Ex-us Officals: Divide Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 4, 2007 - 3:02pm

Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington. Hamas, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met US terms

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Politics: Mideast Meet Has Ambiguous Agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Khody Akhavi - October 4, 2007 - 2:47pm

As the George W. Bush administration prepares to host its much-publicised Middle East conference, Israeli experts gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday to discuss whether Washington's latest diplomatic attempts would pave the way for a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process. But with less than two months before the November meeting, which is to be held in Annapolis, the sentiment was anything but hopeful.

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Shooting The Messengers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Mariano Aguirre - October 3, 2007 - 6:12pm

The New York Post editorial on 5 January 2007 read: “How did this man ever become president of the United States?” Readers might have thought this was a crack about President George Bush in a paper owned by Rupert Murdoch. But the editorial went on: “He’s gone from failed president to friend of leftwing tyrants and global scold of anything that represents America’s legitimate interests”; he wanted to “demonise Israel” and had secretly given “PR and political advice to Yasser Arafat”.

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Israel’s Chief Diplomat Meets Arab Counterparts In Backroom Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 3, 2007 - 6:02pm

While the Iranian president was busy stealing the limelight at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, Israel’s foreign minister was quietly carrying out a new strategy of normalizing relations with Muslim countries in a series of backroom meetings. During her weeklong stay in the United States, Tzipi Livni made her case at the U.N. as well as in a series of meetings with representatives from a host of Middle Eastern and North African countries that currently do not maintain formal ties with Israel.

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Democracy Is More Than Going To The Polls
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) October 2, 2007 - 12:00am

"The protest wave has calmed down," some Israeli journalists said Friday of the Burmese military junta's success in driving thousands of demonstrators off the streets, using excessive violence. Despite the natural sympathy for the uprisers, several editors chose the word "calm," which embodies the rulers' point of view: The norm is "calm," even if it means constant government violence. The mass protest against the oppression is a disruption of order and calm.

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ATFP Carnegie Briefing Explores Issues of Palestinian Unity, Hamas and Fall Mideast Meeting
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - October 2, 2007 - 12:00am

Washington, D.C., October 3 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) held a briefing today at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The briefing, moderated by Ambassador Samuel Lewis, was titled "Palestinian Unity: The Question of Hamas". ATFP Advocacy Director Mr. Ghaith Al-Omari and Dr.


Israeli Press Review
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
(Editorial) October 1, 2007 - 12:00am

ANNAPOLIS UPDATE: The Mideast peace meeting announced by President George W. Bush is expected to be held on November 15th in Annapolis, MD. The list of prospective invitees is expected to include representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the Quartet – Russia, the EU and the UN.

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Shifting Targets: The Administration’s Plan For Iran.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Yorker
by Seymour M. Hersh - October 1, 2007 - 12:00am

In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. “Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people,” Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August. “The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased. . . . The Iranian regime must halt these actions.

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The Problems Are Already Here
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Danny Rubenstein - October 1, 2007 - 12:00am

Palestinian and Israeli sources share the opinion that regular meetings between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which will continue tomorrow after Abbas returns from the United States and Portugal, were significant and comprehensive. Perhaps the most comprehensive meetings ever held between the two statesmen.

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A Conversation With Mahmoud Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
September 30, 2007 - 12:00am

When the Islamic radicals of Hamas kicked their more secular Fatah rivals out of the Gaza Strip in June, it looked as though the peace process was dead. But surprisingly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have held a series of in-depth talks that U.S. officials hope may culminate in some kind of deal or framework to be presented at a proposed meeting of Middle East leaders in Washington in November. Last week, the Fatah chief attended the opening of the U.N.

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