Yasser Abd Rabbo Cautions Against ?Partition of West Bank?
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - April 24, 2008 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, April 25 -- In a speech in Washington today, Yasser Abd Rabbo, a PLO Executive Committee Member and Policy Adviser to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, reiterated the Palestinian commitment to peace with Israel and praised Bush Administration efforts to reach an agreement. He repeatedly cautioned Israel against seeking “the partition of the West Bank,” which he said Palestinians “will never accept.”


For Israel’s Sake, Moderate American Jews Must Find Their Voice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Jeremy Benami - (Opinion) April 18, 2008 - 6:23pm


In just a few short years, the “two-state solution” has gone from presumed conclusion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an increasingly distant hope. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has himself said that without such a deal, “the State of Israel is finished.” By the dozens, Israeli dignitaries solemnly warn: The window is closing on a two-state solution, and Israel’s prospects for a second, safer 60 years grow are growing ever dimmer.


The Controversy Surrounding Carter And Meshaal's Meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) April 16, 2008 - 6:05pm


Huge controversy surrounds former US president Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal. Carter has stated that during his meeting with Hamas's leader in Damascus; he will strive to convince him to accept a peaceful solution with Israel and Fatah.


Jitters At A West Bank Junction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Week
by Joshua Mitnick - April 10, 2008 - 1:55pm


Rimonim Junction, West Bank — The crossroads is set among idyllic hilltops that feed herds of sheep on the edge of the Judean desert. There is a steady rhythm of Palestinian minivan taxis shuttling between the West Bank’s northern half and the center. Occasionally, the sedan of an Israeli settler swooshes by. At the side of the road leading toward the Christian village of Taiybeh, a booth of concrete cubes sits empty.


We Need Real Peace, Not A Shelved Piece Of Paper
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Walid Awad - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:50am


Unconfirmed reports circulating in the media say that Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now busy with Palestinians drafting a preamble to a comprehensive peace agreement, a sort of another “declaration of principles”. A shelved document that will spell out all the core issues, and be adopted by the Quartet, the Security Council, and “moderate” Arab countries, to be signed by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, witnessed and co-signed by President George W. Bush in West Jerusalem during his visit to Israel next month.


Settlement Bloc Expansion Is The Most Destructive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yariv Oppenheimer - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:46am


Recently, the Israeli and international media has featured reports on progress in peace negotiations. Chief negotiators Ahmed Qurei and Tzippi Livni maintain silence about the details, but allow that the talks are ongoing, detailed and purposeful. Now of all times, when the core issues never before discussed appear to be on the agenda, the negotiating theater seems to be infinitely distant from the reality unfolding on the ground.


After Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:40pm


It is fascinating, although not at all surprising, that the candidates for president almost never discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s not like it is some minor foreign policy issue. Ask Americans to name two or three of the most pressing foreign policy issues and they are bound to mention the Arab-Israeli conflict. How could they not? After Iraq, there is no other that is so extensively covered by the media nor is there another one of interest to as many voters.


Olmert, Abbas To Meet Again After Seven Weeks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
April 7, 2008 - 5:38pm


Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas meet on Monday for the first time in six weeks as Middle East peace talks get back on track under heavy US pressure. Abbas, who suspended his bi-weekly meetings with Olmert at the beginning of March after an Israeli military operation in Gaza killed more than 130 people, said on Sunday that he would not accept a peace deal at any price.


The Lie Of Peace And The Nonsense Of Security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) April 4, 2008 - 6:29pm


Presumably there is a strange but legitimate dispute between a leader who comes from the right, who believes that if Israel continues to hold on to the territories the Jewish state will be in danger, and a leader who comes from the left, who claims that if Israel stops holding on to the territories Jewish lives will be in danger. Ostensibly one proposes a reaching a quick solution to the conflict by negotiating with Fatah, and the other prefers long-term resolution via a military struggle with Hamas.


'allying With Christian Zionists Is Bad For Israel'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - April 3, 2008 - 5:38pm


"No, we cannot." We cannot cooperate with the Christian Zionists, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, told the annual conference of the movement's rabbis Wednesday night in Cincinnati, Ohio, according to copies of the speech distributed ahead of time to the press.



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