April 25th

Bush Tells Palestinian Leader Peace Is Possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Michael Abramowitz - April 25, 2008 - 5:57pm

President Bush sought to assure Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday that a peace agreement with Israel remains possible, as he began to accelerate his personal diplomacy in advance of his second trip to the Middle East this year. "The thing that I'm focused on, and you are, is how to define a [Palestinian] state that is acceptable to both sides," Bush said. "I'm confident it can get done."

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U.s. Jews Create New Lobby To Temper Israel Policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil A. Lewis - April 25, 2008 - 5:55pm

Several prominent American Jews have formed a new pro-Israel lobby as an alternative to traditional organizations that, they assert, often impede progress in the Middle East because of their generally reflexive support of Israel. Officials of the new group, called J Street, say they believe the best way to bring security and peace to Israel is to help political candidates who support that country but will occasionally question some of its policies like maintaining or expanding settlements in disputed territories.

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Bush Meets Abbas, But Palestinians Criticize Plans For Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg - April 25, 2008 - 5:48pm

As he prepares for his second trip this year to the Middle East, President Bush is facing mounting criticism from some Palestinians who are upset that he will go to Israel for its 60th birthday celebration without marking the flip side of that event: the flight of Palestinians from their homes.

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Bush Wants A Deal On A Palestinian State By End Of Term
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by James Gerstenzang And Richard Boudreaux - April 25, 2008 - 5:47pm

President Bush said Thursday that he wanted to lock in the outlines of a Palestinian state before he left office, even as Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said the road was "paved with obstacles." With less than nine months to achieve his goal, Bush is holding a flurry of diplomatic meetings, including a session with Abbas in the Oval Office on Thursday, seeking to pressure Israel, the Palestinians and their Arab allies.

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April 24th

President Bush wants an outline for a Palestinian State by the end of his term(1). President George W. Bush is drawing fire for his forthcoming trip to Israel (2) while the ongoing negotiations stalemate is negatively affecting both Mahmoud Abbas' and Ehud Olmert's support (7). The IMF praises the Palestinian Authority's moves toward fiscal sustainability(5). Finally, M.J. Rosenberg discusses the necessity of diplomacy in his weekly column for the Israel Policy Forum.

White House: Syria Must 'come Clean' About Nuclear Facility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Shmuel Rosner, And Barak Ravid - April 24, 2008 - 5:56pm

The White House on Thursday urged Syria to "come clean" about an alleged nuclear facility, which a senior U.S. official said earlier in the day had been near completion when it was reportedly targeted and destroyed by the Israel Air Force in September 2007. "The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicut nuclear activities," White House press secretary Dana Perino said, shortly after U.S. intelligence officials presented members of Congress with evidence that Pyongyang had assisted a secret Syrian nuclear program.

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Don't Be Afraid Of Peace With Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) April 24, 2008 - 5:54pm

Peace with Syria is once again knocking at our door, and it even seems to be meeting with a less-frosty reception on the Israeli side. The time is ripe for negotiations with Syria, especially since U.S. President George W. Bush's reign is drawing to a close, and among his potential successors, whether Democrat or Republican, there is a willingness to negotiate with Bashar Assad instead of boycotting him.

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We Must Guard Against The Worst In A Nonpolar World
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Richard N. Haass - (Opinion) April 24, 2008 - 5:54pm

Today's world is dominated not by one or two or even several powers, but rather is influenced by dozens of state and nonstate actors exercising various kinds of power. A 20th century dominated first by a few states, then, during the Cold War, by two states, and finally by American preeminence at the Cold War's end, has given way to a 21st century dominated by no one. Call it nonpolar.

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Israeli Imbroglio
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Jacob Heilbrunn - (Opinion) April 24, 2008 - 5:52pm

If secret agents are supposed to be handsome, or seductive, masters of derring-do, then America’s latest spy scandal has to come as something of a disappointment.  The octogenarian Ben-Ami Kadish, whom the Justice Department is accusing of operating as an Israeli spy from 1979 to 1985 and who faces four counts of conspiracy, clad in a blue windbreaker and black sweatpants as he headed toward the courthouse, simply doesn’t cut the mustard. But his arrest has already created an uproar in Israel, where officials are scrambling to deflect blame.

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Israeli Premier Willing To Give Back Golan Heights: Syrian Cabinet Minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
April 24, 2008 - 5:51pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told Turkey that Israel is willing to give back Syria’s Golan Heights in return for peace with the Arab state, a Syrian Cabinet minister said yesterday. “Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of international conditions; on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria,” Expatriates Minister Buthaina Shaaban told Al Jazeera television. She said the message about the Heights occupied by Israel since 1967 was made through Turkey.

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