Hamas: Return to talks a betrayal of the nation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Gaza's deputy Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) speaker Ahmad Bahar called a return to negotiations with Israel a "waste of the Palestinian cause," saying the outcomes of any talks would "not meet any standards of legitemacy." The statement on Thursday followed rumors that indirect talks with a US envoy shuttling between Israel and the PLO could start as early as Sunday, after the Arab League gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for talks within a four-month timeframe.

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Validity of Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks in doubt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

In the coming days the Middle East will host important visits by key international players as the United States hopes to get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track. The star-studded lineup includes U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Before they cross the Mediterranean, U.S. special envoy George Mitchell will make the journey this weekend. While the others will be in town to give their backing to renewed peace negotiations, it is up to Mitchell to enable that process to begin.

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U.S. vows to assign blame if Israel-PA talks fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

The United States government has committed to playing a role in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and promised that if the talks were to fail, the U.S. will assign blame and take action, according to a document sent by the U.S. to the Palestinian Authority, which Haaretz obtained on Friday. The U.S. government sent the document to the Palestinians responding to their inquires regarding the U.S. initiative to launch indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

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If Netanyahu wants peace, he knows what to do
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

British statesman Leopold Amery's plea to prime minister Neville Chamberlain - "For God's sake, go" - has undergone many incarnations, and I'm surprised at my colleague Nahum Barnea, who made do with a simple "Go" in reference to Avigdor Lieberman. The suspicion that Lieberman received documents relating to the investigation against him from our ambassador in Belarus is now being checked by the police. It doesn't smell good - not to mention that the stench of the foreign minister's behavior justifies speeding up the distribution of gas masks.

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Report: Biden to open indirect talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Days before a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed optimism about the situation in the Middle East and said that "peace negotiations with the Palestinians will begin very soon." A Palestinian source told the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper that indirect negotiations mediate by the United States may be launched next week upon Biden's arrival. According to the minister, he and his fellow Labor Party members "are making sure that the prime minister begins peace negotiations, day and night."

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Dahlan against talks: Israel just wants to gain time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Despite support from the Arab League for renewing indirect talks with Israel, more and more Palestinian voices are being heard opposing the move. On Thursday evening, Fatah Central Committee spokesman Mohammad Dahlan added his voice to the chorus. "In light of Israel's acts," he said, "in particular the continued settlement and aggression against holy sites, there is no point to direct or indirect negotiations with the Israeli government."

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Armistice Now: An Interim Agreement for Israel and Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Ehud Yaari - (Opinion) March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

More than 16 years after the euphoria of the Oslo accords, the Israelis and the Palestinians have still not reached a final-status peace agreement. Indeed, the last decade has been dominated by setbacks -- the second intifada, which started in September 2000; Hamas' victory in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections; and then its military takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 -- all of which have aggravated the conflict.

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Support for Palestinians grows in UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Sharmila Devi - March 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Two unrelated diplomatic upsets have underlined growing impatience with the behaviour of the Israeli government among western countries that are traditionally supportive. Backing from the European Union and Australia in the United Nations to sustain the issue of Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza more than a year ago has coincided with controversy over Israel’s apparent use of western passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a Hamas official, in Dubai.

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From Ireland to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Zion Evrony - (Opinion) March 4, 2010 - 1:00am

During a recent trip to Northern Ireland, one theme that dominated all of my conversations was encapsulated in the words “Who would have believed…?” It was the happiness shared by those present that the unimaginable had happened: The conflict that had once made the province a byword for terrorism and sectarian violence had ended.

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Palestinians are expected to join Israel in indirect peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 4, 2010 - 1:00am

A year after peace talks collapsed, Israelis and Palestinians appear headed back to the negotiating table -- just not the same table. A U.S.-backed proposal to launch so-called proximity talks moved forward Wednesday when the Arab League gave its blessing for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to join the effort.

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