Palestinians: Zero chances for Abbas-Netanyahu meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

The chances of a three-way summit between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barak Obama are slim, Ramallah sources said on Friday, after a meeting between Abbas and special American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell. Later Friday, Mitchell is scheduled to meet with Netanyahu for a second time in the same day. Palestinians said the current Israeli stance is not sufficient to lead to the summit the Americans are so eager to organize during the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.

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US envoy faces stalemate over settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

A burst of shuttle diplomacy by President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy today did not produce immediate results, with Palestinian and Israeli leaders still at odds over terms for resuming direct talks. An Israeli official said after envoy George Mitchell met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem that Israel might freeze settlements in the West Bank for longer than the six months it previously suggested, but not for as long as a year.

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Peace and prosperity in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Michael Mylrea - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama’s commitment to Middle East peace has made little progress in the last eight months. As his Middle East envoy George Mitchell visits leaders in the region this week, Palestinian optimism has turned to resentment. Time is quickly running out. Unless there is immediate progress toward establishing a sovereign Palestinian state, there will be a deadly third intifada that could quickly escalate into a major regional conflict. To prevent this volatile situation from becoming a catastrophe, US policy makers need to make immediate steps toward a two-state solution.

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Time running out on US deal to suspend Jewish settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - September 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The clock is ticking for George Mitchell. The top US envoy to the Middle East yesterday again failed to reach agreement with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on a suspension of Jewish settlement construction in occupied territory that Palestinians want for their future state.

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Former Deputy PM Ash-Sha'er to be released from Israeli prison
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli army is expected to release Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Naser Ash-Sha’er, an Israeli High Court decided Wednesday. Ash-Sha’er has been in administrative detention for two consecutive three month periods and was held without charge in the Magido and Negev prison facilities. A court decision said the period of detention would not be renewed, and the lawmaker, popular with both Fatah and Hamas, is expected to be released in the coming days.

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Palestinians: State within 2 years with Obama's support
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu twice on Wednesday. Senior Palestinian officials who met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after his meeting with the American statesman Tuesday told Ynet that the US commitment to reach a peace deal within two years was clarified during the meeting. The Palestinians estimate the Americans are adopting de facto the plan presented by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

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Geneva Initiative relaunches its grassroots peace recipe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Talk about a settlement freeze distracts negotiators from the real issues - such as Jerusalem and refugees - that truly block the path to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, former Meretz Party leader Yossi Beilin told reporters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. He spoke on the same day that US special envoy George Mitchell met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to discuss halting construction in West Bank settlements.

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US to extend settlement talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

He has held an extra unscheduled meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, with another due on Friday. The US is seeking a moratorium on settlement building that would be acceptable to the Palestinian side. It hopes to re-launch peace talks with a Israeli-Palestinian-US summit at the UN General Assembly later this month. Bilateral talks have been suspended since December and Mr Mitchell has spoken of his "sense of urgency" to get them resume them. 'Positive conclusion'

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Parties bargain ahead of peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Like its predecessors in trying to solve the vexing riddle of Middle East peace, the Obama administration has sought to manage expectations for progress. But despite the best efforts of Washington, parties on all sides of the conflict now anticipate an early moment of truth for the young administration: the possibility that President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will announce an agreement next week, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting, to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

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How to get Mideast peace talks out of 'dark corner' of Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

A group representing prominent Israelis and Palestinians, including former negotiators, released a "cookbook" for peace on Tuesday designed to help decisionmakers reach a two-state solution to the conflict. The release of the Geneva Accord and Annexes coincided with the visit of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who met Tuesday with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He is just the kind of diplomatic "chef" that the group, known as the Geneva Initiative, is targeting.

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