Reexamining the Arab Peace Initiative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Michael Sharnoff - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am The series of direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians which began in Amman on January 3 are scheduled to end on January 26. While the Middle East Quartet may extend this deadline to continue negotiations, it appears this would have little effect in formulating any comprehensive agreement. Neither side genuinely believes a breakthrough will occur. The PLO has threatened that if Israel does not halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it would not only abandon diplomacy, but it would pursue "harsh" unilateral measures to gain statehood and recognition. » Read more

Walkout is Justified ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Oman Tribune (Editorial) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinians have threatened to cut off exploratory talks with Israel as construction of settlements on their occupied lands continues unabated. Walking away from the dialogue table by January 26 in Amman will be a forced move by Palestinians who don’t see these talks, being held in the presence of the Peace Quartet (United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia), going anywhere. The main hurdle in this direction, as the Palestinian negotiators have repeated time and again, is Israel’s refusal to freeze settlement activity in areas under occupation. » Read more

Is Gingrich’s Hard Line on Palestine Paid for by Sheldon Adelson? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Wayne Barrett - (Analysis) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am The linkage between campaign contributions and compromised candidates has grown so familiar that it no longer shocks, and indeed rarely even interests, most of us. But in the super-PAC era, when a single, $5 million, donation can resuscitate a broken Newt Gingrich, the search for a quid pro quo explanation expands with the enlarged dimensions of the donation. In the case of Las Vegas casino king Sheldon Adelson, Gingrich’s Daddy Warbucks, the size of the subsidy can literally shape a candidate’s views on matters of war and peace, and I’m not talking about a battle for gaming rights. » Read more

Israel should be the last to practice racism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Linda Heard - (Opinion) January 24, 2012 - 1:00am A large chunk of my childhood and early youth was spent in a predominantly Jewish area of London called Stamford Hill. It was pure chance that upon relocating to the English capital, my parents found a small apartment to their liking in that part of town. Our landlord and neighbors were Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe. My school friends came from European and Indian Jewish stock. My mother bought seed-encrusted loaves from a Jewish bakery Grodzinky's and salt beef sandwiches from our local Jewish deli. » Read more

Palestine is nearly here, deal with it ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ibrahim Sharqieh - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am Jan. 26 will mark the three-month deadline for Palestinians and Israelis to submit their opening positions on mutual borders and security. The deadline was set by the international Quartet – the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. It followed the decision last September of a frustrated Palestinian Authority to pursue independent statehood through the United Nations, after 18 years of futile negotiations with Israel. » Read more

Palestinian Tax Hike Riles Business, Unions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh, Karin Laub - January 25, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank—Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has sparked a furor with a push to get Palestinians to pay more taxes and reduce reliance on the massive foreign aid that has kept their self-rule government afloat for a generation. Long accustomed to minimal taxes, the most powerful groups in the West Bank -- private business, the civil servants' union and the main political party, Fatah -- are fighting back, including with threats of labor strikes. » Read more

Europe should call Israel's bluff ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Dimitris Bouris, Stuart Reigeluth - (Opinion) January 25, 2012 - 1:00am The figures say it all. Over 1,200 Jewish colonists occupied outposts in the West Bank in 1972; in 2012, over 300,000 live in fortress-like colonies on hilltops overlooking the Jordan Valley, excluding the illegal colonies and gradual annexation of occupied east Jerusalem. This exponential growth of Jewish colonies has taken place mostly in Area C of the West Bank. There are now twice as many illegal colonists in Area C as there are Palestinians, who have diminished in number due to lack of access to water, building permits, and the occupation itself. » Read more

Brotherhood Vows to Shun Israeli Officials ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm January 25, 2012 - 1:00am The Muslim Brotherhood will not speak or meet with Israeli officials and its stance on Israel is not up for discussion, group spokesperson Mahmoud Ghezlan told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. “It’s illogical to have dialogue, any dialogue, in light of the Israeli practices against the Arab peoples,” the paper quoted him as saying in an article published Wednesday. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor told Israeli radio that Israel has not ruled out talks. “We will be happy to hold dialogues with whoever wants to have dialogue with us,” Palmor said. » Read more

“Jordan Mulling Sanctions Against Israel” ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel News by Roi Kais, Elior Levy - January 25, 2012 - 1:00am Jordan's King Abdullah alluded to a possible deterioration in Amman's relationship with Jerusalem if unless Israel will "demonstrate it is willing to make considerable moves" to reignite the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported Wednesday. According to the London-based Arab publication, Abdullah expected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to "make significant concessions which will allow the Palestinian leadership to justify their return to the negotiating table." » Read more

Obama assassination column raises question: Why do some Jews see Obama as so sinister? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Uriel Heilman - (Analysis) January 24, 2012 - 1:00am NEW YORK (JTA) – When news outlets began reporting last Friday that the owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times had published an opinion column seemingly suggesting that Israel might be wise to assassinate President Obama, the response from prominent American Jews was fast and furious. Here was a Jewish newspaper publisher providing fodder for something the Anti-Defamation League regularly deplores as a pernicious anti-Semitic canard: that Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States. » Read more