Israeli Neighborhood Haunts Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Sarah El Deeb - December 18, 2007 - 12:23pm

The Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, with its white stone buildings and billboards hawking new real estate projects, now has managed to disrupt Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for the second time in a decade. Israel's announcement this month that it plans to build 307 new homes in this east Jerusalem neighborhood, on land Palestinians want for the capital of their future state, drew international condemnation. The plan was the first wrench thrown into peace negotiations relaunched last week after a violent seven-year hiatus.

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Donor Nations To Ask Israel To Remove Roadblocks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Assaf Uni - December 17, 2007 - 1:29pm

The international donors conference to the Palestinian Authority is expected to issue a statement here today calling on Israel to remove roadblocks in the West Bank, European diplomatic sources said over the weekend. Representatives of the participating Arab countries are expected to criticize Israel sharply over the issues of roadblocks, the Gaza closure and construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa. The PA is hoping the donors conference will raise pledges for the unprecedented sum of $5.6 billion over the next three years.

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No Peace Without Justice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
December 13, 2007 - 1:05pm

Negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis started yesterday under a cloud. Understandably, both sides preferred to keep their talks as low-key as possibly, choosing a secret location in Jerusalem rather than, as expected, the King David Hotel [where Jewish terrorists once killed British soldiers]. One suspects that this decision came at the behest of the Palestinian team who could hardly afford to be seen grinning and backslapping at that place while Palestinians were being killed in Gaza and yet more land is set to be confiscated in the West Bank.

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Angry Start To Palestinian Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - December 13, 2007 - 1:02pm

The first formal Israeli Palestinian negotiating process for seven years made an acrimonious start yesterday in the shadow of plans for new Jewish housing in Arab East Jerusalem and the threat of military escalation in Gaza. Palestinian negotiators used the first session since the international Middle East conference in Annapolis to express their outrage over plans for an expansion of the settlement of Har Homa - already criticised by the US, EU and UK government.

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Prerequisites For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
by Mustafa Barghouthi - December 13, 2007 - 12:58pm

As one who for decades has supported a two-state solution and the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian rights, I view the recent conference in Annapolis with a great deal of skepticism - and a glimmer of hope. Seven years with no negotiations - and increasing numbers of Israeli settlers, an economic blockade in Gaza and an intricate network of roadblocks and checkpoints stifling movement in the West Bank - have led us to despair and distrust. Any commitment must be made not only to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008 but also to end Israel's occupation.

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Icrc Says Israeli Clamps Worsen Gaza And W.bank Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Stephanie Nebehay - December 13, 2007 - 12:50pm

Israeli restrictions have caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank that is growing worse, leaving hospitals unable to treat the sick and keeping farmers off their land, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. In a statement issued on Thursday, the neutral humanitarian agency called on Israel to "lift the retaliatory measures which are paralyzing life in Gaza" and urged Palestinian factions to stop targeting civilian areas and putting lives at risk.

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From Annapolis To Har Homa
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) December 12, 2007 - 5:44pm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded explanations from her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, last week about the plan to build another 300 apartments in the Har Homa neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Rice did not make do with posing a question to Livni; she hastened to go public with the Bush Administration's objections to the plan.

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Israel 60 Years On - Partition Or Apartheid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Gwynne Dyer - December 12, 2007 - 5:36pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was just back from the Annapolis summit where President George W. Bush tried to reboot the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More importantly, November 29 was also the 60th anniversary of the United Nations vote that divided British-ruled Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. That promised Arab state still doesn’t exist, of course, but if the peace talks fail to produce it in the end, Olmert told the newspaper Haaretz, then Israel is “finished”.

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Palestinians Demand Halt To Settlements As Peace Talks Begin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by David Batty - December 12, 2007 - 5:29pm

The first formal Middle East peace negotiations in seven years got off to a tense start today with the Palestinian Authority demanding a halt to Israeli plans to build settlements on disputed territory. Palestinian negotiators said the planned construction in the Har Homa neighbourhood in disputed east Jerusalem, along with Israeli military activity in Gaza, threatened to undermine the new peace talks.

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Creative Approaches Needed In Mideast Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Philadelphia Inquirer
by Eric Trager - (Opinion) December 12, 2007 - 5:21pm

The Annapolis Conference heralded a new strategy in Middle East peacemaking. Whereas conventional wisdom held that domestically strong Israeli and Arab leaders were a prerequisite for fruitful negotiations, Annapolis attempted to work backward, using negotiations to strengthen two very weak leaders.

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