Israel, Palestinians Seek Elusive Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Steven Gutkin - December 31, 2007 - 6:34pm

In the afterglow of a high-profile peace conference, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will try in the coming year to resolve issues that have defied solutions for decades. For peace to work, Israel will have to give up most of the West Bank, Palestinians must agree to resettle refugees inside their own state and the two sides must share the holy city of Jerusalem. None of that will come easily _ and prospects for peace are hurt by the growing power of extremists and the weakness of leaders on both sides.

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2008, When We Need To Start Keeping Our Promises
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Kimche - December 28, 2007 - 4:46pm

Ring out the old, ring in the new," wrote the renowned British poet, Lord Tennyson. "Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true... Ring out the thousand wars of old, ring in the thousand years of Peace."

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What's The Hurry?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn And Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 4:45pm

The Annapolis summit and the efforts to revive the peace process have exacerbated the tension that already existed between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Olmert's personal charm doesn't work on Rice, and the Prime Minister's Office is anxious about her tendency to push ahead too quickly with political contacts.

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West Bank Houses "killing Peace Process"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by Sheera Frenkel - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 4:33pm

A meeting between Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, failed yesterday to resolve a growing crisis over the construction of Jewish settlements that has stalled peace negotiations since the Annapolis summit last month. The meeting at Mr Olmert’s Jerusalem residence was the first between the two leaders since the talks in Maryland, where they set the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before President Bush leaves office in January 2009.

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Challenges 2007-2008: Gates Led Realist Resurgence In ‘07
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jim Lobe - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 4:26pm

2007 will likely go down in U.S. history as the year in which the balance of power in the long-running struggle between hawks and realists in the administration of President George W. Bush shifted decisively in favour of the latter.

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The Right To Explode In Anger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - December 28, 2007 - 4:01pm

The negotiations over the future of our land, from the sea to the river, and the two peoples living in it, are proceeding along two parallel channels. It has been that way since the Madrid and Oslo talks for 17 years now. One channel is between the Palestinians and Israelis - such as Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. The other is being conducted between the Israelis and themselves. Will the only genuine point of contact between these two channels be another explosion of blood, as occurred in 1996 and 2000?

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Settlements Have To Go
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Joharah Baker - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 3:56pm

Unsurprisingly, the newly resumed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled yet again, this time over the highly-charged issue of Israeli settlements, which despite past commitments, Israel has continued to expand. On December 24, the two sides met for the second time since the Annapolis peace conference in November, but came out of the meeting empty handed, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat describing the meeting as “very difficult.”

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A West Bank Struggle Rooted In Land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Bourdreaux - December 28, 2007 - 3:25pm

From his hilltop farm, Daoud Nassar can see the sun rise over the Jordan Valley and set in the Mediterranean, an arc that spans the territorial breadth of his people's conflict with Israel. He also can see the neighbors whose rival claim has drawn the idyllic 100-acre plot deeply into that fight. The only large Palestinian property to occupy high ground in this part of the West Bank, it is ringed by expanding Jewish settlements and coveted by the one perched on the nearest hill, 800 yards away.

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Israel's Olmert Balks At Full Settlement Halt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - December 28, 2007 - 3:15pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked on Thursday at committing to a total freeze in settlement activity, a key demand of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for advancing U.S.-backed peace talks. But the leaders agreed during their two-hour meeting to press ahead with negotiations that have been paralyzed since Israel announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in an area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim.

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Israel Must Stop Its Latest Illegal Plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Editorial) December 28, 2007 - 2:40pm

During this festive season, Israel has given the Palestinians one less reason to celebrate through its announcement that it will expand two of its existing illegal colonies. This comes at a time when the "serious negotiations" following the Annapolis conference were set to resume between Israelis and Palestinians. In fact, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators were scheduled to meet on Monday for the second time since last month's US-sponsored conference, but that meeting is now put on hold.

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