Ayoon Wa Azan ( Both Are Wrong )
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al Hayat
by Jihad El-khazen - (Opinion) October 23, 2007 - 10:55am

The present situation in the Palestinian territories has placed me in a position of objection par excellence as I oppose everything that is taking place in Palestinian politics today. 

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Palestine: A Policy Of Deliberate Blindness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Régis Debray - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 2:49pm

Dennis Ross, formerly the United States envoy to the Middle East, admitted back in 2000 that mistakes had been made in the 1978 Camp David accords: the diplomatic process had not taken enough account of developments on the ground, especially the settlements. The number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories doubled from 1994 to 2000. As many Israelis have settled in the West Bank since the Oslo accords of 1993 as in the previous 25 years. With an international conference again being discussed, it would be a mistake to continue to ignore the real state of affairs.

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Saudi Says Palestinian State Should Be "viable"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 22, 2007 - 2:37pm

Saudi Arabia voiced support on Tuesday for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference and said a future Palestinian state should be "viable" on contiguous territory, apparently backing Washington's stand on the issue. Washington backs Israel in its rejection of a withdrawal from all of the lands it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal appeared to endorse that position in a statement that did not call for full withdrawal but used U.S. language about a "viable" state.

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Back To The Iranian Arena
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn, Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 1:28pm

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona began his remarks with a joke about erstwhile movie star Zsa Zsa Gabor. After her wedding to her fifth husband, the guests had gone home and the husband was perplexed. I know what I am supposed to do now, he said to her, but as husband No. 5, I'm not certain I can do it in an interesting way.

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Skepticism, Anger On Both Sides Of Mideast Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Rebecca Harrison - October 22, 2007 - 1:10pm

Israeli cable technician Elram Weitzman thinks the Palestinians deserve a state of their own. But he doesn't spend too much time thinking about it. "They should have their own country -- as long as it's not ours," said the 22-year-old from Jerusalem between drags on a cigarette. "To be honest I don't really watch the news."

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A Borderless State Is No Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Special Report) October 22, 2007 - 11:41am

For weeks now, America and Israel have talked up the idea that, contrary to all appearances, a peace initiative may be afoot in the Middle East. Last week Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, announced a $63bn package in military aid to the Middle East, aiming to counter Iran's growing influence in the region, but also shoring up Arab support for a peace initiative. Yesterday the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Jericho.

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Touring Israel's Barrier With Its Main Designer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - October 22, 2007 - 11:31am

From his stone balcony, Dan Tirza looks out over a rippling expanse of Judean desert, the biblical landscape of the Jewish people. A student of that history, the retired army colonel is a leading actor in Israel's modern story of statehood, conquest and the volatile task of erecting a boundary that divides Arab from Jew. Soon Israel's $2.5 billion separation barrier will rise around Tirza's settlement, where 350 Jewish families live among palms, playgrounds and a synagogue 10 miles inside the West Bank.

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If Hamas Isn't In The Game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Danny Rubenstein - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 11:28am

The Olmert government in Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, are in the midst of renewed political activity, encouraged by intensive American efforts. There have been frequent meetings, discussions of an agreement of principles and plans for a regional conference. Although there still are many problems in the field, like the amnesty agreement for wanted men that the two sides haven't managed to finalize, there certainly has been progress.

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Palestinians Struggle With 'three-state Solution'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Harvey Morris - October 22, 2007 - 11:04am

A gaggle of officious but otherwise friendly Hamas militiamen in smart camouflage-blue fatigues has replaced the solitary Fatah recruit who used to snooze at the first Palestinian checkpoint inside the Gaza Strip. With them and thousands of their fellow Executive Force personnel deployed throughout the Strip, a measure of calm has returned after the violence that marked the Islamists’ power struggle with the secular Fatah party.

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One Last Try?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 10:32am

The Bush administration has unveiled a four-part plan to rescue its overall Middle East policy, from Saudi Arabia to Iran/Iraq and Israel/Palestine.

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