No Clear Way Forward For Middle East Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Philip Stephens - (Opinion) November 16, 2007 - 4:14pm

Some time ago I asked one of Europe’s foreign ministers why we should hold out any hopes for the forthcoming Annapolis conference on the Middle East. Had something changed to suggest Israelis and Palestinians would strike the bargain that has so long eluded them?

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Asharq Al-awsat Interviews Mahmud Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali El-saleh - (Interview) November 14, 2007 - 1:12pm

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Following your meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, you spoke with a sign of optimism. Was there a breakthrough that you did not disclose?

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The Prime Minister Vs. Public Opinion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - (Opinion) November 13, 2007 - 3:54pm

Most commentaries inundating the press at the moment meticulously analyze the consequences of a failed summit and center on the probable break out of another Intifada, as highlighted by Ahmad Qurei. This may well be the case but it is important to recognize that a successful summit could also cause uproar amongst Israelis which in turn could affect the Palestinians and hinder any positive steps taken.

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Mideast: All Not Quite Aboard For Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Peter Hirschberg - November 12, 2007 - 1:37pm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has again paid a visit to the Middle East, held meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, spoken about the seriousness of the two sides in their efforts to revive the peace process, but has again left the region without issuing invitations to a planned U.S.-led peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland.

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U.s. And Israel Play Down Hopes For Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - November 12, 2007 - 1:30pm

The American-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected by the end of the month looks to be thin on content, mostly serving as a stage to begin formal negotiations on a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli and American officials have been so busy dampening expectations that they are not even calling the event a conference anymore, instead referring to it merely as a “meeting.”

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The Skeptic And The Believer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) November 9, 2007 - 6:30pm

Defense Minister Ehud Barak rose to speak at the annual conference of the Saban Forum in Jerusalem, on Monday of this week. Unlike Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Quartet envoy and former British prime minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had delivered their speeches the previous evening directly into the cameras transmitting directly into the news broadcasts, Barak maintained ambiguity and his remarks were ostensibly intended only for closed discussion.

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Time For Modesty In The Middle East Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Richard Naass - (Opinion) November 9, 2007 - 6:29pm

"Ripeness is all," concludes Edgar in King Lear. I will leave it to Shakespeare scholars to decipher what he had in mind. But for diplomats and historians, understanding the concept of ripeness is central to their jobs: it refers to how ready a negotiation or conflict is to be resolved.

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Whose Road Map?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeff Halper - November 8, 2007 - 3:43pm

As did his pronouncements last August in Jericho, where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated a willingness to withdraw from an area equivalent to 100% of the occupied territories, his latest declarations to the Saban Forum, in the presence of Condoleezza Rice and Tony Blair, sounded promising, even stirring.

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'failure Risks Devastating Consequences'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lee Hamilton , Carla Hills , Nancy Kassebaum-baker , Thomas R. Pickering, Brent Scowcroft - (Commentary) November 8, 2007 - 3:27pm

The following letter on the Middle East peace conference scheduled for Annapolis, Maryland, in late November, was sent by its signers on October 10 to President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The statement is a joint initiative of the US/Middle East Project, Inc. (General Brent Scowcroft, chairman, International Board, and Henry Siegman, president), the International Crisis Group (Gareth Evans, president), and the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program (Steven Clemons, director).

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Olmert: Core Issues Are On The Annapolis Agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - November 5, 2007 - 2:40pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took the stage at the Saban Forum on Sunday evening in Jerusalem, and delivered an impassioned speech promising to seriously pursue current Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, saying that "all the fundamental questions and substantial problems will be on the table at Annapolis."

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