Palestinian PM fears Israeli offer of 'Mickey Mouse' state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 14, 2009 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Wednesday he feared Israel intended to create a "Mickey Mouse" Palestinian state on only limited parts of the occupied West Bank.   "You cannot but wonder what it is that Israel has in mind when it talks about a Palestinian state," Fayyad told a press briefing in the West Bank town of Ramallah. "By all appearances, it looks like they have a Mickey Mouse state in mind, and that is not what we are looking for."

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Defiant Abbas Reiterates Conditions Before Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Howard Schneider - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday seemed to distance himself from U.S. efforts to restart peace talks and defended his recent handling of a report on war crimes in the Gaza Strip in a defiant televised address meant to boost his political standing amid growing criticism.

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U.S. upholds contiguous Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell told reporters after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday that Washington supports the creation of a Palestinian state with "contiguous territory." The "contiguous" Palestinian state suggests that Palestinians would be able to travel between any two places of their future state without entering Israel. Analysts believe that Mitchell was reassuring Palestinians over its position of upholding the creation of a Palestinian state.

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Only gall and nothing more
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Is the discourse we are conducting - if indeed we are conducting any discourse among ourselves and with our interlocutor - legitimate at all? Ever since the territories were occupied a public debate has been going on here about their future and what is being done there. The questions have come and gone, all of them in the same cursed vein: To give? To concede? Under what conditions? In exchange for what?

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Israel: Airstike on Gaza tunnels following Strip projectile launch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli warplanes blasted two areas in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday morning, reportedly following the launch of a projectile from the northern Strip hours earlier. Israeli news sources said the pilots hit two smuggling tunnels at Rafah. One tunnel worker was killed by an electrical shock in a nearby tunnel shortly following the strikes.

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How we didn't defeat Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yehuda Ben Meir - (Opinion) September 30, 2009 - 12:00am

There is great rejoicing in the settler camp and among its supporters on the right. As they see it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defeated U.S. President Barack Obama in an arm wrestling match when, at the tripartite summit, the latter had to retreat from his demand for a total settlement freeze. The settlement freeze, say the settlers, is off the agenda and the danger of American pressure from the school of Barack Hussein Obama has vanished from the earth.

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Israel, U.S. working on bridging issues to restart PA talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel and the U.S. will continue their talks in Washington tomorrow on bridging the open issues between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that are delaying the reopening of peace negotiations. Formulating the framework for the negotiations and the "terms of reference" are the focus of the talks in Washington. At the same time the sides will continuing negotiating over the length of the settlement construction freeze.

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Yearning for the Golan Heights: why Syria wants it back
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Julien Barnes-Dacey - September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

The US demonstrated its commitment to reengage Syria as a partner for Middle East peace Monday, advancing a process that some Arab countries had declared dead in recent weeks. At Washington's invitation – the first one extended to a high-ranking Syrian official in five years – Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad came to town to meet US officials.

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Absurd Negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Bilal Hassen - (Opinion) September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

US President Barak Obama has himself declared that the attempt he made for launching Palestinian-Israeli negotiations based on halting settlement construction has ended. Netanyahu challenged him, declaring that he will not freeze settlement construction. Afterward, the US president invited Netanyahu for a meeting at the White House. He even announced on behalf of the superpower that success had been made on which we can build.

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A Middle East Handshake
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) September 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The Summit President Obama convened Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fell well short of the administration's hopes. Mr. Obama had wanted to announce agreement on the opening of talks on the creation of a Palestinian state, with a deadline of two years. He wanted to outline agreements on how those negotiations would proceed and some of the principles that would underpin them.

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