February 2nd

U.N. chief tells Palestinians their state is long overdue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said an independent Palestinian state is long overdue. Ban arrived in Ramallah from Israel, where he met Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to keep the latest peace talks between the two sides going. At a news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the U.N. chief urged the Palestinians and Israelis to return to direct negotiations, stressing that “the two-state solution can be achieved only through negotiations.” » Read more

February 1st

Words matter: A new language for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am The words which people use, often unconsciously, can have a critical impact upon the thoughts and attitudes of those who speak and write, as well as those who listen and read. Dangerously misleading terminology remains a major obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace. » Read more

Israeli Settlements: Errors Beget Errors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard by Elliott Abrams - (Opinion) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am On January 29, Israel’s cabinet approved new “housing benefits” for “national priority areas.” The exact application of these benefits to communities in the West Bank is unclear, to me at least, but the cabinet statement says, “The decision is designed to encourage positive migration to the communities.” News reports suggest that of the 557 communities eligible for the aid, 70 are in the West Bank: “The list of qualifying settlements include major enclaves that would likely remain in Israeli hands under a peace deal. » Read more

The Monitor, Merrimac, and Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Robert Satloff - (Opinion) January 31, 2012 - 1:00am "Our ironclad commitment -- and I mean ironclad -- to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history." » Read more

Another exercise in futile diplomacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Efraim Inbar - (Opinion) January 30, 2012 - 1:00am Few should be surprised by the failure of the Amman talks, which constituted an additional attempt by the international Quartet to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. These meetings were intended to break the impasse in the peace process, after the Palestinians decided to relinquish the option of negotiations with Israel and to adopt instead a unilateral approach to attain their goals. » Read more

Hard Questions, Tough Answer with Yossi Alpher – January 30, 2012 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now (Interview) January 30, 2012 - 1:00am Alpher discusses the Israeli-Palestinian pre-negotiation talks in Amman, interim conclusions from the "Arab spring" one year after the outbreak of the revolution in Egypt and the meaning of the 2009 survey just published on Israeli attitudes towards religiosity. Q. The Israeli-Palestinian pre-negotiation talks in Amman adjourned after a meeting last Thursday without agreement to continue. What have we learned? » Read more

Deep in the Sinai, a looming Crisis Threatens Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Bradley Hope - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am CAIRO // The owner of a Sinai Peninsula holiday resort taken over by a group of armed Bedouin is refusing to pay the four million Egyptian pound (Dh2.4m) ransom the tribesmen are demanding. Hesham Nessim, proprietor of the Aqua-Sun Resort 30km south of Egypt's border with Israel, says he will wait them out or retake his property with police help. His brother Fouad says the Bedouin should expect a long stand-off. "It would be easier to go to the moon than to get that money from my brother," he told The National. » Read more

Bringing Hamas in from the cold ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) January 31, 2012 - 1:00am Most of Hamas senior officials, including Meshaal, are Jordanian citizens. Prime Minister Awn Al-Khasawneh has described their deportation to Qatar 12 years ago as “a constitutional” error. And since the former international jurist took over as premier he has been keen on mending state relations with the country’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leadership. Jordan’s recent rapprochement with Hamas, a powerful Palestinian faction currently ruling Gaza Strip but with special links to Jordan’s MB, ends more than a decade of cool and sometimes troubled relationship between the two. » Read more

Put Hamas-Jordan amity to a referendum ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am Why am I not impressed by the statement by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal after meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman Sunday. Meshaal declared, “We are happy with this good new start ... With this new chapter in relations with Jordan. We hope Jordanian and Palestinian interests will be served.” » Read more

Freed Palestinian Prisoners Adapt to Qatar Exile ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Michael Buchanan - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am As part of the deal to free the captured Israeli soldier Sgt Gilad Shalit last year, more than a 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails. The vast majority were allowed back into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but 40 prisoners were forced to leave the region entirely, deemed by Israel to be a continuing security threat. The releases were enormously controversial in Israel, where some of the prisoners were seen as mass murderers. A two-bed flat not far from the cornice in Qatar's capital, Doha, is now home for 47-year-old Ibrahim Shammasina from Ramallah. » Read more