We Won't Win In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Gabi Sheffer - (Opinion) December 31, 2007 - 6:48pm

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi declared recently that should the IDF enter the Gaza Strip in full force, in the framework of an Israeli military operation, he has no doubt that this time around the army and the entire State of Israel will be triumphant. Several commentators were quick to explain that this declaration was an attempt to highlight the great defeat suffered by his predecessor, Dan Halutz, and to promise to the people that under Ashkenazi’s leadership the army will not suffer another defeat such as the Second Lebanon War failure.

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2008: The Year Of Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Roger Hardy - December 31, 2007 - 6:42pm

Will 2008 see the creation of a Palestinian state, or will November's Annapolis peace conference prove another false dawn?   US President George W Bush shows no inclination to become a lame duck, pledging no let-up during his last year in office. He is due to visit the Middle East early in 2008, a sign of his personal commitment to advancing the peace process there. But he will not find it easy to cut through the scepticism that is widespread in the region.

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Israel, Palestinians Seek Elusive Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Steven Gutkin - December 31, 2007 - 6:34pm

In the afterglow of a high-profile peace conference, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will try in the coming year to resolve issues that have defied solutions for decades. For peace to work, Israel will have to give up most of the West Bank, Palestinians must agree to resettle refugees inside their own state and the two sides must share the holy city of Jerusalem. None of that will come easily _ and prospects for peace are hurt by the growing power of extremists and the weakness of leaders on both sides.

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2008, When We Need To Start Keeping Our Promises
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Kimche - December 28, 2007 - 4:46pm

Ring out the old, ring in the new," wrote the renowned British poet, Lord Tennyson. "Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true... Ring out the thousand wars of old, ring in the thousand years of Peace."

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Backward, Christian Soldiers, Marching As To Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Daoud Kuttub - December 28, 2007 - 4:40pm

During the run-up to the 1998 Christmas celebrations, U.S. president Bill Clinton, along with his wife, Hillary, and daughter, Chelsea, visited the Palestinian town of Bethlehem to light up the Christmas tree in Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity. With that symbolic visit, and the understanding that Mr. Clinton was showing to the needs of the region, Palestinians of all faiths had high hopes that the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict might soon end. It didn't.

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The Right To Explode In Anger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - December 28, 2007 - 4:01pm

The negotiations over the future of our land, from the sea to the river, and the two peoples living in it, are proceeding along two parallel channels. It has been that way since the Madrid and Oslo talks for 17 years now. One channel is between the Palestinians and Israelis - such as Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. The other is being conducted between the Israelis and themselves. Will the only genuine point of contact between these two channels be another explosion of blood, as occurred in 1996 and 2000?

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Addressing Atfp Gala, Undersecretary Of State Burns Stresses U.s. Interest In Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Washington Report On Middle East Affairs
December 28, 2007 - 2:26pm

THE AMERICAN TASK Force on Palestine (ATFP) held its second annual gala Oct. 17 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC. The theme was a hopeful one: “Choosing Peace, Embracing Hope: Honoring the Contributions of Palestinian Americans.”

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Palestinian Statehood Is The Key
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Tanvir Ahmed Khan - (Opinion) December 21, 2007 - 3:37pm

Two important events have taken place in quick succession and yet a pall of uncertainty hangs over a possible route to a viable two-state solution in Palestine. Implicit in both events - the largely attended meeting in Annapolis, Maryland on November 26-27 and the just concluded donors conference in Paris - is a fresh recognition by the international community that in the final analysis the denial of Palestinian aspirations for statehood is the real locus of instability in the region.

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Blair Treads The Road From Baghdad To Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Philip Stephens - (Commentary) December 21, 2007 - 3:32pm

For Tony Blair it was a poignant, even painful, coincidence. Britain’s former prime minister was at an international donors’ conference in Paris this week, passing round the hat for the Palestinians in his role as Middle East mediator. In a small, unremarkable ceremony 2,000-odd miles away in Iraq, British troops were bidding farewell to Basra. Iraq, as far as Britain is concerned, is a lost war. Mr Blair’s premiership was one of its many casualties. Perhaps that explains why the former prime minister is not ready to give up on a Middle East peace deal.

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Vol. 9, Issue 15
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Middle East Peace Report - December 19, 2007 - 3:39pm

THE LEFT BANK: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad is expected to ask donor states at a conference in Paris today to pledge $5.6 billion over three years in financial assistance to help build the future Palestinian state. The Paris conference is the first forum for international states to make pledges to assist the Palestinian Authority since 1996.

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