UN Chief Urges Israel to Halt Settlement Construction in Bid to Salvage Mideast Peace Efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon pressed Israel on Wednesday to do more to get flagging Mideast peace efforts back on track, calling for a halt in West Bank settlement construction and urging the Israelis to submit concrete proposals on the key issues of borders and security ties with a future Palestine.

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Deep in the Sinai, a looming Crisis Threatens Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Bradley Hope - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

CAIRO // The owner of a Sinai Peninsula holiday resort taken over by a group of armed Bedouin is refusing to pay the four million Egyptian pound (Dh2.4m) ransom the tribesmen are demanding. Hesham Nessim, proprietor of the Aqua-Sun Resort 30km south of Egypt's border with Israel, says he will wait them out or retake his property with police help. His brother Fouad says the Bedouin should expect a long stand-off. "It would be easier to go to the moon than to get that money from my brother," he told The National.

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U.N. chief tells Palestinians their state is long overdue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said an independent Palestinian state is long overdue. Ban arrived in Ramallah from Israel, where he met Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to keep the latest peace talks between the two sides going. At a news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the U.N. chief urged the Palestinians and Israelis to return to direct negotiations, stressing that “the two-state solution can be achieved only through negotiations.”

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Germany upgrades Palestinian diplomatic status
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Germany has upgraded the Palestinian diplomatic representation in Berlin from a delegation to a mission headed by an ambassador, visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle announced Wednesday. The decision followed similar steps in recent months by France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. It was seen as a boost to the Palestinian quest for international recognition. Germany is one of the most influential countries in Europe and one of Israel's most loyal allies.

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Sitting Pretty: Gaza Renews Furniture Exports
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Omar Ghraieb - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel’s blockade of goods coming into the Gaza Strip has been the target of flotillas and a cause for concern among human rights activists and economists alike. But the difficulty of getting products out of this tiny Mediterranean enclave is just as important to the well-being of its 1.7 million residents.

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Open-door policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) January 31, 2012 - 1:00am

His Majesty King Abdullah’s talks with Hamas politburo chief, Khaled Mishaal, in Amman came to reinforce Jordan’s commitment to help achieve Palestinian reconciliation and unity of ranks for the purpose of arriving at the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. The King also confirmed his unequivocal support for the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and invited Hamas to forge a united front with the PA, important if the Palestinians wish to acquire clout in facing Israel.

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The Region: Israel isn't about to hit Iran: Get used to it!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Barry Rubin - (Opinion) January 29, 2012 - 1:00am

The radio superhero The Shadow had the power to “cloud men’s minds.” But nothing clouds men’s minds like anything that has to do with Jews or Israel. For many centuries, bizarre notions have taken over when the thoughts of others turn toward the Jews. Rationality goes out the window. This process is often associated with anti-Semitism but, more broadly, it is a form of total mystification.

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Attempting to Answer the Arab Question
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The New York Times - January 27, 2012 - 1:00am

PARIS — Raised, if respectful voices at a private dinner party in Paris on Thursday. Among the guests — two Syrians, both anti-regime but with diametrically opposite analyses of what is going on in their home country. “We’re in the last quarter of an hour,” said the first guest, a very recent exile from Damascus, predicting the imminent demise of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

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Attempting to Answer the Arab Question
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The New York Times - January 27, 2012 - 1:00am

PARIS — Raised, if respectful voices at a private dinner party in Paris on Thursday. Among the guests — two Syrians, both anti-regime but with diametrically opposite analyses of what is going on in their home country. “We’re in the last quarter of an hour,” said the first guest, a very recent exile from Damascus, predicting the imminent demise of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

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EU still sees chance for Israel-Palestinian talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dale Gavlak - January 26, 2012 - 1:00am

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians is not at a dead end, the European Union's foreign policy chief said Thursday, hoping that contacts to get "real negotiations under way" will continue. "I don't think there's an impasse," Ashton told reporters following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Jordanian capital. Her remarks come a day after Abbas said informal talks between Israelis and Palestinians about the border of a future Palestinian state ended without any breakthrough.

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