October 25th

The Voice Of The Old Bush ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shmuel Rosner - October 25, 2007 - 11:37am Three days before he announced that he was dropping out of the presidential race, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition, and succinctly summed up his opinion on the Bush administration's moves toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "It's time we looked at other ideas." » Read more

Policy In No-man's-land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - October 25, 2007 - 11:35am Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to Europe this week once again illustrated that the "peace process" is the most convenient diplomatic situation for Israel. Conducting high-level talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; Israel's willingness to discuss the principles for ending the conflict; and gestures such as the release of prisoners are in themselves sufficient to remove international pressure on Israel to withdraw from the territories and to end the occupation. » Read more

Breaking The Taboo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News (Special Report) October 25, 2007 - 11:34am The general feeling in Washington is that most Americans - there are over 300 million Americans - are not knowledgeable about world affairs, certainly the Middle East, and especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In small part, this explains the lopsided US policy towards the region and, in greater part, exposes the failure of Arab governments and to some extent the Arab-American community in meeting this challenge. » Read more

Images That Shock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian (Special Report) October 25, 2007 - 11:33am Occasionally the mask slips and unpalatable truths emerge. The Guardian has filmed rare scenes inside Hamas-controlled Gaza which the various players in the unfolding tragedy of the Middle East would rather we did not see - Hamas beating up Fatah dissenters, Palestinian doctors forced by their Fatah paymasters to go on strike or forfeit their salaries, the militants who log on to Google Earth to search for Israeli targets for their Qassam rockets. The images, now on the Guardian's website, affront our concept of right and wrong, but they serve our understanding of what is going on. » Read more

Israeli Seeks Hamas Participation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News October 25, 2007 - 11:32am An Israeli minister has called on his government to invite "moderate" members from the Palestinian movement Hamas to an upcoming Middle East conference. Minister without portfolio Ami Ayalon said any invitation would be conditional on Hamas members fully recognising Israel right to exist. Mr Ayalon said that Israel should be talking to moderates regardless of their political stripes. The conference is planned for late November in Annapolis in the US. » Read more

Don’t Rush Mideast Talks, Experts Urge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - October 25, 2007 - 11:31am Skepticism was the name of the game as leading Middle East analysts and policymakers gathered last weekend and discussed the prospects for an upcoming Middle East peace conference. Diplomats, administration officials and regional experts all seemed to agree that the task facing the American-led conference is nearly impossible if peace between Israelis and Palestinians is the goal. Among the impediments mentioned were the lack of time for ironing out differences before the summit, significant gaps in expectations and a lack of commitment on behalf of the Bush administration. » Read more

Israel Moves To Further Isolate Gazans ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - October 25, 2007 - 11:30am Ratcheting up pressure on Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel prepared to cut electricity supplies to Gazans in retaliation for an escalation in cross-border rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants. After declaring Gaza an "enemy entity" in September, Israel has kept Gaza's borders sealed save for humanitarian foodstuffs and medicines. The policy has triggered dramatic inflation, shuttered businesses, and spurred demand for black-market goods smuggled through tunnels that were once used by gun runners and drug dealers. » Read more

Israel Works On Plan To Cut Power Supplies To Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - October 25, 2007 - 11:29am Israeli officials prepared a plan on Wednesday to cut power supplies to the Gaza Strip amid rising violence that killed two Palestinian boys after a rocket salvo damaged an apartment building in the Jewish state. We plan to dramatically reduce the two-thirds of power that is supplied by Israel, which will take several weeks," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio. » Read more

Hawkish Handlers Guide Giuliani On Foreign Policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Marc Santora, Micheal Cooper - October 25, 2007 - 11:27am Rudolph Giuliani's approach to foreign policy shares with other Republican presidential candidates an aggressive posture toward terrorism, a commitment to strengthening the military and disdain for the United Nations. But in developing his views, Giuliani is consulting with, among others, a particularly hawkish group of advisers and neoconservative thinkers. Their positions have been criticized by Democrats as irresponsible and applauded by some conservatives as appropriately tough, while raising questions about how closely aligned Giuliani's thinking is with theirs. » Read more

Rice: Mideast Peace Plan In Jeopardy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Anne Flaherty - October 25, 2007 - 11:21am Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that a "two-state solution" in the Middle East was in jeopardy and described a narrow window of opportunity to push Israel and the Palestinians toward peace. In a House hearing interrupted by anti-war protesters, Rice said an upcoming peace conference in Annapolis, Md., is needed to give hope to moderate Palestinian forces. She blamed Iran for fanning flames in the region, including what she called "troubling" new support for Hamas militants. » Read more