Ex-us Officals: Divide Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press October 4, 2007 - 3:02pm Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington. Hamas, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met US terms » Read more

Jnf's Blatant Hypocrisy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Dror Etkes - (Opinion) October 4, 2007 - 2:59pm It appears that the High Court discussion over the insistence of the Jewish National Fund, which controls about 13 percent of land in Israel, on its right to continue its policy of refraining from leasing out land to Arabs will soon reach the final stretch. JNF's claims in response to the petition of Arab citizens, who it refuses to lease out land to, is that the land it owns is not national land, but rather, assets that were bought for their full price for Jews only, and therefore the JNF has the right to refuse to lease them out to non-Jews. » Read more

‘in The Interest Of Peace’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Samir Barhoum - (Editorial) October 4, 2007 - 2:53pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unfortunately seem to have very different ideas about what the proposed November meeting in the US on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is about. Abbas wants that meeting to lead to the signing of a peace agreement in six months. Olmert, on the other hand, wants yet another process and is keen to emphasise, as he did yesterday, that the Annapolis meeting is “not a peace conference”. » Read more

No End To The Invective ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - October 4, 2007 - 2:51pm It should be stressed, time and again, that the galloping anti-American feeling in the Middle East, if not elsewhere, stems not from the attitude towards the American people or their culture but the short-sighted policies of most US administrations in recent decades towards that region. Furthermore, the actions of a few Americans, whether academicians or media representatives, be they reporters or commentators, that are often mediocre, self-serving or shallow add oil to the fire. » Read more

Nablus' Online Link To The World ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Clare Simon - October 4, 2007 - 2:49pm This is a tale of two cities. The first is Nablus in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territories, a city of picturesque ancient buildings and winding alleyways - and fierce resistance to the Israeli presence. The second is virtual Nablus - a city of monitors, keyboards and cables where the residents of Nablus can experience a freedom they do not enjoy in real life. » Read more

Palestinians Divided Over Future Under Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald Macintyre - October 4, 2007 - 2:48pm Asked a routine question about the 2006 Palestinian elections yesterday, Khaled abu Ahmed slipped off his sandal and used it to beat his head several times to demonstrate his remorse for voting Hamas. "We wanted change and reform," he said. "We thought they would bring prosperity. We thought they were people who knew God. But, believe me, they don't know God." » Read more

Politics: Mideast Meet Has Ambiguous Agenda ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Khody Akhavi - October 4, 2007 - 2:47pm As the George W. Bush administration prepares to host its much-publicised Middle East conference, Israeli experts gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday to discuss whether Washington's latest diplomatic attempts would pave the way for a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process. But with less than two months before the November meeting, which is to be held in Annapolis, the sentiment was anything but hopeful. » Read more

The Groups Who Cried Anti-semitism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by John B. Judis - October 4, 2007 - 2:45pm Virginia Representative Jim Moran is no stranger to controversy. And he now finds himself in midst of another one--over what he said about Jews, Iraq, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in an interview in the September-October issue of Tikkun magazine. Moran's statements have been denounced as anti-Semitic by the officials of Jewish political and religious organizations and by members of Congress. These critics see Moran's statements as part of a wave of anti-Semitism--of which Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer's book The Israel Lobby and U.S. » Read more

Mideast Negotiating Teams Get Orders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Bourdreaux - October 4, 2007 - 2:44pm The Israeli and Palestinian leaders brought their negotiating teams together for the first time Wednesday and instructed them to start work next week on a joint declaration that would pave the way for full-scale peace talks. The two-hour meeting at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's residence did not delve into the core issues of the decades-old conflict. That task was handed to the negotiators, who have just weeks to draft a document to serve as the agenda for a peace conference called by President Bush. » Read more

Fatah Fights To Keep Hamas Out Of Mosques ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Joshua Mitnick - October 4, 2007 - 2:42pm He has been charged with no less a mission than ridding the local branch of the Palestinian religious authority of Hamas’s influence. But when a reporter arrives in his office, Hassan Hilali goes stiff. “I am only a simple man,” he apologizes, while dialing a superior to get authorization to talk. “I’ve only been in the job for a month.” » Read more