December 17th

Sealed Off By Israel, Gaza Reduced To Beggary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - December 17, 2007 - 1:16pm

The batteries are the size of a button on a man's shirt, small silvery dots that power hearing aids for several hundred Palestinian students taught by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City. Now the batteries, marketed by Radio Shack, are all but used up. The few that are left are losing power, turning voices into unintelligible echoes in the ears of Hala Abu Saif's 20 first-grade students.

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December 16th

The Washington Post reports from Gaza on the increasing humanitarian toll borne by its civilian residents due to the blockade of the territory (1.) Salon sheds light on the new coalition of the religious right-wing aiming to prevent any return of sharing of Jerusalem with the Palestinians as part of a future peace settlement (3.) The Independent (UK) looks at Saudi reluctance to commit budgetary support to the Abbas/Fayyad government (5.) The Telegraph (UK) reports on statements by Palestinian president Abbas at the Paris donor conference warning of the consequences of insufficient financial support for the Palestinians (7.) An Arab News (Saudi Arabia) opinion by Jonathan Power examines Israel's excessive reliance on military power in the face of an Arab world not posing such a threat (8.) In Miftah, Caelum Moffatt analyzes the challenges facing both the two and one state solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (10.) A Haaretz (Israel) editorial sees the establishment of a Palestinian unity government as the only way to end militant rocket fire into Israel from Gaza (11.) Also in Haaretz is an examination of how the issue of removal of Israeli roadblocks in the occupied West Bank will feature prominently in today's Paris donor conference (13.)

December 13th

On America's Strength And Weakness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Avineri - December 13, 2007 - 1:07pm

All that the participants in the Annapolis conference agreed upon was to begin negotiations on several parallel channels. It is clear the results will depend, to a large extent, on the United States' ability to navigate these moves. In this context, it is worth trying to recall where in the past the U.S. was successful in its diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, and where it failed. From the point of view of processes and events from past decades, the U.S. is successful in the Middle East if one of two scenarios is in place. When lacking, the U.S. fails.

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World Bank: Pa Economy Depends On Mobility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - December 13, 2007 - 1:06pm

A report released today by the World Bank warns that even if the donor countries meet all of the PA's demands for aid, the Palestinian economy will continue to deteriorate if Israel does not alter mobility and trade restrictions in the West Bank. The dire message comes ahead of the Pledging Conference to the Palestinian Authority next Monday in Paris.

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No Peace Without Justice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
December 13, 2007 - 1:05pm

Negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis started yesterday under a cloud. Understandably, both sides preferred to keep their talks as low-key as possibly, choosing a secret location in Jerusalem rather than, as expected, the King David Hotel [where Jewish terrorists once killed British soldiers]. One suspects that this decision came at the behest of the Palestinian team who could hardly afford to be seen grinning and backslapping at that place while Palestinians were being killed in Gaza and yet more land is set to be confiscated in the West Bank.

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How They Stole The Bomb
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - December 13, 2007 - 1:04pm

It was like an atom bomb falling on Israel. The earth shook. Our political and military leaders were all in shock. The headlines screamed with rage. What happened? A real catastrophe: the American intelligence community, comprising 16 different agencies, reached a unanimous verdict: already in 2003, the Iranians terminated their efforts to produce a nuclear bomb, and they have not resumed them since. Even if they change their mind in the future, they will need at least five years to achieve their aim.

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New Media Dodge Mid-east Censors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Robin Lustig - (Special Report) December 13, 2007 - 1:03pm

It's never easy writing about media freedom. Even in countries where there is no official censorship, all reporters know there will always be some restraints on what they can say - editors need to be persuaded, owners need to be kept happy, the law has to be obeyed.

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Angry Start To Palestinian Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - December 13, 2007 - 1:02pm

The first formal Israeli Palestinian negotiating process for seven years made an acrimonious start yesterday in the shadow of plans for new Jewish housing in Arab East Jerusalem and the threat of military escalation in Gaza. Palestinian negotiators used the first session since the international Middle East conference in Annapolis to express their outrage over plans for an expansion of the settlement of Har Homa - already criticised by the US, EU and UK government.

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Thanks, But No Thanks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Samih Khalidi - (Commentary) December 13, 2007 - 1:01pm

The Palestinian state has now become the universal standard for all solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The international community applauds the concept. President Bush proudly proclaims it as his "vision". The Israelis have come to it belatedly, after years of steadfast refusal and rejection.

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Politics: U.s. Jews Tilt Rightwards On Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jim Lobe - December 13, 2007 - 12:59pm

U.S. Jews appear to have become more opposed both to Israel's making key concessions in renewed peace talks with Palestinians and to the U.S. carrying out a military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities, according to the latest in an annual series of surveys of Jewish opinion released here this week by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

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