Addressing Atfp Gala, Undersecretary Of State Burns Stresses U.s. Interest In Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Washington Report On Middle East Affairs
December 28, 2007 - 2:26pm

THE AMERICAN TASK Force on Palestine (ATFP) held its second annual gala Oct. 17 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC. The theme was a hopeful one: “Choosing Peace, Embracing Hope: Honoring the Contributions of Palestinian Americans.”

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Settlement Dispute Stalls Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - December 28, 2007 - 2:16pm

Israel is considering easing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said on Monday could pave the way for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi. Israel's deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, said Barghouthi, a Palestinian uprising leader from Fatah and a possible successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, could be a candidate for release. Also on Monday, a second round of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams were bogged down in a dispute over settlement building near Jerusalem.

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Constructing The Defenses Of Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Richard Jones - December 21, 2007 - 3:40pm

The American poet and public figure Archibald MacLeish once wrote that "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." These words, subsequently incorporated into the preamble of UNESCO's 1945 constitution, remain as relevant today as they were when they were penned during the waning days of World War II.

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Start With The Unmanned Roadblocks!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Daniel Gavron - December 21, 2007 - 3:39pm

This week's request from French President Nicholas Sarkozy, made at the conference of nations donating money to the Palestinian Authority, that Israel remove the roadblocks in the West Bank is hardly new. World Bank reports have been saying for years that the roadblocks are a major impediment to Palestinian economic development. Tony Blair, the Quartet's special envoy, one of whose briefs is to help develop the Palestinian economy, has also made the same point several times.

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Palestinian Statehood Is The Key
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Tanvir Ahmed Khan - (Opinion) December 21, 2007 - 3:37pm

Two important events have taken place in quick succession and yet a pall of uncertainty hangs over a possible route to a viable two-state solution in Palestine. Implicit in both events - the largely attended meeting in Annapolis, Maryland on November 26-27 and the just concluded donors conference in Paris - is a fresh recognition by the international community that in the final analysis the denial of Palestinian aspirations for statehood is the real locus of instability in the region.

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The Other Middle East Conflict: Israel Vs. Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Stephen D. Hayes - December 21, 2007 - 3:36pm

The Annapolis Middle East conference has now come and gone. There is not enough political capital or “time left on the clock” in Washington for this initiative to be of much value. But, the initiative can serve as a useful catalyst to showcase another dimension of the struggle in the region.

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Farewell Tour
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
December 21, 2007 - 3:33pm

George Bush is heading to the Middle East The US president, George W Bush, is planning an eight-day visit to the Middle East in early January in a bid to salvage some positive achievements from his administration's largely dismal legacy to the region. The main purpose of the visit will be to try to maintain the momentum of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process relaunched at last month's Annapolis conference. A subsidiary theme will be an effort to stiffen the resolve of the US's principal Arab allies in the face of Iran's perceived drive for regional hegemony.

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Bad For The Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
(Opinion) December 21, 2007 - 3:28pm

Today's topic is the paradox - or one of them, anyway - of American Jewish political behavior. No, it's not that hoary old cliché that they "earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans." Rather, it's that they think like enlightened liberals yet allow belligerent right-wingers and neocons who frequently demonize, distort and denounce their values to speak for them in the U.S. political arena.

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In Jerusalem, Build Up, Not Out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
December 20, 2007 - 4:56pm

We shouldn't envy those who are building the future of Jerusalem. The secular people may be leaving the city, but it is growing by leaps and bounds - though it is not easy to find a place to build. The city cannot develop to the east, in the area known as E1, because of clear-cut pledges to the Americans not to create territorial contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. It cannot expand westward because the Safdie plan has been shelved. A real problem.

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Paris Donors Conference For The Palestinian State: The Ball Is In Israel's Court
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Reut Institute
December 20, 2007 - 4:53pm

In light of yesterday's donor conference in Paris, the Reut Institute contends that the key to upgrading the PA's political status lies with Israel rather than with the donor countries. Yesterday, the Donors Conference for the Palestinian State (rather than the Palestinian Authority) was convened in Paris.

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