January 10th

Dangerous Talk
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) January 10, 2008 - 4:41pm


srael got a rude reminder last week of just how deeply it is divided on the question of what to do with the West Bank. A popular rabbi, Shalom Dov Wolpe, declared publicly January 2 that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his top ministers ought to be hanged for considering withdrawal.


On Mideast Trip, Bush Hopes To Propel Historic Israeli-palestinian Peacemaking
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - January 10, 2008 - 4:40pm


The patriotic tunes that greeted President Bush as he arrived in Israel Wednesday for the first time in his presidency set the tone for a historic visit. But given the laudatory remarks of Mr. Bush and his Israeli counterparts on the airport tarmac, the visit seemed focused on celebrating and strengthening the US-Israel relationship, throwing into question whether Bush would be equally welcomed Thursday in the West Bank.


Bush Urges End To Israeli Occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller, Matt Spetalnick - January 10, 2008 - 4:24pm


U.S. President George W. Bush, hardening his tone towards Israel on Thursday, urged an end to "the occupation" of the West Bank and pushed for a peace treaty to be signed within a year to create a Palestinian state. The United States rarely uses the politically charged word "occupation" to describe Israel's hold on lands captured in a 1967 war. It is a term Palestinians seeking a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip employ frequently to describe their plight.


Bush Predicts Completion Of Mideast Treaty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Michael Abramowitz - January 10, 2008 - 4:22pm


President Bush said Thursday that a Palestinian-Israeli peace treaty could be signed within a year, but that the subsequent creation of a Palestinian state will take longer and require both sides to make "painful political concessions." Those include, he said, an end to the Israeli "occupation" of Arab land seized in a 1967 war, a recognition by the Palestinians that some disputed territory will remain with Israel, and compromise over the status of Jerusalem, a city which both sides claim as important to their identity and faith.


Bush Begins Peace Effort Bonded With Olmert
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger, Steven Lee Myers - January 10, 2008 - 4:21pm


They share an enthusiasm for sports, fitness and the occasional cigar. They are both unpopular leaders, scarred by terrorism and zealous in their warnings about the threat of Islamic extremism. And yet they profess grand ambitions to accomplish what other leaders have failed to do for decades: make peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.


January 9th

Situation Assessment / What Bush Can And Can't Accomplish
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - January 9, 2008 - 6:26pm


All it took was for the engines of Air Force One to fire up to produce two major breakthroughs in talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The first was the announcement by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that they were willing to start talks dealing with the conflict's core issues. The second was Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman's promise not to cause a coalition crisis by withdrawing from the government during Bush's visit.


Bush, Accessory After The Facts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 9, 2008 - 6:25pm


The Migron outpost, which was established on privately owned Palestinian land, and whose dismantlement the United States has been demanding with fake determination, is already an established locale: It is seven years old, with well-tended gardens, swings, a nursery, a kindergarten, infrastructure in which NIS 4 million of state funds have been invested and inhabitants who look not like "hilltop youth" but like ordinary citizens, the sort who work for their living in Jerusalem and come home every night and never even dream that anyone might dare to evacuate them some day.


The President Has Arrived
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Joharah Baker - (Opinion) January 9, 2008 - 6:24pm


No doubt, the subject of the hour is US President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel and Palestine, which begins today, January 9. Both Israel and the Palestinians are taking extraordinary measures to ensure that Bush’s visit proceeds without a hitch. In Jerusalem, where the US President will be staying, a reported 8,000 Israeli police and security guards have been stationed for his protection.


7 Years Late
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) January 9, 2008 - 6:23pm


Seven years after he inherited the power to bring Israel to heel and the power to make a just and honorable future to the Palestinians, President George W. Bush finally arrives today. He arrives at the site of the foreign policy failure that has undermined everything else he has tried to achieve in the Middle East and in the wider Muslim world.


The Time For Mere Talk Of Palestinian Statehood Is Well And Truly Over
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) January 9, 2008 - 6:23pm


US President George W. Bush is scheduled to arrive in the region today to press forward with a mission into which many of his predecessors have put more effort and still failed. Many of his critics have already concluded that his belated push for Middle East peace during his final months in office is about as likely to succeed as the efforts of a lazy student who whittles away an entire semester in fraternity halls before cramming at the last minute for final exams.



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