February 12th

Israeli Casts Doubt On Pact This Year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - February 12, 2008 - 7:13pm

A senior Israeli minister said Monday that his country hoped to reach agreement with the Palestinians on a “declaration of principles” for peace by the end of the year, but not on a detailed peace treaty.

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The Us Helps Itself By Helping Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Samir Abdullah - February 12, 2008 - 7:13pm

In his final State of the Union address, US President George W. Bush said he believed that a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal would be a reality by the end of his term. Despite the optimism that his remarks generated in the Palestinian government, the goal of reaching a Palestinian-Israeli agreement by the end of 2008 - which Bush set at the Annapolis summit last year and again during his visit to Ramallah last month - remains subject to question, and this is a matter that merits immediate attention.

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February 11th

An opinion by Samir Abdullah in the Daily Star contends that salvaging the two state solution could be President Bush’s greatest legacy, (1) while Steve Erlanger reports in the New York Times that Israeli vice prime minister Ramon sees no peace deal by year end (2). The Associated Press reports on Prime Minister Fayyad’s remarks to ATFP at the National Press Club (4). A New Republic opinion by Dennis Ross discusses the role the US can play in the current Gaza situation (5). Gershon Baskin wonders why we are not hearing about updates to the peace negotiations in a Jerusalem Post opinion (6).

Hamas Leaders Go Into Hiding As Israel Plans Targeted Killings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Barak Ravid, And Avi Issacharoff, Haar And News Agencies - February 11, 2008 - 9:42pm

Leaders of the ruling Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip have scaled back their public appearances and stepped up other security measures, fearing Israeli assassination attempts in response to a wave of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, Hamas officials said Monday. The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security service are preparing to step up assassinations against key Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip in response to the continued Qassam rocket attacks against Sderot.

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Palestinians Still Reject Hamas Actions In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Angus Reid Global Monitor
February 11, 2008 - 9:39pm

The vast majority of Palestinians continue to think negatively of Hamas’ forceful takeover of the Gaza Strip last year, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. 72 per cent of respondents oppose the group’s actions, down two points since December.

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Rice To Mideast Next Week To Push Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 11, 2008 - 9:37pm

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next week to push peace talks stalled amid escalating violence, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. Rice "will visit us within the coming days and she will try to push the negotiations," Ahmed Qorei, the former prime minister heading the Palestinian team in the revived Middle East peace talks, told journalists.

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Israel Mourns Holocaust Survivor Lantos
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times
February 11, 2008 - 9:33pm

Israel on Monday hailed the late US congressman Tom Lantos, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who played a key role in rallying US support for the Jewish state. Israel "expresses great sorrow" over the loss of the 80-year-old Lantos, who died earlier the same day from cancer of the esophagus, the foreign ministry said. Lantos "was a leader in promoting Israeli-US ties in Congress. His commitment to human rights and the commemoration of the Holocaust were the pillars of his public work," it said.

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Olmert\'s Career Barely Surviving
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 11, 2008 - 9:32pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert\'s political career has managed, by the skin of its teeth, to survive the recent Winograd Report, which lambasted the Israeli government and the Israeli military\'s handling of the second Lebanon War in 2006. However, if the bereaved parents of the Israeli soldiers who died and the reservists who survived the war have anything to do with it, Olmert will soon be history.

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Analysis: Is Gaza Blockade A Legitimate Tool Of War?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Robbie Sabel - (Opinion) February 11, 2008 - 9:30pm

The British foreign secretary issued a carefully crafted statement this Friday expressing "concern" at reports that Israel had reduced electricity supplies to Gaza and called on Israel to "reverse its decision" and to "fulfill its obligations under international law." The statement also "condemned" the suicide attack in Dimona and called upon the Palestinians to stop rocket attacks against "innocent civilians."

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Hamas: Don't Rule Out More Border Breaches
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
February 11, 2008 - 9:28pm

"Don't rule out the possibility of hoards of Palestinians bursting through the borders of Israel and Jordan just like they did at the Rafah border crossing into Egypt," Hamas's deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk warned on Saturday. In an interview with Qatari newspaper Ayam, Marzouk said that Hamas would carry out suicide bombings "as required," and insisted that Israel could not break the spirit of the Palestinian people.

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