October 23rd

Obama peace quest flounders in Mideast quicksand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alistair Lyon - (Analysis) October 23, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama's high-priority Middle East peace drive has run into predictable quicksands, even as other foreign policy challenges in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and beyond clamour for his attention. Israel has rebuffed Obama's request for a complete freeze on settlement construction, while Arab states, whose own peace offer has gathered dust since 2002, have brushed off his calls for goodwill gestures toward the Jewish state.

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Mitchell: Mideast talks effort isn't a failure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Glenn Adams - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama's Mideast envoy George Mitchell said Thursday it's too soon to brand his efforts to resume peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders a failure. The former Senate leader recalled being asked "hundreds of times" while negotiating for years in Northern Ireland when he was going home because the talks there were considered a failure. He finally brokered the Good Friday peace accords in 1999.

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Clinton gives Obama Mideast progress report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was at the White House giving President Barack Obama a report on efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks this afternoon. But despite near constant diplomatic effort underway in recent months, and some progress achieved, success in getting peace talks even relaunche still eludes the Obama administration, a White House readout of Clinton's oral briefing suggests.

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More concrete steps for rescuing Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) October 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Whenever we Arabs talk about rescuing Palestinians and Palestine, we always think of it in terms of settling the Arab-Israeli conflict. And this is correct, for peace is the utlimate guarantee for the safety and security of people (both Arab and Israeli) and for territorial integrity. But what happens when peace does not materialise, as the case is now? What should be done?

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Mideast Gain Is Modest, Clinton Tells President
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

On Sept. 22, President Obama summoned the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to an urgent three-way meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and declared, “It is past time to talk about starting negotiations; it is time to move forward.” To that end, he asked both sides to send diplomats to Washington for intensive talks and directed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to report back to him in a month about where things stood.

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Judge Goldstone’s wisdom
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) October 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The Goldstone report on the Israel war in Gaza that was released by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) late last month generated a brief flash of publicity because it criticised Israel and Hamas for conduct in the war that could be classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The deeper and wider implications of the report, however, have not been sufficiently discussed or acted upon, which is a shame.

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Gaza Report Author Asks U.S. to Clarify Concerns
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Sharon Otterman - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Richard Goldstone, the lead author of a United Nations report that found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas during last winter’s Gaza war, challenged the Obama administration in an interview broadcast Thursday to explain what it has called serious concerns about his report.

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October 22nd

A new poll of Palestinian public opinion finds strong support for Fatah, Pres. Abbas, Prime Minister Fayyad, new elections and the West Bank police. Israel launches another attack on Gaza smuggling tunnels, but the border area has become a shopping hub. US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice says that Israel must do more than pay "lip service" to the peace process. Egypt continues to press Hamas to sign a national reconciliation agreement, with the PA vowing to call new elections. The Independent profiles the plight of Palestinian refugees in Arab states. The Forward examines Robert Wexler's surprise move from Congress to the think-tank world. In the Daily Star, Ghassan Rubeiz highlights innovations in Arab and Jewish American activism being pioneered by J Street and ATFP.

Gaza students stuck in Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Yaheli Moran Zelikovich - October 21, 2009 - 12:00am

With the 2009-2010 academic year under way, 838 Palestinian university students are still waiting for the authorization that will enable them to leave the Gaza Strip in favor of overseas universities. According to Gisha the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, the students cannot leave the Strip due to the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

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J Street and the ATFP are norm breakers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ghassan Rubeiz - (Opinion) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

In “Transforming America’s Israeli Lobby,” Dan Fleshler argues that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is not helping Israel’s long-term interests and it is not properly reflecting the progressive sentiments of the American Jewish community. Fleshler explains the complexity of the Jewish lobby in America and urges congress to listen to all shades of Jewish opinion, not only to AIPAC.

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