December 28th

Glimmers Of Mideast Peace Rise From Ashes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Star by Oakland Ross - December 28, 2007 - 3:47pm Where would the Middle East be without another war? No one knows, because every passing year seems to bring with it a new armed conflict, and 2007 was no exception, producing a brief but bloody outbreak of fraternal killing that has sharply divided some 3 million Palestinian people, while plunging the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip into even greater depths of misery. Paradoxically, however, the five-day shootout that splintered Palestinians this past June also ignited the first glimmers of peace this region has known in seven years. » Read more

A West Bank Struggle Rooted In Land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Bourdreaux - December 28, 2007 - 3:25pm From his hilltop farm, Daoud Nassar can see the sun rise over the Jordan Valley and set in the Mediterranean, an arc that spans the territorial breadth of his people's conflict with Israel. He also can see the neighbors whose rival claim has drawn the idyllic 100-acre plot deeply into that fight. The only large Palestinian property to occupy high ground in this part of the West Bank, it is ringed by expanding Jewish settlements and coveted by the one perched on the nearest hill, 800 yards away. » Read more

If I Forget Thee...’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) December 28, 2007 - 3:23pm It always happens when Israel approaches a peace agreement with the Palestinians: Noisy voices of protest arise within the American Jewish community, arguing that Israel misjudges the Palestinians, doesn’t understand the terrain, doesn’t understand the Middle East as well as rabbis in Brooklyn or lawyers and electronics salesmen in Philadelphia. So it is today. » Read more

Middle East Bog ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post (Editorial) December 28, 2007 - 3:20pm IT'S BEEN one month since Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Annapolis to launch the first Middle East peace negotiations in seven years. When they meet again today, they will have cause to reflect on how much can go wrong when the world's most notoriously difficult "peace process" is taken over by official negotiators, government bureaucrats and military commanders. Far from beginning to hammer out the two-state settlement that Mr. Olmert and Mr. » Read more

Beware Of Barak ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Antiwar (Editorial) December 28, 2007 - 3:18pm Israeli "Defense" Minister Ehud Barak is definitely the most dangerous politician in the Middle East. Ahmadinejad can only dream of having the powers – political and military, conventional and non-conventional – that Barak already possesses. Netanyahu and other far-right Israeli politicians say what they think and are earmarked as extremists, so they are under permanent scrutiny. Barak is more extreme than Netanyahu, but he's an extremist in disguise. » Read more

Israel's Olmert Balks At Full Settlement Halt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - December 28, 2007 - 3:15pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked on Thursday at committing to a total freeze in settlement activity, a key demand of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for advancing U.S.-backed peace talks. But the leaders agreed during their two-hour meeting to press ahead with negotiations that have been paralyzed since Israel announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in an area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim. » Read more

Abbas, Olmert Put Aside Settlement Fight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Josef Federman - December 28, 2007 - 3:12pm Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Thursday to put aside a dispute over Israeli construction in a Jerusalem neighborhood and get down to work on a final peace agreement, according to participants at the meeting. The two-hour meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appeared to break an impasse that has clouded renewed peacemaking, and cleared the way for a visit by President Bush next month. It was the first summit between the two leaders since they relaunched peace talks at a U.S.-hosted meeting last month. » Read more

Middle East Censors Seek To Limit Web Access ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News by Hannah Allam - December 28, 2007 - 3:11pm In Iran, a large red icon pops up on computer screens. In Syria, there's a discreet note from the filter. Other Arab nations display "blocked" in bold lettering or issue crafty "page not found" replies. However the censors put it, the message is clear: You're not permitted to see this Web site. » Read more

Mideast Talks Already Tangled A Month After Annapolis Summit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - December 28, 2007 - 3:08pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are set to meet Thursday amid rising tensions over whether the promises of peace they made a month ago in Annapolis, Md., can be fulfilled. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have quickly met a variety of roadblocks in the process they had pledged to relaunch last month at the summit under US auspices, buoyed by the attendance of other Middle East players. » Read more

Har Homa Crisis / Waiting For Bush ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - December 28, 2007 - 2:45pm Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow in an attempt to solve the so-called settlement crisis that has plagued negotiations since the Annapolis summit late last month. The Palestinians are upset over a tender by the Housing Ministry for the construction of 307 housing units in the southeast Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, on the Palestinian side of the Green Line. » Read more