Pushing for a provisional Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

The announcement of upcoming "proximity talks" between Israel and the Palestinians raises a number of questions - what exactly will they talk about? What else can be renewed in the peace process, where everything seems to have been tried while peace remains elusive? What trick does George Mitchell, the mediator of the hour, have up his sleeve that was kept from his frustrated predecessors?

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Gaza police accuse Egypt in deaths of 4 tunnellers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian police accused Egyptian security forces of killing four smugglers from the Gaza Strip and injuring three others on Wednesday by blowing up their cross-border tunnel. Under pressure from Israel and the United States, Egypt has tried to stem the secret passages from its Sinai peninsula, which have allowed Palestinians in Gaza to import weapons and commercial goods in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade.

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Who Speaks for the Palestinians?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - (Opinion) April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Will proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority soon begin? While both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas have said they hope so, the matter is no longer in the hands of the Palestinians but in those of the Arab League foreign ministers--who meet May 1.

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News Analysis: U.S. ups Mideast diplomatic activity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell was making his way back to Washington on Sunday after three days of meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The veteran American diplomat is expected back in the region next week as part of a serious American push to reboot the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Meeting Mitchell on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's face was turned towards peace.

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Israel PM seeks new plan as US envoy visits-report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - April 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed Palestinian statehood with temporary borders, to sidestep a deadlock over settlements ahead of talks on Friday with a U.S. envoy, a newspaper said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected past Israeli suggestions for a state with provisional borders, but the Haaretz newspaper said Netanyahu was proposing a new interim deal to try and entice him back to the negotiating table.

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Netanyahu amenable to Palestinian state within temporary borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - April 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is amenable to an interim agreement in the West Bank that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders. Netanyahu considers such an interim step a possible way to unfreeze the stalled political process that was created because of the Palestinian leadership's refusal to resume talks on a final settlement. However, the prime minister insists on delaying discussion on the final status of Jerusalem to the end of the process, and refuses to agree to a freeze on Jewish construction in East Jerusalem.

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Settler rally during Mitchel visit a deliberate provocation, Fatah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Fatah's Revolutionary Council member Dimitri Diliani called the Israeli government's decision to grant permission for a protest by "extreme right wing Israeli colonial Settlers" to rally in Silwan a provocation as US officials are in the region. Fatah's Jerusalem Affairs chief, Hatem Abdul Qader, announced that the Israeli government had given the go-ahead for the rally on Thursday. Commenting on the issue Dilani called the move "state sponsored provocation of instability to undermine the visit of Special US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell to Israel and Palestine."

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U.S. envoy Mitchell meets Israeli leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Douglas Hamilton - April 23, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. envoy George Mitchell told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday Washington was committed to Israel's security and wanted a peace settlement that would give the Palestinians a state. "That has been American policy. That is American policy. That will be American policy," Mitchell told Netanyahu, repeating President Barack Obama's pledge of strong and enduring ties to Israel on its 62nd anniversary earlier this week.

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A peaceful strategy for Palestinian independence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians have recently been developing a peaceful multilevel strategy to achieve their national goals of a negotiated peace agreement with Israel, an end to the occupation, and the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

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Remarks by Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff, U.S. Deputy Representative to the United Nations, on the Middle East, in the Security Council Chamber
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Nations
by Alejandro Wolff - (Opinion) April 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Under Secretary-General Pascoe, for your briefing. Before turning to the subject at hand, let me join my other colleagues in extending our own condolences the government and people of China for the loss of life and injuries suffered by so many as a result of the devastating earthquake.

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