January 15th

Bush Changes Tone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times (Editorial) January 15, 2008 - 5:54pm President George W. Bush is coming to the end of his first extensive trip to the Middle East. The journey has crystallised the recent adjustment in US policy in the region. Until some months ago, Mr Bush was marked by his belligerent neo-conservatism, hollering for dem­ocracy to take root in Arab states while refraining from pushing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. His approach has changed – but doubts persist over what he can achieve in his final year. » Read more

Maria Appakova ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times January 15, 2008 - 5:52pm After his talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah, U.S. President George W. Bush said that an Arab-Israeli peace agreement would be reached by the end of the year. He was less optimistic of a settlement within Palestine; and he was unsure that the Palestinian president would be able to resolve the problem anytime soon. » Read more

Gaza's Christian Population Wanes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from World Peace Herald by Erica Silverman - January 15, 2008 - 5:42pm A small group of Palestinian Christians stands outside Gaza City's Baptist Church on a Sunday morning, waiting for the generator to power up. The church is cold and dark in the dead of winter, Israel having reduced fuel supplies to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas to halt rocket fire into Israel. » Read more

Bush's Arab World Tour Is Significant For Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Leslie Susser - January 15, 2008 - 5:40pm With its focus on strengthening the moderate Arab coalition against Iran, President Bush’s tour of the Persian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and Egypt could prove extremely significant for Israel. From an Israeli perspective, the three key elements were isolating Iran, coaxing moderate Arab countries into moving toward normalization with Israel and getting oil-rich Arab states to honor their financial pledges to the Palestinians. Progress on all or some of these issues would significantly boost Israeli foreign policy goals. » Read more

Threat To Cut U.s. Aid Opens Rift With Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - January 15, 2008 - 5:39pm Pro-Israel advocates in Washington refrained from contesting a congressional decision last month to withhold part of American military aid to Egypt, in what appears to be a departure from a 30-year-old unwritten understanding that Israel would help Cairo fight off any efforts to cut American assistance to Egypt. » Read more

Mideast Peace Talks Get Underway ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Bourdreaux - January 15, 2008 - 5:39pm Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began addressing the most difficult issues of their decades-old conflict Monday, keeping a promise to President Bush but putting Israel's coalition government under strain. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei emerged from a two-hour session at a Jerusalem hotel with little to say about what they had discussed. Israeli officials said the two lead negotiators planned to meet at least once a week. » Read more

Olmert Is Cautious As Talks With Palestinians Begin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - January 15, 2008 - 5:38pm Top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began talks on core issues on Monday, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel sought to lower expectations of reaching a final peace agreement within a year. “I’m not sure we can reach an agreement, and I’m not sure we can reach its implementation,” Mr. Olmert told Parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee on Monday, an official who had attended the meeting said. » Read more

January 14th

Making Do With Foreplay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Uzi Benziman - January 14, 2008 - 6:12pm The new term in the Israeli diplomatic lexicon is "shelf agreement." President George W. Bush begged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to redouble their efforts to create the outline of a final-status agreement, and the two sounded as if they intended to carry out the task. The new effort's starting assumption is that even if the redeeming formulas are found and understandings are reached on all the controversial issues, an agreement will not be signed due to the political difficulties each leader faces. » Read more

Believing Olmert ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - January 14, 2008 - 6:11pm After listening to many of his statements, some of them very impressive, one comes to recognize that Ehud Olmert perhaps truly desires peace with the Palestinians. The fact that he has not zigzagged, not even once, that he only reiterates the same things, speaking like Uri Avnery (even if 40 years late), that he does not backtrack or stutter - only reinforces this feeling. It is permissible, therefore, to succumb to the temptation and believe that the man who told Haaretz on November 28, "two states, or Israel is finished," indeed has undergone a profound change. » Read more

Abbas Should Be Safeguarded ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - January 14, 2008 - 6:10pm President George W. Bush, who came to jump-start the peace talks, is fading in the distance, and the large-scale military action in Gaza is getting closer. It is as if there are two peoples: The people of the West Bank and the people of Gaza. With the first we make peace and with the second we go to war. » Read more