Administration missteps hamper Mideast efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - (Analysis) November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

President Obama came into office insisting that his administration would press hard and fast to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But after nine months, analysts and diplomats say, the administration's efforts have faltered in part because of its own missteps. As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear during her Middle East trip, which ended Wednesday, U.S. officials are now promoting new tactics -- what they called the "baby steps" of lower-level talks -- to bring the Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for direct talks.

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U.S. Eases Pressure on Israel, Leans On Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Relations between Washington and Jerusalem are warming, as months-long tensions over West Bank settlements and other issues have gradually eased. Israeli officials and Jewish communal leaders point to a series of events, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s praise of Israel’s movement on the settlement issue, and President Obama’s upcoming speech at the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North America, as signs of softening in the administration’s approach toward the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Obama must deliver on his potential
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

The first nine months of US President Barack Obama's tenure at the White House have been pregnant with thought-provoking ideas and commendable aspirations aimed at improving the tarnished US image and bringing the world closer together in every way possible — especially in the Middle East, where an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict has been simmering for more than 60 years. But there is increasing fear in Europe and the Arab world that Obama may fail to deliver on his potential.

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Erekat: Two-state solution may have to be abandoned
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – The continued expansion of Israeli settlements could force Palestinians to abandon the notion of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday. It may be time for President Mahmoud Abbas to "tell his people the truth, that with the continuation of settlement activities, the two-state solution is no longer an option," Erekat told a Ramallah news conference, according to Reuters.

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One-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Lisa Kaaki - (Book Review) November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

This first critical study of the “one-state” agenda comes at a time when Palestine has witnessed no real progress on the ground and an atmosphere of hopelessness and pessimism is spreading in the region.

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One-state solution
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Arab News - November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

This first critical study of the “one-state” agenda comes at a time when Palestine has witnessed no real progress on the ground and an atmosphere of hopelessness and pessimism is spreading in the region.

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U.S. hope dims for high-level Israeli-Palestinian talks over state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karen Deyoung, Howard Schneider - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The Obama administration has concluded that an early resumption of high-level negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over a Palestinian state is unlikely in the near future -- an acknowledgment that it has fallen short, for now, on one of its major initial foreign policy goals. While still pressing for face-to-face talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Binyamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun to urge Arab states to encourage Palestinian participation in lower-level talks with Israel to avoid a vacuum.

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Clinton tries to keep peace alive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Kim Ghattas - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Hillary Clinton was planning to be home by now after a week-long trip, but instead she took a detour through Egypt for talks with top officials including President Hosni Mubarak, looking for help from a country that is key to any progress in the Middle East peace process. In her discussions she is expected to try to undo some of the damage done by her comments in the past few days while also looking for ways to keep some semblance of movement in the moribund Middle East peace process. The Obama administration is worried that in the absence of any talks, violence might resume.

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For sale – one Middle East peace strategy (hardly used)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Emile Hokayem - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Pity the Palestinians, but pity also the peacemakers whose good intentions inevitably stumble up against the harsh realities of Israeli-Palestinian politicking. The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s retreat from the position that a complete Israeli settlement freeze is a necessary confidence-building measure before final-status negotiations is not new; Barack Obama admitted as much in September. It simply reflects the dead end that US peace diplomacy has reached, and the need to start anew with a different approach.

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A bad month for Mideast peace-making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

In baseball three strikes mean you are out, but in American foreign policy in the Middle East three strikes seem to mean business as usual. In the past few days and weeks, the United States has made three very controversial moves related to Arab-Israeli issues that generate widespread skepticism and anguish – though their total significance remains difficult to gauge, because this depends on whatever else the US may do in the weeks and months ahead.

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