For peace, there may be no time like the present
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) September 23, 2010 - 12:00am

When the moratorium on Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank expires is somewhat unclear. Some say it ends on September 26; others at the end of the month. What is absolutely clear, however, is that the moratorium must be extended.

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Norway: Deputy FM Ayalon ‘distorted the facts’ about meeting with Palestinian PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Shamir - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Norway's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon of “distorting the facts” in regards to his Tuesday meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in New York. Ayalon told Haaretz on Tuesday that a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which coordinates financial aid for Palestinians, ended abruptly due to a disagreement between Fayyad and Ayalon on the terms of a two-state solution.

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Turkey lauds UN report on Gaza flotilla
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu praised Thursday the UN Human Right Council's report on the Gaza flotilla, telling Anatolia news agency that the report was fair, impartial and used strong evidence. The report, compiled by three United Nations appointed human rights experts, said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine activists, earlier this year.

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Israel jails Arab activists for vague ‘contact with a foreign agent’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

A vague security offence of “contact with a foreign agent” is being used by Israel’s secret police, the Shin Bet, to lock up Arab political activists in Israel without evidence that a crime has been committed, human rights lawyers alleged this week. The lawyers said the Shin Bet was exploiting the law to characterise innocent or accidental meetings between members of Israel’s large Arab minority and Arab foreign nationals as criminal activity.

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Meeting again with Jewish leaders, Abbas broaches substance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

For Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Jewish leaders, their second date featured a little more substance and a little less flirtation. And this time the Palestinian Authority president brought a wing man. Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, met separately Tuesday evening with Jewish leaders in New York -- a sign of understanding on the Palestinian side of the importance of Jewish sensibilities, in Israel and the Diaspora, to advancing the peace process.

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The Tehran tangle in Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Manual Hassassian, Edward Edy Kaufman - (Opinion) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Success in the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will depend on active bridging by the third party, the United States. At the same time, we should not forget the destructive role played in the past and present by spoilers on both sides, as well as others further afield. As the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, stated last month, "the enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and derail these talks".

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Mitchell: Obama seeks Mideast normalization
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

US envoy to the Mideast peace process George Mitchell said Wednesday that Palestinian and Israeli leaders were tackling the tough issues up front during talks in Jerusalem. Mitchell spoke with reporters following a trilateral meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mitchell himself.

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U.S. confirms intense efforts to restart Israel-Syria peace efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel, Barak Ravid - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell confirmed at a press conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the United States is making intense efforts to restart negotiations between Israel and Syria. Mitchell said U.S. President Barack Obama has been briefed on the results of these efforts. Mitchell said Washington did not consider the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations a barrier to Israeli-Syria talks. On the contrary, he said, the two tracks could help each other.

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Plan B for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

On October 5, 1995, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin presented the Oslo 2 accord to the Knesset. In the speech he made on that momentous occasion, Rabin pledged that in the final-status agreement, Jerusalem would remain united, the settlement blocs would remain part of Israel and the security border would be the Jordan Valley. He also said Israel would not return to the June 4, 1967 lines and that the Palestinians would run their own lives in the framework of an entity that would be less than a state.

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Israeli-Palestinian peace talks under threat from Hamas. Can Syria help?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Nicholas Blanford - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

With Gaza rocket fire and Israeli air strikes providing a potent reminder of Hamas's potential to destabilize Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, US envoy George Mitchell arrived in Syria today looking to secure broader regional support. While Syrian leaders have repeatedly expressed support for restarting peace talks with Israel, few expect an imminent breakthrough on that front. But where Syria could play a crucial role in the short term is in helping the US shore up the recently renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks.

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