Palestinian Forces Dilute Hebron’s Volatile Brew
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - November 24, 2008 - 8:00pm

It was a scene that revealed both its medieval origins and its contemporary significance. On one side of the concrete schoolyard sat the Rajabi clan, wearing their finest kaffiyeh headdresses. On the other side were the Ajnounis, similarly decked out. These ancient Hebron families had been feuding in the lawlessness of this city, leaving nine dead in recent months. Yet here they were last week, brought together by the newly installed Palestinian security forces, and being obliged to reconcile.

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What preoccupies young Palestinian minds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttub - November 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

The occupation is foremost on Palestinian youth’s mind. This was made clear in the Palestinian village of Beita, near Nablus, at an event held on November 17: the opening of the youth development resource centre, funded by USAID and some private international technical companies.

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Middle East Priorities For Jan. 21
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft - (Opinion) November 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

The election of Barack Obama to be the 44th president is profoundly historic. We have at long last been able to come together in a way that has eluded us in the long history of our great country. We should celebrate this triumph of the true spirit of America. Election Day celebrations were replicated in time zones around the world, something we have not seen in a long time. While euphoria is ephemeral, we must endeavor to use its energy to bring us all together as Americans to cope with the urgent problems that beset us.

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What Obama Needs to Do First
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) November 20, 2008 - 8:00pm

The Palestinian Authority, in a brilliant display of public relations, ran Hebrew-language ads this week, in Israel’s four major newspapers, endorsing the Arab Peace Initiative (formerly known as the Saudi plan) and calling on Israelis to support it, too. The Palestinian Authority is also urging President-elect Barack Obama to put his prestige behind the initiative as a critical first step to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Settlers Who Long to Leave the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm

Surrounded by hostility, living on land most of the world wants turned over to Palestinians for a state, they meet quietly in Jewish settlements like this one, plotting the future. But these besieged West Bank settlers, widely viewed as an obstacle to peace, want only one surprising thing: to get out. While the vast majority of settlers vow never to abandon the heart of the historic Jewish homeland — these ancient and starkly beautiful hills whose biblical names are Judea and Samaria — thousands of other settlers say they want to move back to within the pre-1967 borders of Israel.

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Wilson Center Briefing Summary and Video Available
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - November 9, 2008 - 1:00am

On October 20th, ATPF Senior Fellow Dr. Hussein Ibish participated in a panel entitled “McCain, Obama, and the Middle East: The influence of Domestic Politics on U.S. Policy” at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Panelists included Graeme Bannerman, Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute and Former Chief of Staff, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Aaron David Miller, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center and former U.S. Middle East Negotiator; and Richard Straus, Editor, Middle East Policy Survey and Former Staff, House Foreign Affairs Committee.


Mideast peace: one more push
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Howard Lafranchi - November 5, 2008 - 8:00pm

Less than a year after President Bush launched an effort to reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the end of his term, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sets out Wednesday on what could be a final push to put Mr. Bush's stamp on the sputtering peace process.

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Israel in a Showdown with West Bank Settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Tim McGirk - November 2, 2008 - 8:00pm

The hill named Oush Grab lies a stone's throw from the Shepherd's Field, near Bethlehem. Christian pilgrims flock to the place where the Bible says an angel tipped off a shepherd that Jesus Christ had been born, but most visitors are unaware of the battle raging over this obscure hilltop. Oush Grab is an undistinguished rocky outcrop of limestone, dotted with thorny shrubs. And it has no political, strategic or Old Testament significance.

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Egypt would hand over prisoner swap talks - Mubarak
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
October 30, 2008 - 8:00pm

EGYPT WOULD WILLINGLY stand aside and let some other government mediate a prisoner release between Israelis and Palestinians, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published on Thursday. Egypt has been trying for months, so far without success, to arrange the exchange of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Palestinians in Gaza have been holding Shalit for more than two years.

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The Middle East also wants a change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 30, 2008 - 8:00pm

One might think that Gerald Ford (of whom it was said that he could not walk and chew gum at the same time) is the leading candidate for president of the United States. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why the left fears (and the right hopes) that Barack Obama (or perhaps even John McCain) will be up to his neck in the economic crisis for months and will be unavailable for dipping in the Middle Eastern swamp. By that time the Likud will have established a government of refusal, or perhaps a unity government, i.e., a government of paralysis.

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