U.S. confirms intense efforts to restart Israel-Syria peace efforts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel, Barak Ravid - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am Special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell confirmed at a press conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the United States is making intense efforts to restart negotiations between Israel and Syria. Mitchell said U.S. President Barack Obama has been briefed on the results of these efforts. Mitchell said Washington did not consider the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations a barrier to Israeli-Syria talks. On the contrary, he said, the two tracks could help each other. » Read more

Abbas: No alternative to peace talks, we will continue efforts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz September 16, 2010 - 12:00am Offering a positive note after two days of inconclusive Mideast peace negotiations, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he sees no alternative to continuing the talks in search of a peace deal with Israel. "We all know there is no alternative to peace through negotiations, so we have no alternative other than to continue these efforts," Abbas said, speaking through an interpreter during a welcoming ceremony for visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. » Read more

U.S. sees progress in Mideast peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Arshad Mohammed - September 15, 2010 - 12:00am The United States said on Wednesday it believed Israel and the Palestinians were making progress towards resolving a dispute over settlement building that threatens to sink their newly-launched peace talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to his official residence, shaking his hand as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looked on approvingly, a day after the three met in Egypt. » Read more

Second strike in 24 hours hits Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 16, 2010 - 12:00am An agricultural tools warehouse and an open area in the Rafah tunnels district were the sites of two airstrikes by the Israeli army on Gaza Thursday morning, witnesses said. An Israeli military statement on the strikes said the targets were "two weapons storage facilities in the northern and southern Gaza Strip" and added that the "attack is in response to the nine projectiles fired into Israeli territory over the last 24 hours." » Read more

Mitchell: Obama seeks Mideast normalization ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 16, 2010 - 12:00am US envoy to the Mideast peace process George Mitchell said Wednesday that Palestinian and Israeli leaders were tackling the tough issues up front during talks in Jerusalem. Mitchell spoke with reporters following a trilateral meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mitchell himself. » Read more

Israelis, Palestinians already broaching tough topics in talks, envoy says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - September 15, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli and Palestinian leaders are delving very quickly into some of the most difficult issues dividing them, the U.S. special envoy to the region said in an unusually upbeat report Wednesday, even as Israeli fighters bombed a smuggling tunnel and Palestinian militants launched mortar rounds into southern Israel. » Read more

How Israeli-Palestinian battle for Jerusalem plays out in one neighborhood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Christa Case Bryant - (Analysis) September 15, 2010 - 12:00am Jerusalem — The second round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks under way culminates tonight at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to arrive for further face-to-face negotiations on core issues. The meeting’s unusual location underscores Jerusalem’s emergence as not only the thorniest obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace but a defining battleground for sovereignty. » Read more

Israelis, Palestinians already broaching tough topics in talks, envoy says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - (Analysis) September 15, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian leaders are delving very quickly into some of the most difficult issues dividing them, the U.S. special envoy to the region said in an unusually upbeat report Wednesday, even as Israeli fighters bombed a smuggling tunnel and Palestinian militants launched mortar rounds into southern Israel. » Read more

Finding an optimist in the Middle East peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from PBS by Sal Gentile - (Analysis) September 15, 2010 - 12:00am U.S.-mediated talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials moved to Jerusalem on Wednesday, a symbolic gesture designed to lend credibility to the budding peace process. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t seem to have worked. Islamic militants are still lobbing mortars, and Israeli jets are still bombing tunnels. An expiration date on a settlement moratorium looms, and there seems to be little hope for a breakthrough. » Read more

Amid Shelling, Mideast Peace Talks Drag ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner, Mark Landler - (Analysis) September 15, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians shifted to home turf here on Wednesday, amid a rain of mortar shells on southern Israel and with no sign that the two sides had broken an impasse over Israel’s moratorium on the construction of Jewish settlements. In a gesture to the Israelis, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, traveled to Jerusalem for a two-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at his official residence, and Mr. Netanyahu returned the favor by welcoming him with a Palestinian flag. » Read more