November 5th, 2007

The Christian Science Monitor examines Israeli and Palestinian reaction to recent reports concerning Israel's willingness to negotiate the issue of Jerusalem (1.) The Jewish Telegraphic Agency analyzes how the Annapolis meeting is shaping up to have ramifications far beyond Israeli-Palestinian peace (4.) In the National Interest, president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Lee Hamilton lays out in detail his vision for an engaged, realistic and productive U.S. foreign policy (6.) The Independent (UK) looks at how politics and shady real estate sales to extremist Jewish groups factor into the struggle within the Greek Orthodox church over its Jerusalem patriarchate (8.) Le Monde Diplomatique (France) identifies five challenges facing the Annapolis meeting (9.) In BitterLemons (Israel/Palestine) former Palestinian minister of planning Ghassan Khatib explores the range of Arab countries' attitudes towards the Annapolis meeting (10.) Asharq Alawsat (pan Arab) takes a close look at the latest developments on the internal Palestinian political scene (12.) In his Haaretz (Israel) blog, Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner examines the debate over the role American Jews should play in Israeli politics (13.)

Olmert: Core Issues Are On The Annapolis Agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - November 5, 2007 - 2:40pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took the stage at the Saban Forum on Sunday evening in Jerusalem, and delivered an impassioned speech promising to seriously pursue current Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, saying that "all the fundamental questions and substantial problems will be on the table at Annapolis."

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No Exceptions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) November 5, 2007 - 2:38pm

How can a country, which according to endless foreign reports has kept secret for years several atomic weapons, manage to rally the international community in a struggle against a neighboring country that insists on acquiring nuclear energy? What do Israeli politicians answer to those asking why Iran should not be allowed to acquire the same armaments that are already in the arsenals of neighboring countries, like Pakistan and India?

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Rice's Visit Won't Bring Change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Editorial) November 5, 2007 - 2:37pm

As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins yet another visit to the region, the purposefulness of such visits comes into serious question. Tackling the differences between the Palestinians and the Israelis is something that could be done only by addressing the real issue.

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New Palestinian Police Force Makes Tense Debut In West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - November 5, 2007 - 2:36pm

camp excitedly mobbed the armed, olive-uniformed officers from the second special brigade of the National Security force, deployed with their soft-top Jeeps across the road for the first time. They crowded round the blue and white patrol car driven by Major Eyad Shteyer, the city's deputy police chief, thrusting their hands through an open window in friendly greeting.

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Jerusalem Diary: Monday 5 November
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Tim Franks - November 5, 2007 - 2:32pm

DIRECTING THE POLICE DIRECTING THE TRAFFIC There may not be many well-paid jobs in the occupied territories. But there are plenty of policemen and security officers. They were on the streets of Nablus in the West Bank the other day, waving furiously at the traffic. They were trying to ensure that the path was clear for Gen Keith Dayton, the US point man in the region, whose job is to help knock the Palestinian security forces into better shape.

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Fatah Targets Mosques In Latest Anti-hamas Campaign
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory Mccarthy - November 5, 2007 - 2:30pm

The Palestinian Fatah-led government has mounted a crackdown on preachers from the rival Hamas movement, arresting or sacking clerics accused of spreading political dissent. The Fatah campaign, which is being enforced across the West Bank, is a reaction to the violent Hamas takeover of Gaza in June and marks a widening divide between the two factions and territories.

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Rice Expects Little From Mideast Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Ashraf Khalil - November 5, 2007 - 2:28pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to Israel on Sunday for the third time in six weeks, seeking to nudge the Israeli and Palestinian sides before an upcoming U.S.-sponsored peace conference. But after a day of meetings with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Rice acknowledged that her two-day visit was unlikely to get the two sides to agree on the joint pre-conference statement of goals that the U.S. has sought.

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Rice Seeks Mideast Peace Deal While Bush In Office
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Sue Pleming - November 5, 2007 - 2:27pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Monday in voicing hope they could reach a peace agreement before President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009. But wrapping up two days of talks in the region, she again gave no date for a U.S.-led conference which all parties have said would serve as a launching pad for statehood negotiations. Rice said only that the meeting, in Annapolis, Maryland, would take place "before the end of the year."

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Restive Nablus Challenges Fatah's Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - November 5, 2007 - 2:25pm

Over the course of the second Palestinian intifada, this city became the West Bank's capital for car thefts, kidnappings, and suicide bombers. Now, with 300 security officers from the Palestinian Authority (PA) freshly deployed around Nablus, the city has become a testing ground for an embattled Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

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