Defying Blockade, Cargo and Passenger Vessels Head for Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel braced Friday for a showdown with a flotilla of nine vessels carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists and thousands of tons of supplies headed for Gaza. It was the most ambitious attempt so far to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Hamas-run coastal enclave. The flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats, led by the Free Gaza Movement and a Turkish organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi, converged at sea from a number of countries over the last 10 days.

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Political coup? Israel welcomed into OECD despite criticism over Gaza, settlements.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Erin Cunningham - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel won an important symbolic victory against its international critics today, as it officially joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Membership in the elite, staunchly capitalist 31-member club has long been sought by Israel as a stamp of approval on its efforts to transform itself from a nation of socialist farmers to a high-tech powerhouse that dramatically outperforms its Middle Eastern neighbors.

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UN peace envoy: 2-state solution urgent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 26, 2010 - 12:00am

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry spoke Tuesday of the urgency of achieving the two state solution at a UN International Meeting in Turkey.

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Rahm Emanuel invites Netanyahu to discuss 'shared security interests' with Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - May 26, 2010 - 12:00am

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington for talks with the U.S. President Obama on regional peace and security. "On behalf of the President I am happy to extend an invitation to visit President Obama in the White House for a working meeting to discuss our shared security interests, as well as our close co-operation in achieving peace between Israel and its neighbors," Emanuel told Netanyahu at the prime minister's Jerusalem office.

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'Palestinians are hijacked by Iran'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas came out against Iran on Wednesday, calling his people "hijacked, at the hands of the Iranians." "The decision-making power is not in our hands," he told Egyptian television station Nile TV, possibly referring to Hamas's refusal to reconcile with Fatah at Teheran's behest. "The Palestinian people's unity... is not in our hands."

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It's not too late for Israel to make peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Maybe it's a coincidence, but the day on which the massive Home Front drill began marked the 10th anniversary of Israel's hasty retreat from Lebanon, after 1,216 fatalities and a bitter taste of failure. That wretched war had many names, but most of all it was called "the war of deceit," because the cabinet was led astray. Those who led us to war promised a 48-hour operation but ended up going all the way to Beirut. The war, in its different phases, lasted 18 years.

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Bring in the third parties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have finally been renewed. Even though the current round of talks is not direct, the parties are dealing with the core issues with the goal of reaching a permanent status agreement at some point. According to news reports, the first topics on the agenda are borders and security arrangements, both of which will rapidly lead to negotiations on Jerusalem and refugees.

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Mideast peace is a global issue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Saad Hariri - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Previous reconciliation efforts fell on deaf ears, feeding the fanaticism that now plagues the world, says Saad Hariri. The time for arbitration may be at hand. In the fall of 1991, I was an undergraduate student at Georgetown University, following the coverage of the Madrid peace conference. In the Spanish capital, the United States had managed to gather Arabs and Israelis around a table with the aim of ending what was then half a century of war and desperation, whose first victims were the people of the region, including the people of my country, Lebanon.

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UN chief urges Israel to restrain in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel here on Tuesday to exercise particular restraint in East Jerusalem and halt demolishment and settlement expansion. The UN chief made the appeal in his message at the opening session of the United Nations International Meeting in Support for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. The secretary-general said in his message: "The parties must avoid provocations or breaches of the Roadmap or international law, which will only create new crisis of confidence."

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Transcript: Shimon Peres
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
(Interview) May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Peres said Israel's survival as a Jewish state depended on its ability to conclude a two-state peace deal with the Palestinians. Below is an edited transcript. The Wall Street Journal: Where should we begin?

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