of planning Ghassan Khatib explores the range of Arab countries' attitudes towards the Annapolis meeting (10.) Asharq Alawsat (pan Arab) takes a close look at the latest developments on the internal Palestinian political scene (12.) In his Haaretz (Israel) blog, Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner examines the debate over the role American Jews should play in Israeli politics (13.)

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