U.S. Seeks a New Path to Peace in Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Jay Solomon - (Analysis) January 8, 2010 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is taking new steps to restart Arab-Israeli peace talks that broke down last year, and U.S. officials said they hope formal negotiations could resume by February or March. U.S. diplomats said they are talking with Israel and Arab governments about more clearly defining terms for negotiations, which hit an impasse when Israel refused to accept a total freeze on settlements in disputed territories. Arab governments, meanwhile, balked at U.S. calls for them to begin normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel.

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Abbas rallies Arab support for position on peace, unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Editorial) January 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Amman – Ma’an – A strong Arab position on the furtherance of the peace process is essential, President Mahmud Abbas told leaders in Amman, the last stop on his regional tour following visits to Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey on Thursday.

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U.S. urges world to help revive Mideast talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - (Analysis) January 7, 2010 - 1:00am

Washington wants the international community to issue a joint call next week for renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Jerusalem officials said on Wednesday. The American administration wants the statement to be issued at the end of a meeting held in Brussels of the Quartet - the United Nations, United States, Russia and the European Union. U.S. envoy George Mitchell intends to brief the Quartet at the meeting on his talks with Israel and the Palestinian Authority in a bid to resume the negotiations between the sides.

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CHARLIE ROSE: George Mitchell is here. He is President Obama’s
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Charlie Rose
(Interview) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am

CHARLIE ROSE: George Mitchell is here. He is President Obama’s special envoy to the Middle East. The former Maine senator and majority leader has a proven record of brokering agreements. He chaired the peace talks in Northern Ireland that lead to the historic Good Friday agreement of 1998. In 2000, he led presidential commission to end cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. His new mission is to advance President Obama’s commitment to comprehensive peace in the Middle East. He has spent the past year trying

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Palestinians Bid to Join International Finance Body
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Benjamin Joffe-Walt - January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is forming a "national team" to drive the bid to gain membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), it was announced on Monday. The team, approved during Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, will lead efforts to reform Palestinian economic institutions as part of the campaign to gain permanent observer status and eventually membership in the international trade body.

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A new freezing point
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shaul Arieli - (Opinion) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's political and unilateral moves in the past decade have shown that its position on the borders with the Palestinians is divorced from the requirements of security, water supply and infrastructure. They are dictated by one factor alone: the settlements. Israeli prime ministers, only too aware of their domestic political weakness, want to avoid any significant evacuation of settlers.

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Gov't opposes 'borders first' approach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh, Herb Keinon - January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's top decision-makers are against discussing the border issue first in future negotiations with the Palestinians, The Jerusalem Post has learned. PM prepared to start immediate talks with PA without preconditions Separating final borders from other core issues would allow negotiators to avoid the thorny settlement construction dispute.

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State official: Some of Abbas' statements positive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - (Analysis) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

An official at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem said Monday night that some of the remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the day included "positive statements in regards to restarting the negotiations." The official added, however, that until Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman return from Washington, it is unclear when the peace talks would be launched, although there is a possibility that the negotiations could begin by the end of January.

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Is Bibi Ready for '67 Lines? So Says Maariv Report on New U.S. Peace Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Maariv published a story (in Hebrew – my translation is below) on Monday, January 4, by its top political correspondent, Ben Caspit outlining what is described as a detailed American initiative to reconvene Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and reach a permanent agreement in two years. What is particularly surprising is the clear implication that Washington has Netanyahu’s consent to enter a negotiation that will result in a return virtually to the 1967 borders.

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Abbas: Building freeze needed prior to peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - (Analysis) January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinians President Mahmoud Abbas met in Sharm a-Sheikh with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Following the meeting, Abbas said that a complete cessation of settlement building is needed before peace talks can be taken up again. Abbas also said, "We are not opposed to renewing the peace process and the meetings with the Israelis. We are not putting up conditions, but at the same time, we believe that in order to return to the (peace) process, there needs to be a cessation of settlement building and recognition of the principles of the peace process."



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