Abbas's mixed messages ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am The recent announcement by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that he would not seek a second term in office or run in elections has prompted considerable speculation, even confusion, around the world. His decisions contains much ambiguity while conveying different messages to different parties at the same time. » Read more

Clear signal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am With Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president and head of the PLO, announcing that he will not seek another term in power, the clearest possible signal has been sent that the possibility for any peace process between Palestinians and Israelis is moribund. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has now reached a critical impasse, and only something dramatic can break the stalemate. Without anything suitably dramatic, the current artificial state of affairs can limp on for a few years until Palestinians yet again reach a breaking point and there is another serious round of violence. » Read more

Abbas feels enough is enough ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am MAHMOUD ABBAS is fed up. The day before yesterday he withdrew his candidacy for the coming presidential election in the Palestinian Authority. I understand him. He feels betrayed. And the traitor is Barack Obama. A year ago, when Obama was elected US president, he aroused high hopes in the Muslim world, among the Palestinian people as well as in the Israeli peace camp. » Read more

Stepping Down in Overtime ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he would not run for a new term in elections early next year, he justified his decision by focusing on his frustration with the stance by the US and the Arabs on the Israeli settlement issue. Irrespective of the ultimate consequences of this declaration and the chance that Abbas will go back on it, his justification reveals the depth of the predicament that the peace process is now in, along with the plan to establish a Palestinian state. It also reveals the depth of the predicament of Palestinian political action. » Read more

Clinton: Will work with Abbas in any new capacity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 6, 2009 - 1:00am US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday she looked forward to working with President Mahmoud Abbas in "any new capacity" after he announced on Thursday he would not seek a second term. "I look forward to working with President Abbas in any new capacity," Clinton said, noting that the two discussed his political future when they met last week in Abu Dhabi, Reuters was reporting. » Read more

Netanyahu Has Succeeded at Subjugating the US Yet Again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am There is an increasing need for unusual ideas and strategies during this delicate phase of dwindling hope for progress in the Middle East peace process, in light of increasing Israeli arrogance, rising Iranian sarcasm, worsening Palestinian and Arab divisions as well as regressing US policies. The basic question facing these issue and all those concerned is: what is required? » Read more

Thousands in West Bank Urge Abbas Not to Quit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat November 9, 2009 - 1:00am Thousands of Palestinians turned out in the West Bank Sunday to urge Mahmoud Abbas to run again for the presidency following his announcement that he did not want a second term in the job. Waving flags, Abbas supporters greeted the president as he conducted a rare tour of towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, part of the territories where the Palestinians aim to establish a state. "Mahmoud Abbas, don't step down! You are the foundation," chanted the crowd. The Fatah movement, which Abbas heads, had called for participation in the show of support. » Read more

Abbas move seen as gamble with US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am If nothing else, Mahmoud Abbas spurred a flurry of reaction and speculation about the future of the struggle for Palestinian statehood after he stated his desire in a speech on Thursday not to run again for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah supporters rallied across the West Bank on Friday to urge him to reconsider, while Palestinian leaders from both within and outside his own party closed ranks around him. Further afield, Arab, European and Turkish officials have expressed their hope that Mr Abbas might yet be persuaded otherwise. » Read more

Arab echoes of grassroots protest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Craig Nelson - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am If Gamal Abdel Nasser, the late president of Egypt and legendary champion of Arab nationalism, had risen from his grave during the heady days of November 1989, he would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The stirring on the streets of Prague, Berlin and Bucharest not only spelled the end to the “enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend” politics that Nasser had mastered in playing off the rival superpowers against each other, it was a sharp break with the sweeping pan-Arab nationalism that Nasser espoused and the top-down political style he practised. » Read more

'US attitude to Israel may be changing' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am A leading Republican congressman warned that the climate toward Israel on Capitol Hill could be changing, ahead of his address to a major Jewish conference Sunday. "The possibility is there," US House of Representatives Minority Whip Eric Cantor told The Jerusalem Post, speaking about the prospect that Congress's support for Israel could be ebbing. » Read more