Bush's Final Effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) January 3, 2008 - 5:46pm

President George Bush will complete his second term in the White House in one year and two weeks, at his successor?s inauguration. Bush?s final year in office is already under the shadow in the battle over succession. Because of this, the U.S. media is expected to focus during his visit to the region next week on the first formal stages of the nominating process of the two main parties in Iowa and in New Hampshire, rather than on Bush?s meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Stand-offs Threaten Arab Region
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Francis Matthew - (Opinion) January 3, 2008 - 5:36pm

The Middle East has never needed effective political leadership more than at present. Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq are three very troubled states which are in danger of seeing very little political progress in the coming year, and the effects of the continuing violence ripple out to all other nations in the region. All three share similar problems of poor state structures, lack of leadership and endemic violence, but each has very different local conditions which have created their bad situations.

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The Beilin Syndrome
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - January 3, 2008 - 5:32pm

Mephisto, the demon who bought the soul of Faust in Goethe’s monumental drama, describes himself as “a part of that force which always wants the bad and always creates the good.” Yossi Beilin, who resigned this week as chairman of the Meretz Party, is Mephisto’s opposite: he always wants the good and all too often creates the bad.

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Down Payment On A State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by Sadie Goldman With Jason Proetorius And Ipf Staff - January 3, 2008 - 5:23pm

Every Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process comes with a price tag. The current process, which was re-launched in Annapolis, Maryland, and continued at the Paris Donor’s conference, is no exception.  It was in Paris that donors examined Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s three-year reform plan and then pledged 7.4 billion dollars to help implement it.

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Here's To The '67 Borders, The New Middle Of The Road
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - January 2, 2008 - 2:42pm

There was a time, not long past, that the mere mention of the 1967 borders was seen by many in the Jewish community as an expression of disloyalty, of sacrilege, of foolhardy risk, almost of profanity. Gradually, remarkably, there are signs that the route of the middle of the road has shifted. That we've come a long, long way. At this point, for many on the Israeli side and, in fact, on the Palestinian side as well, the middle of the road passes very, very close to the Green Line, the post-1948 war, pre-1967 war boundary between the West Bank and Israel.

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Olmert Says Israel Must Internalize Divided J'lem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon And David Horovitz - January 2, 2008 - 2:40pm

Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post. At the same time, he made clear that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the '67 lines, describing Ma'aleh Adumim as an "indivisible" part of Jerusalem and Israel.

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Declaring Forever War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Conservative
by Michael Desch - January 2, 2008 - 2:24pm

Like most Americans, I knew little about Rudolph Giuliani, save that he had been the very successful mayor of New York City catapulted to iconic status for his cool-headed demeanor after the Sept. 11 attacks. I was curious about where he stood as a presidential candidate, so in April 2007, I joined nearly 3,000 other Texas A&M faculty and students to hear him speak.

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2008: The Year Of Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Roger Hardy - December 31, 2007 - 6:42pm

Will 2008 see the creation of a Palestinian state, or will November's Annapolis peace conference prove another false dawn?   US President George W Bush shows no inclination to become a lame duck, pledging no let-up during his last year in office. He is due to visit the Middle East early in 2008, a sign of his personal commitment to advancing the peace process there. But he will not find it easy to cut through the scepticism that is widespread in the region.

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Israel Rejects Easing Of West Bank Curbs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - December 31, 2007 - 6:39pm

Israel said on Sunday it would not ease restrictions on movement and access for Palestinians in the West Bank unless the Palestinian leadership moved more forcefully against armed groups threatening violence against Israelis.

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Challenges 2007-2008: A Prime Minister Hangs On, Just About
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Peter Hirschberg - December 31, 2007 - 6:38pm

At the start of 2007, it seemed that war would cost Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert his job. As he completed the year, still in office, the greatest threat to him staying there now seems to be the prospect of peace.

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