Substance, Not Smiles
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
(Editorial) January 7, 2008 - 6:09pm

Jerusalem is draping itself in the flags of the city, Israel and the United States in honor of President Bush's visit this week, perfect for the essential photo op. And that's all this trip sounds like it's shaping up to be since neither the president nor his advisers have identified any policy or message that Mr. Bush will relay to advance the commitments made at the Annapolis peace summit. And that's just unacceptable.

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Israel's False Friends
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by John J. Mearsheimer And Stephen M. Walt - (Opinion) January 7, 2008 - 6:05pm

Once again, as the presidential campaign season gets underway, the leading candidates are going to enormous lengths to demonstrate their devotion to the state of Israel and their steadfast commitment to its "special relationship" with the United States.

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Just Going To Work, Palestinians And Israelis Travel Different Roads
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - January 7, 2008 - 6:03pm

Before they set out for work each morning, neighbors Naim Darwish, a Palestinian Muslim, and Jacob Steinmetz, an Israeli Jew, begin their days in quiet meditation. In the pre-dawn chill, Darwish sets his Muslim prayer rug on the floor facing Mecca. In the soft morning light, Steinmetz throws on his prayer shawl and turns toward Jerusalem. Then the lives of these West Bank neighbors diverge.

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Time For Deal Running Out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Sever Plocker - (Opinion) January 4, 2008 - 2:44pm

For several years now, and certainly since the second Intifada’s outbreak, Palestinian economist demanded in every forum that the Paris Agreement, which in 1994 created a uniform external border for Israel and Palestinian for the purpose of duty collection, be annulled. The Palestinians viewed this duty collection amalgamation as a tangible and irritating expression of Israeli occupation.

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Israel’s Quiet War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Fred Schlomka - (Opinion) January 4, 2008 - 2:41pm

While Ehud Olmert and Abu Mazen were wheeling and dealing at Annapolis, several Israeli government ministries and security agencies were deploying their combined resources in a massive operation aimed at Israel’s southern Negev Desert. While the eyes of the world are on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel is in the middle of a campaign to complete the displacement of Palestinian Arabs who also are Israeli citizens.

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Lurching From Crisis To Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al- Ahram
by Marian Houk - January 4, 2008 - 2:40pm

The Israeli Defence Ministry's programme to punish all Gazans for Qassam missiles fire into Israeli territory is apparently moving into a new phase. A second round of fuel cuts reportedly started on 30 December, with a military-ordered reduction of some 35-43 per cent (depending on what numbers are used as the baseline) in the amount of gasoline that will now be supplied to the Gaza Strip.

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Bush Calls On Israel To Dismantle Wildcat Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 4, 2008 - 2:33pm

US President George W. Bush called on Israel to dismantle wildcat settlement outposts on occupied Palestinian land, in an interview published on Friday ahead of his visit to the region next week. "We expect them to honour their commitments," Bush said in the interview with Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.

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Pakistan, Palestine, And Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Analysis) January 4, 2008 - 2:32pm

A few hours after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, I happened to catch an interview with a group of Pakistani university students who were part of a stunned mass of grieving people on the streets of Karachi.  They all looked and sounded secular, educated and western.  The reporter asked them about Bhutto's death, prospects for democracy in Pakistan, and what they thought about the United States.

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Ahead Of Visit, White House Talks Friendship With Israel — And Pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - January 4, 2008 - 2:30pm

The message from the White House on the eve of President Bush's first presidential visit to Israel is that his staunch support for the Jewish state has set the stage for peace — and given him room to exert some pressure on Jerusalem. Bush launches an eight-day tour of the region next Wednesday, beginning with three days in Israel and the West Bank and continuing to Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

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Israel Settlement Growth An "impediment": Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Matt Spetalnick - January 4, 2008 - 2:25pm

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday called Israeli settlement expansion an "impediment" to revived peace efforts in rare criticism of the Jewish state less than a week before his first presidential visit there. In an interview with Reuters, Bush voiced optimism for securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of 2008, a goal set at November's Annapolis conference that has been viewed with widespread skepticism. He also acknowledged that obstacles remained after decades of Middle East conflict.

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