The dragons of 'progressive' delusion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Michael Young - (Opinion) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

By coincidence, I happened to pick up another book while reading Hussein Ibish’s excellent, precise dismantling of the agenda for a single Jewish-Arab state in the area of historical Palestine.

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What was Abbas promised in return for burying Goldstone?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The public is both bewildered and outraged about President Mahmoud Abbas’ reported capitulation to US pressure in delaying action on Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza. One of many unanswered questions about the Geneva affair is: What was he promised? What did the US offer Abbas that convinced him to burry Goldstone’s meticulously-researched indictment of Israel? An Israeli journalist attempts to answer this question in an article that appeared on Tuesday.

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Credit Barack Obama with resolve on a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Hussein Ibish - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the United States has vigorously re-engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and made commitment to Palestinian statehood an American national security and foreign policy priority. Obama has said that it is “absolutely crucial” to US interests to resolve the conflict, and appears determined to persist despite all difficulties and obstacles.

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Palestinians warn Israel on Jerusalem tensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Douglas Hamilton - October 6, 2009 - 12:00am

A senior Palestinian official on Tuesday accused Israel of deliberately creating "an extremely dangerous situation" in East Jerusalem, to trigger violence, justify a crackdown and tighten its grip on the disputed city. "Israel is lighting matches in the hope of sparking a fire, deliberately escalating tensions in occupied East Jerusalem rather than taking steps to placate the situation," chief peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement before meetings later this week with U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy.

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US denies it pressured Abbas to delay UN action on Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 6, 2009 - 12:00am

The United States denied reports on Monday that it pressured President Mahmoud Abbas to allow the United Nations to delay action to bring alleged Israeli war criminals to justice. At the daily State Department press briefing on Monday, spokesperson Ian Kelly was asked about reports that US officials demanded that Abbas ask the UN Human Rights Council to delay a vote the report of investigator Richard Goldstone.

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Two Difficult Tracks Launched as Arab World Absent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Paul Salem - October 6, 2009 - 12:00am

In a flurry of diplomatic activity, US president Barack Obama has re-launched Israeli-Palestinian talks and taken the US into direct negotiations with Iran. The US-Iranian track has been dead for 30 years; the Israeli-Palestinian track only for eight. In both cases, the re-launch was not off to a promising start. Obama failed to get the Israelis to agree even to a settlement freeze, and the talks with Iran have been prefaced by a dramatic escalation of tension over the new nuclear reactor disclosed near Qum.

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Palestinians outraged over Abbas bowing to Israel, US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Demonstrators descended Monday on this city's most famous traffic circle, Manara Square, which for years was a launching point of Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation.

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Palestinians should trust Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Ziad Asali - October 4, 2009 - 12:00am

THINGS have changed over the past decade between Palestinians and the United States, and much for the better. Yasser Arafat was enticed to attend the Camp David meeting in 2000 with the promise that he would not be blamed if it failed. It did, and he was. Last week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was invited to attend the New York meeting without any such promise. He was not blamed, and the meeting was not a failure. The meeting dealt with both an immediate crisis and a long-term strategic goal.

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Can the Muppets Make Friends in Ramallah?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Samantha Shapiro - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

This season’s episodes of “Shara’a Simsim,” the Palestinian version of the global “Sesame Street” franchise, were filmed in a satellite campus of Al-Quds University, a ramshackle four-story concrete structure that houses the school’s media department and a small local television station. The building sits in an upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah, not far from the edge of the Israeli settlement Psagot. Like many structures on the West Bank, the Al-Quds building seems to be simultaneously under construction and decaying into a ruin.

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A new US perspective on Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service
by Hussein Ibish - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Under US President Barack Obama's Administration, the United States has vigorously re-engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and made commitment to Palestinian statehood a national security and foreign policy priority. Obama has said that it is "absolutely crucial" to American interests to resolve the conflict, and appears determined to persist despite all difficulties and obstacles. There are several crucial reasons for this intensification.

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