November 9th

Israel Flouts Pledge To Curb Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Bourdreaux - November 9, 2007 - 5:47pm

Israel is enlarging 88 of its 122 West Bank settlements despite an agreement to halt the spread of Jewish communities in Palestinian territory, the watchdog group Peace Now said Wednesday. A report by the group, which documented the construction of new homes with aerial photography and on-site visits, heated up the debate here over a key issue for the U.S.-sponsored peace summit planned by year's end.

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Cheerleaders For Assassination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) November 9, 2007 - 5:46pm

Something terribly ugly is happening in Israel. It started during Yitzhak Rabin's term as prime minister when right-wing extremists and religious fanatics joined in calling for his death and it would seem to have culminated with his assassination. But the ugliness continues. Yigal Amir, Rabin's assassin, turned out to have been no "lone lunatic," no Lee Harvey Oswald or Sirhan Sirhan who acted for reasons that were perhaps psychological and not political.

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Palestinians Ease Demands For Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Josef Federman - November 9, 2007 - 5:45pm

Encouraged by a conciliatory speech by Israel's prime minister, Palestinian negotiators have eased their demands that an upcoming U.S.-hosted peace conference lay out a plan for statehood, officials said Thursday. The Palestinians said they were pleased with Israeli pledges to resume peace talks after the conference this month — and were now less concerned with a pre-summit understanding that had bogged down earlier negotiations.

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Israel And Palestinians Turn To U.s. As Talks Hit Snag
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - November 9, 2007 - 5:43pm

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are turning to U.S. mediators to bridge serious gaps in drafting a common approach to peace negotiations, officials on both sides said on Thursday. A senior Palestinian negotiator told Reuters the two sides sought U.S. intervention on Tuesday after negotiators failed to resolve differences over a document they hope to present at a conference in the coming weeks in Annapolis, Maryland, that aims to set terms for relaunching peace talks.

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November 8th

The Associated Press examines the positive shift in tone by the Israelis and Palestinians regarding expectations for the upcoming Annapolis meeting (2.) The Los Angeles Times looks at the report by the Israeli group Peace Now concerning Israel's continuing settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank despite an agreement not to do so (4.) A Forward opinion by Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar warns that a failure of the Annapolis meeting will put the future of Israel in danger (5.) A Baltimore Sun opinion by Anwar Sadat professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland Shibley Telhami identifies the two factors that could adversely impact Mideast peacemaking (7.) The Economist (UK) looks into reports of discord within Hamas (8.) A Middle East Times editorial refers to the American Task Force on Palestine's approach of articulating the U.S. national interest in achieving Mideast peace through a two-state solution (10.) A Jordan Times (Jordan) opinion by George Hishmeh addresses the issue of Arab Jews who moved to Israel, in the context of the Palestinian refugee issue (11.) A Daily Star (Lebanon) opinion by Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, published in collaboration with Project Syndicate, identifies five steps to take regarding the Mideast conflict in order to avoid failure at Annapolis (12.) Haaretz (Israel) reports on Israeli-Palestinian agreement that any future agreement between them will be conditional on implementation of Phase 1 of the Roadmap (14.)

Whose Road Map?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeff Halper - November 8, 2007 - 3:43pm

As did his pronouncements last August in Jericho, where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated a willingness to withdraw from an area equivalent to 100% of the occupied territories, his latest declarations to the Saban Forum, in the presence of Condoleezza Rice and Tony Blair, sounded promising, even stirring.

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If Not Annapolis, Then What?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) November 8, 2007 - 3:42pm

Gideon Sa'ar, Likud's most fluent spokesman, believes that after Hamas took over Gaza, Israel should have understood the trap it had fallen into and "run for its life" instead of getting into another round of talks in Annapolis. The question is, of course, where does Likud want Israel to run to. Likud has no solution to the conflict with the Palestinians and has made do for 40 years with taking the wind out of the sails of every agreement.

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No Understanding For The Region
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
November 8, 2007 - 3:41pm

Tuesday, BBC radio ran a fascinating interview with former US undersecretary for public diplomacy Karen Hughes. Among her briefs, Hughes was in charge of “promoting American values and confronting ideological support for terrorism.” She was the first person to hold such a position. The interview was interesting for one particular response.

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Good News And Bad News From Abizaid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - November 8, 2007 - 3:40pm

I had the pleasure a few days ago of spending a morning and lunch with John P. Abizaid, when he visited Northeastern University in Boston. Now retired, General Abizaid served his country for 34 years in a long and distinguished career, culminating in his responsibility for US Central Command, when he led American forces in the Middle East and Asia during the Iraq war's early years.

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Gaza And West Bank Viewpoints
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
November 8, 2007 - 3:39pm

Palestinians describe how they think divisions between the separate administrations of Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza are becoming more entrenched. SHAIMA, 22, GAZA CITY We are running out of lots of materials because Israel is blocking the borders. Food, every day materials, medicine - it's very hard to find what you want. And it's all much more expensive. Things which used to cost one or two shekels now cost five or six.

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