January 15th

Bush Seeks Saudi Support For Fragile Middle East Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - January 15, 2008 - 5:55pm

President George Bush was last night working to persuade Saudi Arabia to maintain its support for a revived, but fragile, Israeli-Palestinian peace process and to confront Iran across the Middle East. Arriving in Riyadh on the penultimate stage of his regional tour, Bush went into talks with King Abdullah as the administration prepared to notify Congress of a $20bn (£10.2bn) arms package for the Saudis - satellite-guided weaponry and other high-tech munitions - highlighting the oil-rich kingdom's privileged relationship with Washington.

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Bush Changes Tone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
(Editorial) January 15, 2008 - 5:54pm

President George W. Bush is coming to the end of his first extensive trip to the Middle East. The journey has crystallised the recent adjustment in US policy in the region. Until some months ago, Mr Bush was marked by his belligerent neo-conservatism, hollering for dem­ocracy to take root in Arab states while refraining from pushing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. His approach has changed – but doubts persist over what he can achieve in his final year.

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Maria Appakova
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times
January 15, 2008 - 5:52pm

After his talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah, U.S. President George W. Bush said that an Arab-Israeli peace agreement would be reached by the end of the year. He was less optimistic of a settlement within Palestine; and he was unsure that the Palestinian president would be able to resolve the problem anytime soon.

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Gaza's Christian Population Wanes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from World Peace Herald
by Erica Silverman - January 15, 2008 - 5:42pm

A small group of Palestinian Christians stands outside Gaza City's Baptist Church on a Sunday morning, waiting for the generator to power up. The church is cold and dark in the dead of winter, Israel having reduced fuel supplies to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas to halt rocket fire into Israel.

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Bush's Arab World Tour Is Significant For Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - January 15, 2008 - 5:40pm

With its focus on strengthening the moderate Arab coalition against Iran, President Bush’s tour of the Persian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and Egypt could prove extremely significant for Israel. From an Israeli perspective, the three key elements were isolating Iran, coaxing moderate Arab countries into moving toward normalization with Israel and getting oil-rich Arab states to honor their financial pledges to the Palestinians. Progress on all or some of these issues would significantly boost Israeli foreign policy goals.

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Threat To Cut U.s. Aid Opens Rift With Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - January 15, 2008 - 5:39pm

Pro-Israel advocates in Washington refrained from contesting a congressional decision last month to withhold part of American military aid to Egypt, in what appears to be a departure from a 30-year-old unwritten understanding that Israel would help Cairo fight off any efforts to cut American assistance to Egypt.

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Mideast Peace Talks Get Underway
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Bourdreaux - January 15, 2008 - 5:39pm

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began addressing the most difficult issues of their decades-old conflict Monday, keeping a promise to President Bush but putting Israel's coalition government under strain. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei emerged from a two-hour session at a Jerusalem hotel with little to say about what they had discussed. Israeli officials said the two lead negotiators planned to meet at least once a week.

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Olmert Is Cautious As Talks With Palestinians Begin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 15, 2008 - 5:38pm

Top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began talks on core issues on Monday, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel sought to lower expectations of reaching a final peace agreement within a year. “I’m not sure we can reach an agreement, and I’m not sure we can reach its implementation,” Mr. Olmert told Parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee on Monday, an official who had attended the meeting said.

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January 14th

The LA Times reports on how renewed Israeli-Palestinian final status negotiations are causing tensions within Israel's governing coalition (2.) The Jewish Telegraphic Agency gives an Israeli perspective on what significance the Bush Mideast visit has (4.) A Middle East Times opinion by Maria Appakova gauges the possibility of reaching a Mideast peace deal by the end of 2008, spurred on by President Bush's professed zeal in achieving this goal (6.) A Financial Times (UK) editorial stresses the importance for President Bush's wider Mideast foreign policy agenda in achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace (7.) Der Spiegel (Germany) examines the resonance of the Bush democracy agenda during his current Mideast visit (9.) A Daily Star (Lebanon) opinion by UK secretary of state for international development Douglas Alexander, published in collaboration with Common Ground News Service, stresses the importance of the international community's financial and political support for the Palestinians in order to capitalize on the momentum of Annapolis and the Paris donor conference (11.) An Arab News (Saudi Arabia ) editorial is critical of the Bush attempt to rally and Arab coalition against Iran as heavy on threats and light on diplomacy (13.) Haaretz (Israel) reports on clarification regarding U.S. opposition to both settlement 'natural growth' and expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank (14.) Also in Haaretz, an opinion by Amir Oren analyzes how Secretary Rice has prepared a team of U.S. officials to push for Israeli actions that yield positive results on the ground (15.)

Making Do With Foreplay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uzi Benziman - January 14, 2008 - 6:12pm

The new term in the Israeli diplomatic lexicon is "shelf agreement." President George W. Bush begged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to redouble their efforts to create the outline of a final-status agreement, and the two sounded as if they intended to carry out the task. The new effort's starting assumption is that even if the redeeming formulas are found and understandings are reached on all the controversial issues, an agreement will not be signed due to the political difficulties each leader faces.

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