U.s. Ups Pressure On Israel To Quit W. Bank Outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn, Barak Ravid - October 31, 2007 - 5:30pm The U.S. has renewed pressure on Israel to evacuate illegal outposts in the West Bank and has asked Jerusalem to broaden efforts to help West Bank Palestinians in the run-up to the Annapolis peace summit next month. During talks in Jerusalem late last week, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the U.S. expects Israel to take measures that will assist Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

Rice Back In Middle East Carrying Many Hopes And Few Trump Cards ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna) by Joe Macaron - October 31, 2007 - 5:29pm US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice travels on Thursday to the Middle East on her third mission to the region in two months amid dim hopes on resolving Palestinian-Israeli quandary ahead of upcoming Annapolis meeting. "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are engaged in an effort to produce a document that could serve the foundation for a serious negotiation for the establishment of a Palestinian state," said a senior State Department official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. » Read more

The Israel Lobby Has Its Sights On Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) October 31, 2007 - 5:27pm A year and a half after they published their ground-breaking article "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books, the distinguished American academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have now published their book entitled "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy." » Read more

Gaza Offensive Could Exact Heavy Price ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) October 31, 2007 - 5:25pm If Israel carries out threats of a massive offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip the army could encounter unprecedented resistance from an army of fighters using guerrilla tactics, officials say. The relatively high number of casualties Israel has suffered in its limited raids in Gaza over the past months — three soldiers killed and dozens injured — suggests Palestinian militants have developed new tactics and weapons. » Read more

Olmert Must Justify Palestinian Fuel Blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph by Charles Levinson - October 31, 2007 - 5:24pm Israel's supreme court ordered the government last night to justify its stranglehold on the Gaza Strip amid concern that Palestinian civilians will face dire humanitarian consequences due to punitive energy cuts. The intervention came as the administration of Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, was accused by the European Union of inflicting "collective punishment" on the territory's civilian population by cutting fuel and electricity supplies. » Read more

The Impact Of Closure: An Interview With Taghreed El-khodary ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress (Interview) October 31, 2007 - 5:21pm How will/will current path lead Gazans toward a two-state solution? As a journalist in Gaza, from what I see, all that people care about are the burdens of daily life. No one is talking about Annapolis, about two states. The suffering is extreme. The closure is so severe that it has touched every sector of the Gaza Strip, from businessmen, to farmers, to students, to workers. » Read more

Mideast: Replying To Rockets, Israel Chokes Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Peter Hirschberg - October 31, 2007 - 5:18pm Israel has begun limiting fuel supplies to Gaza as part of punitive measures it is implementing in an attempt to stem the firing of rockets by militants from the coastal strip into Israel. But Palestinian leaders and human rights groups are warning the move could spark a humanitarian crisis. » Read more

The U.s. Blacklisted Me. Let's Talk. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Tariq Ramadan - (Commentary) October 31, 2007 - 5:16pm Living in a democratic society that grants an individual's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the cherished privilege and pride of Western citizenry and the dream longed for by the rest of the world. Countless have fought and died to secure these rights in the West, and millions the world over are dying for them today – dying to be free to worship, free to associate, free to speak, free to participate in the governance of their own countries. » Read more

Mccain Sounds Skeptical Note On Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jennifer Siegel - October 31, 2007 - 5:14pm The United States should support a “step-by-step” peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians, presidential hopeful John McCain told an audience of Jewish leaders in New York this morning. » Read more

Former Hamas Spokesman Decries Group's Extremism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News by Dion Nissenbaum - October 31, 2007 - 5:12pm For roughly two decades, Ghazi Hamad has been a reliable champion for Hamas and its hard-line Islamist ideology, first as a leader of Palestinian street protests, then as an editor of a pro-Hamas newspaper and most recently as the chief spokesman for deposed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Now, however, Hamad has emerged as one of Hamas' most caustic critics. In an open letter to Hamas leaders, he criticizes the group as an uncompromising movement that's lost its way. » Read more