In Annapolis, Conflict By Other Means
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report
by Robert Blecher , Mouin Rabbani - November 27, 2007 - 1:33pm

At an intersection in front of Nablus city hall, a pair of women threaded a knot of waiting pedestrians, glanced left, then dashed across the street. “What’s this?” an onlooker chastised them. “Can’t you see the red light?” Not long after, his patience exhausted, the self-appointed traffic cop himself stepped off the curb and made his way to the other side of the boulevard.

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Bush: 'battle Is Underway For The Future' Of Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Michael Abramowitz, Glenn Kessler - November 27, 2007 - 1:25pm

Opening a Middle East peace conference in Annapolis this morning, President Bush said that peace must be pursued because "a battle is underway for the future" of the region "and we must not cede victory to the extremists."

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Defiant Hamas Rules By Fear In Isolated Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by Marie Colvin - November 26, 2007 - 1:00pm

The nights in Gaza belong to the Izzedine al-Qassam brigades. On potholed streets in the border city of Rafah last week, disciplined rows of fighters bristling with guns and rocket launchers listened to a midnight pep talk from their commander before melting into the darkness. The militia that was once the underground military wing of Hamas, the Islamic extremist organisation, has become a feared unofficial army controlling this isolated strip of Palestinian territory.

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Deja Vu, Again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Editorial) November 26, 2007 - 12:58pm

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, said yesterday that he would attend next week's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. Syria might also attend, although it is not clear at what level. The two last building blocks appear to be in place for an event which will relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for the first time in seven years. The real question is: will any of the noble declarations that we will get next week - from Mahmoud Abbas, Ehud Olmert and George Bush - mean anything?

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Un Official Says Israel's Siege Of Gaza Breeds Extremism And Human Suffering
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:36pm

A senior United Nations official has issued an unprecedented appeal to British MPs to use their influence to try to alleviate the impact of "indiscriminate" and "illegal" Israeli sanctions in Gaza which display "profound inhumanity" and are "serving the agenda of extremists".

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Proceed Steadily But Firmly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - November 22, 2007 - 10:41pm

After seven years of stalled negotiations between Israel and Palestine, one could possibly not presume that all problems would be solved by one summit, let alone a summit that had been penciled in just as the two old enemies had reconvened dialogue.

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If Annapolis Fails, What Then?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - (Opinion) November 22, 2007 - 10:27pm

Days away from the Annapolis peace parley, the glaring weaknesses of both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are raising significant questions about the long-term viability of the renewed peace process and the consequences of failure. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who may have wanted to use the conference as a dramatic breakthrough in peacemaking with the Palestinians, finds his hands tied by hawks in his coalition government.

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Israel Takes Steps To Attract Arab States To Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - November 20, 2007 - 1:39pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, hoping to draw more Arab countries to a U.S.-sponsored peace conference this month, persuaded his cabinet Monday to endorse the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and restated a pledge to stop building new Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

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Peace Is Possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - (Special Report) November 19, 2007 - 4:40pm

Like so many Palestinians of his generation, Sari Nusseibeh looks back at years of struggle that have achieved precious little. His entire adult life has been spent in the shadow of conflict with Israel and it is difficult to find even a glimmer of optimism that it is going to be resolved any time soon.

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A History Of Nonviolence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Prospect
by Matthew Duss - November 19, 2007 - 4:34pm

Naim Ateek had just turned 11 when forces of the Haganah, the pre-Israel Zionist paramilitary organization, occupied his village of Beisan in Palestine. Days later, the villagers were informed that they were to be "evacuated," forcibly moved off land that Palestine's Jewish minority now claimed for its own state.

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