Return Gaza to Egypt: It will help Israel – and the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Dashiell Shapiro - (Editorial) March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

The departure of Hosni Mubarak generates fear in Western capitals, and for good reasons. Egypt has been a steadfast ally of the West for decades, as it maintained peace with Israel and worked against Iranian influence in the region. Many Western leaders are frightened to realize that all this may evaporate if anti-Western forces, including the Muslim Brotherhood, gain power in a new government. But a new reality in Egypt may also present opportunities for peacemaking in the region that would have been unthinkable only weeks ago.

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For J Streeters, pro-Palestinian is pro-Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Uriel Heilman - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

The detractors of J Street, the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobbying organization, like to portray the organization's leader, Jeremy Ben-Ami, as so far to the left of mainstream American Jewish opinion as to be out of bounds. If they think Ben-Ami is too much of a lefty on Israel, just wait till they meet J Street's rank and file.

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Jehan Sadat: Egypt-Israel peace treaty not in danger at all
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

The peace treaty between Israel and Egypt is not in danger and all opposition groups said they will respect international treaties, said Jehan Sadat Tuesday night in an interview with Channel 10 News. Jehan, the widow of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat who signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1979, said she does not think there will be any changes made to the treaty and that "the people will not let there be any changes."

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Peace now, with Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

One needs to be nuts in order to endorse peace negotiations with Syria at this time, no? Today, with turmoil all around us, as Egypt burns, Libya is in flames, and the same is happening in Yemen, Oman, and Bahrain? Right now? After all, what’s so wrong with the quiet that prevails on the Syrian border? For 37 years now there have been no clashes with the Syrian army on the Golan Heights. No casualties were reported and their soldiers (or so we believe) are terrified in their own bunkers, fearing the rush of Israeli tanks into Syria. So why now of all times?

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Israel's Barak: Must look beyond risks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel's defense minister said Monday that his country would be ready to talk peace with Syria if Damascus were serious about doing so — a sharp departure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's go-slow approach to peacemaking while the Middle East is in turmoil . Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel must look beyond the risks arising from the changes sweeping the Middle East, where longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt have been toppled and the 42-year dictatorship of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi is under assault from opposition forces.

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Jordan FM stresses Palestinian statehood non-negotiable right for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Jordanian foreign minister said on Sunday the Palestinian statehood is a non-negotiable right for the Palestinian people. In a joint press conference with Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh stressed that the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian soil with East Jerusalem as its capital is a non-negotiable right. The Jordanian foreign minister said that developments in the Middle East must not divert attention away from the Palestinian issue, which is a central issue in the region.

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At J Street Conference, Israeli Politicians Are Scarce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - February 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Although relations between J Street and the Israeli government had thawed in the past year, the group’s recent refusal to denounce a U.N. resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policy has soured relations once again. J Street’s second annual conference is, therefore, taking place without any official representatives of the Israeli government in attendance.

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How the Arabs Turned Shame Into Liberty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fouad Ajami - (Opinion) February 26, 2011 - 1:00am

PERHAPS this Arab Revolution of 2011 had a scent for the geography of grief and cruelty. It erupted in Tunisia, made its way eastward to Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, then doubled back to Libya. In Tunisia and Egypt political freedom seems to have prevailed, with relative ease, amid popular joy. Back in Libya, the counterrevolution made its stand, and a despot bereft of mercy declared war against his own people.

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Luxembourg FM visits Gaza, calls for ending Israeli blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 25, 2011 - 1:00am

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Assleborn visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday and called on Israel to lift a tight blockade that had been imposed on the enclave for more than three years. Assleborn, who is also a deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, arrived in the Gaza Strip earlier on Friday, from Israel, for a several-hour visit in the enclave. "My message to Israel is very clear. If you like your children please like and love the children in Gaza and give them a possibility to live under better and normal conditions," Assleborn told a new briefing in Gaza.

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For the Mideast, a code for rising democracies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Tzipi Livni - (Editorial) February 24, 2011 - 1:00am

These are days of momentous change in the Middle East. Courageous thousands have flooded the streets demanding their rights as citizens and as human beings. Calls for democracy - as a system of values that seeks to protect these rights - stem not from some foreign dictate but from an inner hunger for freedom. Much has been said in recent years about the "clash of civilizations," about the conflict between extremists and moderates, between coercion and freedom. And yet today, this battle is being waged at least as much within societies as between them.

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