Settlements, Gaza Cloud Israel-palestinian Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - February 12, 2008 - 7:20pm

Israeli plans to build 1,100 new homes in and around Arab East Jerusalem came under fire on Tuesday from Palestinians who see the city as the capital of their future state, clouding already troubled peace talks. Israeli officials cited "progress" after negotiators met for the first time on two consecutive days. But comments from ministers threatening new attacks on the Gaza Strip and vowing to expand Jewish settlements angered Palestinian leaders.

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The Us Helps Itself By Helping Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Samir Abdullah - February 12, 2008 - 7:13pm

In his final State of the Union address, US President George W. Bush said he believed that a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal would be a reality by the end of his term. Despite the optimism that his remarks generated in the Palestinian government, the goal of reaching a Palestinian-Israeli agreement by the end of 2008 - which Bush set at the Annapolis summit last year and again during his visit to Ramallah last month - remains subject to question, and this is a matter that merits immediate attention.

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Palestinian Divisions Serve No One
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) February 11, 2008 - 9:24pm

Palestinians themselves are first and foremost to blame for the breakdown in their internal relations and the split between Fateh and Hamas and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is especially true of the fierce military clashes in Gaza that led to this division between the two major Palestinian factions and the two main areas of Palestinian territory.

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Abbas: Fatah Ready To Control Crossings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Etgar Lefkovits - February 7, 2008 - 7:29pm

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that his security officials are ready to take responsibility for the border crossings in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as part of a moribund international border agreement that was scrapped after the Islamic group seized control over the coastal strip last year. "We are ready to take over responsibility of the crossing points together with the European Union, the Egyptians and the Israelis," Abbas told a group of European parliamentarians in his West Bank headquarters.

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Gaza Blockade Collective Punishment Says Hrw
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Palestine Chronicle
(Editorial) February 5, 2008 - 7:27pm

Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip is a collective punishment of the 1.5 million population of the small, overcrowded territory, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report on Thursday, January 31. "The Israeli and Western economic embargo of Gaza, Israel's almost total closure of Gaza's border crossings, ongoing lawlessness in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and heightened Israeli restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank contributed to a serious human rights and humanitarian crisis," said the report cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

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The Fate Of The Two-state Solution Hangs On Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Mousa Qous - (Opinion) February 4, 2008 - 7:53pm

Immediately after last November's Annapolis conference, Israel declared its intention to construct 307 new housing units in the Har Homa settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, in addition to building new settlements in the Almatar and Sheikh Jarrah areas of the city. Thus, Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert--who announced before the conference that he had ordered a freeze on all construction in West Bank settlements--started a battle even before negotiations had got under way.

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For The Cause, The Settlements Must Go
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Sheldon Schreter - January 31, 2008 - 6:11pm

Israelis seem to have lost their belief in the rightness of our cause, as various observers have recently noted with alarm. Whether you attribute this to ideological fatigue, the universal tendency to pursue personal and material goals over collective ones, or loss in the belief of God's promise of this Land to Abraham, there is real cause for concern. Given Israel's challenges and the demands placed on its citizens, a national consensus on war and peace, relations with our Arab neighbors, and over societal priorities is no luxury, but a necessity.

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Punishing Gaza Only Harms Those Backing Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) January 30, 2008 - 5:54pm

  When the Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness last week as a result of the Israeli fuel blockade, many people around the world were surprised. But the optimism produced by the Annapolis peace process, which included President George W. Bush's promise of an agreement in 2008 to create a Palestinian state, was clearly unrealistic.

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Eu Calls On Israel To Halt "illegal" Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur
January 29, 2008 - 6:53pm

The European Union's foreign ministers called on Israel on Monday to halt all settlement activity in Palestinian areas, saying that it was illegal.   "The EU considers that settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal under international law. This includes Israeli settlements in both East Jerusalem and the West Bank," the ministers said in a joint statement.

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Gaza’s Misery Has To Be Stopped
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
(Editorial) January 28, 2008 - 7:23pm

The tens of thousands of Palestinians who burst out of Gaza into Egypt this week in search of food, fuel and medicine have temporarily broken the siege that had tightened like a noose around this teeming territory ever since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last June. Like the lid coming off a pressure cooker, the blown-up border fence has avoided a bigger explosion – for now. But Gaza’s humanitarian disaster and conflict shows every sign it could escalate into war if it is not brought under control.

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