Abbas offended by Egypt, turns to Saudia Arabia
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - January 26, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under firm Egyptian pressure aimed at forcing him to agree to the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel. According to the London-based Arabic-language al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, Abbas refused to restart the talks based on an American proposal that he must waive his demand for a complete freeze in the construction of settlements.

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Middle East needs bridges, not walls
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Linda S. Heard - (Opinion) January 26, 2010 - 1:00am

Middle East peace has rarely seemed as remote as it does now. Instead of coming up with solutions, those involved are hurling accusations, erecting fences or throwing up their hands in despair. The longer this dangerous impasse continues the more the cauldron of violence threatens to boil over. None of the parties are immune from criticism, although some are more to blame than others.

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Israel and Palestinians prepare for battle over UN report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck, Harvey Morris - January 25, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel and the Palestinian Authority are preparing for a fresh diplomatic battle over the controversial United Nations report alleging that Israel and the Islamist Hamas group committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Both sides are under pressure to show they are implementing the report's recommendations before February 5, when Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, is due to issue a progress report on the issue to the UN General Assembly. Israel, in particular, is bracing itself for further condemnation in a forum that Israeli diplomats have long regarded as hostile to their country.

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Remarks to Americans for Peace Now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Committee on Foreign Affairs
by Howard Berman - January 24, 2010 - 1:00am

Thank you, Luis (Lainer), for that introduction, and thanks as well to Americans for Peace Now for this invitation to speak with you. I am very gratified that you have awarded the Yitzhak Rabin Peace Prize to my friend of nearly 50 years, Irwin Levin. Everyone here knows how much he deserves it. We’ve had a warm and productive relationship for many years now. I admire and share your firm commitment to peace, even on those occasions when we disagree about how best to achieve it.

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Will European action follow rhetoric?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) January 22, 2010 - 1:00am

Just as the United States apparently is gearing up for phase two of its foray into Arab-Israeli peace-making diplomacy, some Europeans seem to be awakening from their long slumber on the issue. Several symbolic or rhetorical gestures in recent weeks indicate that the European Union wants at least to raise its voice and profile on Arab-Israeli peace-making. Its approach is intriguing, given Europe’s potential to play a more activist role in promoting the rule of law as the basis for any negotiated agreement.

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Israel needs to look itself in the mirror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

The row that took place recently between Israel and Turkey when the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon undiplomatically "rebuked" the Turkish ambassador to Israel during a humiliating encounter over a Turkish television programme critical of Israel reminds me of the saying, "The [black Israeli] pot calls the [shiny Turkish] kettle black." The Turkish ambassador, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, was led to a low-level seat in the minister's office while the Israeli deputy foreign minister and a colleague sat on higher chairs.

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US could tip its hand on peace plan during West Bank visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, is scheduled to arrive today for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a long-awaited visit that should give some indication of the next step for US peacemaking efforts between the two sides.

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Obama's year-one: low marks for all
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) January 20, 2010 - 1:00am

The first anniversary of Barack Obama’s presidency is a good time to review his performance in the Middle East, and the Middle East’s performance vis-à-vis the United States. The exercise is depressing, but useful, especially when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict that remains the central destabilizing factor in the wider region. It is unfair only to measure Obama’s performance, and ignore the Israeli and Arab principal players in this prolonged drama of stalemate and stagnation.

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The PA will have to yield to pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Sami Abdel-shafi - (Analysis) January 18, 2010 - 1:00am

It seems ever more evident that while the US-led international community is urging a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Palestinians increasingly feel the exercise is fruitless. More and more Palestinians are questioning the use of what has become a perpetual on-again off-again process.

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So who is Israel’s one true friend? Clue: it isn’t the US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) January 16, 2010 - 1:00am

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, an old American slogan says. By that measure the US has hardly been a real friend to Israel over the past decade. It has enabled a pattern of Israeli behaviour so reckless as to endanger Israel’s prospects of ever achieving peaceful coexistence with the states and peoples around it. An aggressive drunk often reserves his most toxic invective for those of his friends who tell him the truth: that his behaviour is intolerable, is dangerous to himself and others, and can’t be allowed to continue.

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