December 28th

Soft Drink Fizz Goes Flat In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tim Mcgirk - December 28, 2007 - 4:25pm Every closed factory has its own kind of unbearable silence. The Yazegi Group's soft-drink plant in Gaza, with its maze of metal tubes and conveyor belts all switched off, has the hush of a futuristic mausoleum. Marketing manager Ammar Yazegi pauses beside empty 7Up bottles stacked in perfect emerald-green cubes up to the rafters and says, "I miss the music of the machines and workers. It's a beautiful noise. This silence drives me crazy." » Read more

Gop Leader Calls For Revisions To Fatah Movement’s Outdated Charter ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - December 28, 2007 - 4:23pm A push by right-wing American Jewish activists to change the constitution of the governing Palestinian party is gaining momentum in Congress, even as Israelis are dismissing the document as “irrelevant,” and the umbrella body of American Jewish organizations has voted against taking up the issue. » Read more

Israeli And Palestinian Leaders Meet To Ease Tensions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Steven Erlanger - December 28, 2007 - 4:19pm The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, met here on Thursday to try to dispel the tensions of recent days, and they recommitted themselves to refrain from acts that would prejudice a final peace treaty while they try to negotiate one, officials from both sides said. » Read more

Olmert Seeks To Tighten Grip On West Bank Building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ari Rabinovitch - December 28, 2007 - 4:15pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered the Housing Ministry not to unilaterally issue any additional building permits on occupied land in the West Bank, Israeli officials said on Friday. Olmert was caught off guard by a series of Housing Ministry announcements on settlements that have opened a rift in month-old peace talks with the Palestinians, the officials said on condition of anonymity. » Read more

The Right To Explode In Anger ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - December 28, 2007 - 4:01pm The negotiations over the future of our land, from the sea to the river, and the two peoples living in it, are proceeding along two parallel channels. It has been that way since the Madrid and Oslo talks for 17 years now. One channel is between the Palestinians and Israelis - such as Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. The other is being conducted between the Israelis and themselves. Will the only genuine point of contact between these two channels be another explosion of blood, as occurred in 1996 and 2000? » Read more

Declaration Of Fatigue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yonatan Yavin - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 3:59pm Many decades from now, when Palestinians and Israelis, Jews and Arabs, will be living side by side, our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be comforting each other over their fathers’ folly and stubbornness. When the cursed regional “situation” will stabilize, and a Jew will sit down for coffee with his Arab neighbor, both of them will rub their eyes with amazement and ask: What was the commotion all about? » Read more

Settlements Have To Go ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah by Joharah Baker - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 3:56pm Unsurprisingly, the newly resumed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled yet again, this time over the highly-charged issue of Israeli settlements, which despite past commitments, Israel has continued to expand. On December 24, the two sides met for the second time since the Annapolis peace conference in November, but came out of the meeting empty handed, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat describing the meeting as “very difficult.” » Read more

Negotiating Solutions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) December 28, 2007 - 3:54pm It is fine that the Palestinian delegation to the bilateral negotiations with Israel should refuse to negotiate anything other than a freeze on settlement building. It is a shame that the Palestinian side should have granted Israel the diplomatic victory of Annapolis before such a principled stand could be reached. » Read more

Israel Needs To Act Like A Partner, Not A Policeman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) December 28, 2007 - 3:52pm Israel's accusation that Egypt is not doing enough to control its border with Gaza and stem the flow of weapons into the Hamas-controlled territory is nothing short of absurd. The suggestion that Egypt is secretly colluding with Hamas in Gaza is laughable, not least of all because of the long-standing animosity between the Egyptian regime and Islamists. » Read more

Palestinian Gas Project "is Wrecked By Israel" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph by Tim Butcher - December 28, 2007 - 3:51pm An offshore gas project in the Mediterranean, which could have earned desperately needed revenue for the Palestinian economy, is in ruins after negotiations to sell the fuel to Israel collapsed. Industry sources blamed Israel for the failure of negotiations with the British multinational BG Group after the Jewish state repeatedly reduced its offer price for the gas. "This meant that from the off the project would struggle to be economic," one source told The Daily Telegraph. » Read more