November 1st

Old Rivals Team Up To Win Saudi Backing For Peace Talks On The Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by Richard Beeston - (Editorial) November 1, 2007 - 2:42pm Gordon Brown and Tony Blair teamed up yesterday to try to salvage a planned Middle East peace conference in America by clinching Saudi Arabia’s attendance. According to British officials, first the Prime Minister and then his predecessor met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia yesterday. It was made clear at the meetings that the country’s participation was crucial for what is being billed as the best chance for peace in the region for seven years. » Read more

Middle Eastern Links: In Place Of A Boycott... ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent November 1, 2007 - 2:41pm When the university and college lecturers' union, the UCU, voted at its conference in May this year to have a debate on an academic boycott of Israel, all hell broke loose. British academia was criticised by many commentators in the UK, and by professors around the world, for anti-Semitism and for inhibiting the free flow of ideas. » Read more

The Siege Of Gaza Is Going To Lead To A Violent Escalation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Seumas Milne - (Commentary) November 1, 2007 - 2:40pm There is, it seems, an unbridgeable gap between the western world's apparent recognition of the dangers of Palestinian suffering and its commitment to do anything whatever to stop it. This week the collective punishment of the people of Gaza reached a new level, as Israel began to choke off essential fuel supplies to its one and a half million people in retaliation for rockets fired by Palestinian resistance groups. A plan to cut power supplies has only been put on hold till the end of the week by the intervention of Israel's attorney general. » Read more

A Mis-step On The Path To Middle East Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Jon B. Alterman - (Commentary) November 1, 2007 - 2:38pm Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is bringing the wrong people together in Annapolis, near Washington, in November. Belatedly deciding that the time has come for the Bush administration to put energy and focus into Arab-Israeli peacemaking, her effort to gather Israeli and Palestinian leaders and whatever other dignitaries will join her is not only too little, too late. It is also the wrong thing to do. » Read more

Bipartisan Foreign Policy Leaders On Annapolis Conference ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Prospectsforpeace.com by Daniel Levy - (Blog) November 1, 2007 - 2:29pm Below is the full text of a letter just released to President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as part of an effort supported by the U.S./Middle East Project, Inc., the International Crisis Group, and the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program. The letter is signed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lee H. Hamilton, Carla Hills , Nancy Kassebaum-Baker, Thomas R. Pickering, Brent Scowcroft, Theodore C. Sorensen and Paul Volcker. It is an initiative that I am very involved with and keen to encourage. » Read more

From Generation To Generation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jim Lobe - (Blog) November 1, 2007 - 2:26pm Worth noting this past week is an op-ed published on National Review Online by David Feith and Andrew M. Steinberg on why the recent appeal by “some giants of the American political establishment” — namely, “Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft, Lee Hamilton, and other former high-ranking officials” — for the U.S. » Read more

Carter’s Efforts To Mend Ties With Community Get Cold Shoulder ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - November 1, 2007 - 2:21pm Jimmy Carter’s newest efforts to repair relations with the Jewish community were rebuffed not once but twice last week — and at the very highest levels. Carter’s first outreach effort came in an invitation to Jewish groups to discuss ways that the former president could help make the upcoming Middle East peace conference a success. While Carter invited most of the major Jewish organizations, the event was only attended by representatives of the Reform movement and by several smaller dovish Jewish groups. » Read more

In Humanity Lies Hope For Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by Hilla Medalia - (Opinion) November 1, 2007 - 2:19pm DELEGATES FROM Israel and a consortium of Arab states will meet in the United States this month with the hope of devising an agreement - or at least the DNA of an agreement - that will lead to the formation of a Palestinian state and, theoretically, stability in the Middle East. It is the first such US-led summit in years, and regardless of the outcome, it will be a historic event. » Read more

Rice Tries To Close Gap In Middle East Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Sue Pleming - November 1, 2007 - 2:17pm U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders this weekend to craft a joint document ahead of a peace conference but she has intentionally set expectations low. U.S. officials expect Rice's third visit in six weeks to the region will result in a document filled with general principles to kick off negotiations on a Palestinian state, but with few hard-core specifics. » Read more

October 31st

Summit Of Fear ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) October 31, 2007 - 5:32pm n September 13, 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed, president Bill Clinton called the day "a great occasion of history and hope." The ceremony's participants mentioned the word "hope" 21 times in their speeches. Even the normally dry Warren Christopher, then secretary of state, tried to produce some excitement, saying the negotiators' courage gave hope that they would "complete the journey that has been begun today." » Read more