Simply Lies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) December 10, 2007 - 7:11pm

It is impossible to announce the beginning of a new settlement at the end of Annapolis and say you truly desire peace. The good intentions of Israel, as it has pronounced them with regards to peace, are simply lies. Just because Israel’s decision to build more homes on occupied land comes on the heels of the Annapolis summit does not make the move any more appalling. Building more settlements on Palestinian land is against the law, pure and simple, regardless of Annapolis.

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Vol. 9, Issue 13
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Middle East Peace Report - (Special Report) December 3, 2007 - 4:17pm

 

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Without A Process, Aid To Palestinians Will Do Little
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Mohammed Samhouri - (Opinion) November 30, 2007 - 5:51pm

The Palestinian economy has been in an ever-deepening crisis since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, a crisis rooted in and perpetuated by an extremely inauspicious political setting.

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After Annapolis, Abbas Faces Hamas Challenge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi And Adam Entous - (Analysis) November 30, 2007 - 5:09pm

A U.S.-backed push for a future Palestinian state hinges on President Mahmoud Abbas doing what may seem impossible -- getting Hamas Islamists to give up the Gaza Strip and disarm. Abbas has done little to explain how he expects to achieve such a feat, either through new elections or militarily. He and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched their peoples' first formal peace talks in seven years this week with the goal of forging a deal next year to create a state in Gaza and the West Bank, together home to 4 million Palestinians.

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When The Party’s Over: From Annapolis To Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by Sadie Goldman With Jason Proetorius And Ipf Staff - (Opinion) November 30, 2007 - 4:57pm

The only certainty at the outset of the Annapolis conference on Tuesday was that few predicted positive results.  

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Peace Talks Are Likely To Fail, Just As The 'road Map' Did
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) November 29, 2007 - 5:09pm

The Annapolis conference on Tuesday was full of lofty rhetoric, intriguing new promises, a few bold commitments, and a tantalizing cast of characters - alongside plenty of rehashed rhetoric, rigid positions, and regurgitated, failed diplomatic mechanisms. It left us with as many questions as answers about whether this was a serious Arab-Israeli peace-making endeavor, or a hoax garnished with Chesapeake Bay clam cakes.

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Us Takes Ownership Of Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Harvey Morris - November 29, 2007 - 5:02pm

When George W. Bush this week read out the words of what historians will no doubt come to call the Annapolis Declaration, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders peered over his shoulder as if trying to read for the first time the terms of the contract they had just signed. Low down in the fine print was a clause that handed the US president ownership of the peace process as monitor and judge of their performance during the remaining year of his term.

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In Mideast Peace Process, How Big A Role Will Bush Play?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Howard Lafranchi - November 29, 2007 - 4:57pm

After President Bush's high-profile speech Tuesday at the Annapolis meeting on Middle East peace and Wednesday's scheduled Rose Garden appearance with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, there are still questions about just how involved the United States will be in the relaunched negotiations. How intense a role will Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has logged more than 100,000 miles this year addressing the conflict, now play? Will the administration name a special envoy to monitor progress in specific areas?

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The Major Breakthrough: Bush Agrees To Arbiter Role
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - November 28, 2007 - 3:56pm

The most striking concession to emerge from the Palestinian-Israeli talks this week came neither from the Israelis nor the Palestinians, but from the Bush administration. The United States agreed to become the sole arbiter of peace agreements between the sides -- not only an about-face from a seven-year policy of "let the sides duke it out," but an unprecedented venture into waters even the hyper-involved President Clinton feared to enter.

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Israel, P.a. Agree To Strive For Accord By End Of 2008
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Barak Ravid - November 28, 2007 - 3:55pm

Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed Tuesday to immediately launch peace negotiations in order to reach an agreement by the end of 2008, President Bush said in his remarks at the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to his prepared address, Bush read a joint statement agreed on by the sides during last-minute negotiations at the summit.

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