Religious Leaders Join In Support Of Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - November 14, 2007 - 12:47pm The highest ranking Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders from the Holy Land made a groundbreaking statement of support this week for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Muslim sheiks in charge of Jerusalem’s holy places met with Israel’s chief rabbis and with the leaders of the major Christian denominations to present a paper that not only recognized the need to end Israeli occupation but also committed all religious leaders to work together for peace in the region. » Read more

Tough Homecoming For Lebanon's Refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nicholas Blanford - November 14, 2007 - 12:46pm Abu Tawfiq stands in the soot-encrusted ruin of his home as cold rain blows in where an outside wall once stood. "This room is Hiroshima and the other one is Nagasaki," says the former school teacher who, agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. He's one of some 5,000 Palestinians who recently returned to the battle-ravaged ruins of this coastal refugee camp in north Lebanon, home to more than 40,000 people before the outbreak in May of three months of fighting between the Lebanese Army and Al-Qaeda-inspired militants of Fatah al-Islam. » Read more

Tutu And St. Thomas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Century by James M. Wall - (Commentary) November 14, 2007 - 12:44pm The University of St. Thomas is the largest private institution of higher learning in the state of Minnesota, a school "inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition." Recently, the university found itself in the embarrassing position of having failed to do some basic research; it did not check its sources. The story behind this development began innocently enough in April, when a staff member from St. Thomas's Justice and Peace Studies program informed his colleagues that he had booked South African archbishop Desmond Tutu for a campus appearance. » Read more

Bush's Turn To Step Into Mideast Peace-making ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Steve Holland - November 14, 2007 - 12:41pm Richard Nixon left office hopeful that "peace can settle at last over the Middle East." Jimmy Carter staked his career on it. Bill Clinton told Yasser Arafat, "I am a failure, and you have made me one." Now George W. Bush becomes the latest president to try to resolve the bitter, long-standing differences between close U.S. ally Israel and the Palestinians. » Read more

Volatile City Tests Palestinian Police, And Peace Hopes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 14, 2007 - 12:39pm This lawless city in the northern West Bank is ruled by rival militias and criminal gangs, an especially gritty illustration of why a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank, as expected under a future peace deal, gives Israelis pause. » Read more

Economic Woes Behind New Unrest In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - November 14, 2007 - 12:38pm The backdrop to the latest explosion of violence in the Gaza Strip: skeletons of unfinished apartment towers, shuttered factories, empty store shelves and skyrocketing prices for bread and cigarettes. Five months of rule by the Islamic militants of Hamas and isolation from the world have taken a heavy toll on the already impoverished territory, and frustration over the hardship helped drive this week's mass rally by the rival Fatah movement that ended in mayhem. » Read more