November 26th

Appointment In Annapolis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post (Editorial) November 26, 2007 - 12:42pm SECRETARY OF State Condoleezza Rice chose to plunge into Mideast peacemaking earlier this year because, she said, she saw an opportunity in the rise of a moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank and a common interest of Israel and many Arab states in checking Iranian-backed extremism in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Yet exploiting that opening is proving excruciatingly difficult. The Bush administration is expecting some 40 countries to attend a meeting Tuesday in Annapolis that is meant to kick off intensive negotiations on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement. » Read more

For Bush, It's Not About Being There ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Michael Abramowitz - November 26, 2007 - 12:40pm The opening of Tuesday's Middle East conference in Annapolis, seven years into the Bush administration, is a reminder of how little the traditional concept of brokering an Arab-Israeli settlement through an ongoing "peace process" has figured into President Bush's foreign policy. Another is Bush's near-absence from the Middle East during his presidency. He has traveled to the region four times, but two of those visits were one-day trips to Iraq, and one was for a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. » Read more

Bush’s Best Hope ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) November 26, 2007 - 12:38pm The Palestinians are the cause of exiting and ex-presidents. There’s no electoral payback in supporting them. Jews and Israel-loving evangelicals dwarf any Arab lobby to the extent it’s not even funny. President Bush is on the exit track. It’s time to rectify the fundamental error he made in allowing war-on-terror rhetoric to discredit the Palestinian national movement. » Read more

Rice’s Turnabout On Mideast Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Elisabeth Bumiller - November 26, 2007 - 12:37pm At President Bush’s first National Security Council meeting in January 2001, he announced that he did not want to be drawn into the shattered Middle East peace process, people at the meeting recalled, because he believed that former President Bill Clinton had pushed so hard for an Israeli-Palestinian accord that he made the situation worse. » Read more

November 23rd

Annapolis: Why Failure Is Not An Option ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Walid Awad - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:44pm The Israeli right-wing and its allies in the media are working relentlessly to undermine the Annapolis peace conference. To make the conference convened by President Bush, his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made no less than eight visits to the Middle East in less than a year. But the Israeli government’s position on the conference has always been that of a reluctant participant, sending contradictory messages, lowering expectations and discouraging optimism about the outcome. » Read more

More Palestinian-israeli 'normalization' Is Needed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Walid Salem - (Commentary) November 23, 2007 - 6:43pm In the Arab and Islamic world, normalization is looked upon as the process of building open and reciprocal relations with Israel in all fields, including the political, economic, social, cultural, educational, legal and security fields. Those who reject such "normalization" are divided into two groups: one thinks that Israel was established on Islamic and Palestinian land and at the expense of the Palestinian people, the legitimate owners of the land, who consequently suffered a fate as refugees outside their country. » Read more

Don't Knock Annapolis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) November 23, 2007 - 6:42pm Lucky for Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill that the disparaging phrase "photo-op" had not been coined during their time. Otherwise, the wise guys of their generation would have torn into the Tehran Conference (1943) even before it could convene, causing the war to last even longer. » Read more

The Jerusalem Fig Leaf ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Noam Shelef - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:41pm The latest assault on Israeli sovereignty comes from an unexpected direction. The Orthodox Union, together with a coalition of less-reputable Jewish American organizations, has launched a campaign arguing that the Israeli government lacks the authority to negotiate over Jerusalem. » Read more

Saudis To Attend Middle East Peace Conference ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Peter Walker - November 23, 2007 - 6:40pm Saudi Arabia's foreign minister is to attend next week's Middle East peace conference, he announced today, in a significant boost to the US-sponsored talks. "I'm not hiding any secret about the Saudi position. We were reluctant until today," Saud al-Faisal told a press conference at the ongoing Arab League meeting in Cairo. » Read more

Rice Sets Mid-east Peace Target ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News November 23, 2007 - 6:39pm US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the United States will try to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians over the next year. Ms Rice said both sides had agreed to work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state before US President George W Bush leaves office. She also said Washington hoped such negotiations would be launched at next week's peace conference in Annapolis. Invitations have been issued to Israel, the Palestinians and key Arab states. » Read more