Israel To Build Homes In East Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Aron Heller - December 4, 2007 - 2:07pm Israel said Tuesday it is seeking bids to build more than 300 new homes in a disputed east Jerusalem neighborhood, drawing Palestinian condemnations that the move is undermining the newly revived peace talks held last week in Annapolis, Md. A Housing Ministry spokesman said 307 units would be built in Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem. Israel captured the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. » Read more

Mideast: Olmert Walks Razor's Edge In Peace Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Peter Hirschberg - (Analysis) December 4, 2007 - 2:06pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has issued a dire warning to his people. Failure to reach a negotiated two-state settlement with the Palestinians, he has declared, will mean the end of the State of Israel. » Read more

Policy Surge Key To Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by H.d.s. Greenway - (Opinion) December 4, 2007 - 2:06pm IT OFTEN takes electric shock treatment to get the Middle East off its dead center of inertia. The lightning success of the first Gulf war in 1991 produced just that, unsettling all the old presumptions. » Read more

Palestinians Expand Security Drive With New Forces ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Muin Shadid - December 4, 2007 - 2:04pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government stepped up a Western-backed crackdown on gunmen on Tuesday by deploying hundreds of security officers in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Tulkarm is the second West Bank city to welcome the new Palestinian force. The security drive, which comes as Palestinians start talks with Israel about statehood, started last month when hundreds of officers were deployed in Nablus. » Read more

The Lobby Strikes Back ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Conservative by Scott Mcconnell - December 4, 2007 - 2:02pm One prism through which to gauge the impact of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s The Israel Lobby and American Foreign Policy is a September incident involving Barack Obama. His campaign had placed small ads in various spots around the Internet, designed to drive readers to its website. One turned up on Amazon’s page for the Walt and Mearsheimer book. A vigilant watchdog at the New York Sun spotted it and contacted the campaign: Did Obama support Walt and Mearsheimer? » Read more