December 3rd

Vol. 9, Issue 13 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now by Middle East Peace Report - (Special Report) December 3, 2007 - 4:17pm   » Read more

Gaza Traffic Grinds To Halt As Fuel Cuts Bite ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-mughrabi - December 3, 2007 - 4:15pm Traffic in the Gaza Strip slowed to a trickle on Monday and some medical centres scaled back treatment as Israeli import cuts hit fuel supplies in the Hamas-run territory. Many petrol stations in Gaza closed and most private cars and taxis and buses stayed off the streets. Gazans said they were avoiding unnecessary journeys and some were struggling with their daily commutes. » Read more

Bush Draws Skepticism With Hands-off Approach To Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter - December 3, 2007 - 4:13pm President Bush last week laid out an American role in the upcoming Mideast peace talks that challenges the accumulated wisdom of former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James A. Baker III and Presidents Carter and Clinton. But sticking to his plan, which calls for a carefully limited U.S. role, may be harder than the president thinks, say current and former diplomats who have wrestled with the issue. » Read more

No Alternative Destiny Less Complicated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - December 3, 2007 - 4:12pm In the aftermath of last week’s surprisingly upbeat Annapolis meeting, all the talk’s about a two-state solution. The unwary may suppose that as soon as the domestic problems within Israel and among the Palestinians are resolved, the movement toward such a solution will be quite rapid. » Read more

For Mideast Peace, Think Bigger ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Helena Cobban - December 3, 2007 - 4:11pm Four-and-a-half years after the invasion of Iraq, President Bush has launched another, equally high-stakes, gamble in the Middle East. This time, it is a gamble for peace, the one he started at the Nov. 27 conference in Annapolis, Md. If it succeeds, it could do much to restore calm and hope to a region long cloaked in turmoil and dread. (It could also help salvage Mr. Bush's longer-term legacy.) But what if it fails? » Read more

Evangelical Leaders Reiterate Call For Two-state Solution For Israel And Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christianity Today by David Neff - December 3, 2007 - 4:10pm This week the Bush State Department is devoting its full diplomatic efforts toward bringing a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Over the past few months, they have put on a full-court press to gather a broad representation of Arab world leaders to join Israeli and Palestinian negotiators for a historic meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to a program of sustained and focused negotiations throughout 2008. » Read more

Fuses In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) December 3, 2007 - 4:09pm Watching the handshakes and arm-clutches of Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas at the Annapolis meeting last week, and listening to their sometimes soaring rhetoric about a Middle East peace, it was easy to forget that Israel is at war with the winners of the last Palestinian general election, that rockets fired by Palestinians are detonating in southern Israel nearly every day and that 1.5 million people of the future Palestinian state are living under what amounts to an Israeli military siege. » Read more

An Old Face Resurfaces ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Newsweek by Michael Isikoff - December 3, 2007 - 4:08pm Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he's in line to return to public service. » Read more

Peace? Sure, I’ll See What I Can Do ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Sheryl Gay Stolberg - December 3, 2007 - 4:06pm “I’M only a phone call away,” President Bush told the Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week, after they set the ambitious goal of negotiating a peace treaty by the end of next year. But as they joined him in the White House Rose Garden before going their separate ways, Mr. Bush had a slightly different message for the pair. “I wish you all the best,” he said — a send-off that did not exactly give the impression he was eager to pick up the phone. » Read more

Hamas Casts Shadow Over Peace Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - December 3, 2007 - 4:04pm Hamas is casting a long shadow over Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Although weakened by harsh economic sanctions and feeling more isolated after last week's Mideast peace conference in the U.S., the Islamic militants retain a tight hold on Gaza and have the power to disrupt future negotiations with increasingly deadly rocket attacks on Israel. The Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. leaders haven't let on whether they'll confront, co-opt or try to ignore Hamas, while deepening divisions between ideologues and pragmatists make the group more unpredictable. » Read more