October 22nd

Executive Summary And Recommendations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Crisis Group (Special Report) October 22, 2007 - 10:19am Hamas’s takeover of Gaza and President Abbas’s dismissal of the national unity government and appointment of one led by Salam Fayyad amount to a watershed in the Palestinian national movement’s history. Some paint a positive picture, seeing the new government as one with which Israel can make peace. They hope that, with progress in the West Bank, stagnation in Gaza and growing pressure from ordinary Palestinians, a discredited Hamas will be forced out or forced to surrender. They are mistaken. » Read more

Rice Backs Appointed Palestinian Premier And Mideast Democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper, Steven Erlanger - October 22, 2007 - 10:15am Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, embracing an appointed Palestinian prime minister here in the West Bank, said Thursday that the United States still supported democracy in the Middle East. But she defended the American refusal to recognize the earlier, elected, Hamas-led government. » Read more

Shifting Politics Bring Arabs And Israelis Closer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - October 22, 2007 - 10:13am It's a given that any US secretary of State will come to the Middle East, shake the hands of Israeli and Arab leaders, and try to prod them toward peace. But other givens that have long defined the conflict are beginning to shift, helping Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – who finished a week-long trip to the region on Thursday – move forward in a new push by the Bush administration to bring its Middle East allies to the negotiating table. » Read more

Playstation Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 10:12am The good news is that something is stirring in the peace process. For the first time in seven years an Israeli prime minister declares that there are Palestinians to talk to - namely Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad. » Read more

To Tony Blair, Institution Builder ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 10:09am As former British prime minister Tony Blair takes on his latest challenge as the envoy of the Quartet, there are a number of important challenges that he faces. Because of the restrictions on his ability to work on the larger political process, I am suggesting three challenges that are within his new job description. Two of these have to do solely with the Palestinians and one with the Israelis. » Read more

Too Little, Too Late ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 10:07am Unlike the Magi of Biblical times who came from the Orient, two American "kings" are visiting the Middle East this month bearing expensive gifts and rewards to the various rulers in the region provided they will back the Bush administration's controversial, if not discredited, policies in the region. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates are this week offering more than $60 billion in American weaponry to the governments of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. » Read more

Olmert And Abbas 'to Discuss Palestinian State' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by David Byers - October 22, 2007 - 10:05am Israeli and Palestinian leaders will enter into negotiations on the "fundamental issues" leading to the creation of a future Palestinian state at a Middle East peace conference to be held this autumn, Condoleezza Rice disclosed today. The US Secretary of State told a West Bank press conference that Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, whom she met yesterday, had said he was ready to work with the Palestinians to discuss the contours of a future state. » Read more

A New History Lesson In Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Rami G. Khouri - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 9:59am BEIRUT: Here's a little event that may have big implications. The Israeli education ministry has approved a textbook for Arab third graders in Israel that for the first time describes the 1948 war that gave birth to the state of Israel as a "catastrophe" for the indigenous Palestinians and their society. The Palestinians have always referred to 1948 as their nakba, or catastrophic national shattering, dispersal, exile, occupation and disenfranchisement. » Read more

Saudis Courted For Proposed Mideast Summit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - October 22, 2007 - 9:47am As the Bush administration begins pushing aggressively for a new Middle East peace conference this fall, there is already a significant gap among Arab, Israeli and American diplomats about what the conference should attempt to achieve. » Read more

Israel Pushing Gaza Toward Starvation - Abbas Aide ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Muklis Ali - October 22, 2007 - 9:46am Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip is pushing Palestinians toward starvation, a close aide of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday. Nabil Shaath, who is visiting Indonesia as a special envoy for Abbas, said Gaza needed humanitarian assistance and appealed to the international community to help end Israel's siege. » Read more