November 10th

Gaza shut to fuel and journalists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Aleem Maqbool - November 9, 2008 - 8:00pm Over the last six days, Israel has all but closed its crossings with the Gaza Strip. No fuel (paid for by foreign donors) has been allowed into Gaza for its power station, no food has been allowed in for the United Nations' aid distribution centres on which most Gazans rely. No journalists are being allowed into Gaza to cover the story. The one crossing through which people can get into Gaza, if they have Israeli permission, is at the northern tip of the territory, at Erez. » Read more

'America's Role Is Central' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Der Spiegel November 9, 2008 - 8:00pm SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Minister, what do you think of the vote that America has cast? Moallem: I am happy about the result of the American election and I congratulate President-elect Barack Obama. I hope that he will help us make a dream come true: a Middle East of peace, of stability and prosperity. There is no way around it: To achieve this, America’s role is central. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Syria is a neighbor of Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories -- and it is Iran's best friend. Which Middle East conflict would you like to see Obama tackle first? » Read more

Secretary Rice fights peace-process inertia ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - November 9, 2008 - 8:00pm Inertia, history shows, can be a dangerous thing in the Middle East. It leaves room for radicals and rockets to reset the agenda. That's why US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – and members of The Quartet – were in Egypt Sunday: To keep the peace train running, or at least to keep its engine warm. "I believe that the Annapolis process is now the international community's answer and the parties' answer to how we finally end the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Rice told reporters afterward. » Read more

Rice Visits West Bank City; U.S. Announces Aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 7, 2008 - 8:00pm In the first visit by an American secretary of state to the city of Jenin, a once-infamous hub of Palestinian militancy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to strike a positive chord at the close of what will probably be her last official trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Ms. Rice has acknowledged that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is unlikely to achieve its goal of an agreement by the end of the year and has devoted this trip to other aspects of the process, chiefly the building of reliable Palestinian institutions in preparation for a state. » Read more

One state definitely not an option ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - August 17, 2008 - 8:00pm On both sides of the green line and, indeed, wherever people think about solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a lot of old/new thinking is taking place. Old, because there is really nothing new under the sun when it comes to solutions for Israelis and Palestinians. But new, because after 15 years of concentrated and largely fruitless efforts to solve the conflict with a negotiated two-state solution, we now encounter more and more discussion of alternatives. » Read more

The only alternative to two states is conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - August 17, 2008 - 8:00pm With Palestinians facing greater and greater difficulties in their struggle to achieve an independent state in the territories occupied by Israel in the war of 1967, a serious debate has been sparked over the viability of the two-state solution. » Read more

Israel to free prisoners in gesture to Abbas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times August 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel confirmed on Sunday it would release 200 of some 11,000 Palestinians it holds prisoners in the hope of shoring up support for President Mahmoud Abbas and the peace talks he is conducting with the Jewish state. "The idea is to strengthen the process of dialogue, to strengthen the hand of the moderates, to strengthen the peace process," a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said before the Cabinet agreed to his proposal to free about 200 people. » Read more

Qatar to mediate between Hamas, Fatah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) August 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Qatar has entered the mediation efforts between rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas in a new bid to achieve reconciliation between the two sides, Palestinian sources said on Saturday. "Qatar, as a state of strategic weight in the region, seeks to sponsor the mediation between Hamas and Fatah to end the internal split and reunite the two wings of Palestine," the sources said. » Read more

Rice set for another Mideast visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 17, 2008 - 8:00pm U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week in another attempt to achieve progress towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, officials said on Monday. The United States has said it hopes to conclude a framework peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. But the talks have stumbled over disputes over Israeli settlement building and the future of Jerusalem. » Read more

Hamas meets Jordanian official, says frozen ties starting to thaw ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 14, 2008 - 8:00pm Officials from Hamas have met with a top Jordanian security official to try to patch up ties soured since 2006 by charges that the Islamist Palestinian group was planning to carry out attacks in Jordan. Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh said on Friday that the contacts, involving two Hamas officials and Jordan's intelligence chief, Mohammed al-Thahabi, could help reconcile Hamas with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah faction. » Read more