Palestinian, Israeli leaders to visit Moscow next week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ria Novosti
by Sergei Piatakov - March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will visit Russia between March 22 and 24, the Kremlin said on Friday. Abbas will meet with President Dmitry Medvedev on March 22, the presidential press service said. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's office announced on Thursday that the premier will visit Russia on March 24. It is unclear, however, if the Israeli and Palestinian leaders will meet in Moscow.

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Regional upheaval may facilitate peace now for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Marwan Muasher, Javier Solana - (Opinion) March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

As revolutionary change sweeps across the Arab world, it is easy to think that now is not the time to push for peace between Israel and Palestine. Until the dust settles on the new Middle East, the old road maps seem dated, and conventional wisdom holds that to expect that progress toward a peace agreement can take place in the context of regional upheavals is an example of wishful thinking. But the opposite is true. Even with so many failed efforts in the past, there is a clear window of opportunity for the United States and Israel to urgently push for a lasting settlement.

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Jordan says Israeli settlements threaten Mideast peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Jordan's foreign minister said Wednesday that demographic and geographic changes in the Palestinian territories resulting from Israeli settlement activities have threatened the Middle East peace process, the state-run Petra news agency reported. During his meeting with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry, Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the unilateral Israeli measures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal.

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US Senators urge EU to keep Hamas on terror list
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

US Senators sent a letter to the EU Thursday urging that Hamas not be taken off its terror list following The Jerusalem Post’s report that the PA was lobbying for such a change. “We urge you to encourage the Palestinian Authority to put more pressure on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize the Jewish State of Israel and accept all prior agreements, rather than pursuing diplomatic schemes that undermine the peace process,” stated the letter. It was co-authored by Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) and Bill Nelson (D-Florida), and signed by 14 other colleagues from both sides of the aisle.

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Gay Community Faces Rift Over Cancellation of a Pro-Palestinian Fundraiser
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

They’ve long faced off on college campuses and in the media, and now Israel’s supporters and detractors are in a pitched battle for the hearts and minds of the gay and lesbian community. This fight bubbled over earlier in March when New York’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center canceled a pro-Palestinian group’s event for which the center had rented its space. The cancellation followed complaints from supporters of Israel within the gay community.

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Clinton: Egypt will keep the peace with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Egypt's foreign policy will change, but it has an interest in sustaining its peace accords with Israel, Hillary Rodham Clinton said. "I think there will be different decisions" on foreign policy, the U.S. secretary of state told NPR on Wednesdaty after she toured Egypt. It was Clinton's first visit there since the revolution that ousted longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, who had maintained the Camp David accords with Israel.

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Uruguay officially recognizes Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The government of Uruguay on Tuesday announced its official recognition of the Palestinian State as an independent and sovereign country, and reaffirmed its commitment to the Middle East peace process, the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry said. "The reasons for this decision are not any other than Uruguay's strong commitment to the peace process," the ministry said in a statement, expressing Uruguay's wish for the Palestinian and Israeli people to live and "co-exist in peace." This decision "is also the result of the progressive strengthening of

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Jordan urges for two-state solution to end Palestinian-Israel conflicts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Jordan on Tuesday called on the international community to pressure the Israeli government to achieve the two-state solution by the end of September. Stressing that developments in the region should not deviate attention away from the Palestinian issue, which is the core issue in the region, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Tuesday that continued Israeli settlement activities threaten the two-state solution.

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France says EU recognition of Palestinian state a 'possibility'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
March 15, 2011 - 12:00am

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday that European Union recognition of a Palestinian state could be a "possibility that should be kept in mind," according to AFP. "There's no point recognizing the Palestinian state on our own. It must be done together," AFP quoted Juppe as saying about recognition by EU countries. "Personally we're not there yet, I think that it's a possibility that should be kept in mind," he said.

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When is Israel’s turn?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) March 11, 2011 - 1:00am

The recent popular uprisings and demonstrations in a number of Arab countries, largely motivated by desire for more freedom and better economic conditions, have already achieved many tangible results, despite the various complications they are encountering.

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