Reinventing The Mideast Wheel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) November 22, 2007 - 10:40pm

It is infuriating when one spends hours reviewing all the give-and-take about the perfunctory meeting in Annapolis next week to kick-start Palestinian-Israeli negotiations for a final settlement only to realise that one does not need to reinvent the wheel. All that needs to be done is there and has been available for more than 40 years!

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Analysis: The Possibilities Of Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Jeremy Bowen - (Opinion) November 22, 2007 - 10:36pm

The other day in Washington a colleague of mine asked the White House press secretary what journalists should call the Middle Eastern event that is about to happen in Annapolis. The press secretary did not offer any advice. An aide suggested "get together". Maybe the aide was being mischievous. But words like summit or peace conference are being discouraged. Expectations for the meeting in Annapolis are being minimised. If you want to be right about the Middle East, it usually pays to be pessimistic.

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Palestinians Spell Out Their Vision Of The Future In Peace Blueprint
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - November 22, 2007 - 10:34pm

Sweeping security, fiscal and political reforms are promised in the most detailed blueprint for the creation of a Palestinian state yet drawn up by the emergency government headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayad.

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Likudnik Hawks Work To Undermine Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jim Lobe - November 22, 2007 - 10:32pm

Despite near-universal scepticism about the prospects for launching a serious, new Middle East peace process at next week's Israeli-Palestinian summit in Annapolis, a familiar clutch of neo-conservative hawks close to the Likud Party leader, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, isn't taking any chances.

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Bush Steps Up Diplomatic Effort As Annapolis Talks Draw Nearer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Robin Wright - November 22, 2007 - 10:15pm

In a bit of last-minute diplomacy, President Bush called the leaders of Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority yesterday to discuss details of the U.S. peace conference set to begin in Annapolis next week, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the goal is to wrap up a peace deal to produce a Palestinian state by the time Bush leaves office.

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Doubts Cloud U.s. Talks Set On Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - November 22, 2007 - 10:13pm

The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it would hold a stripped-down international conference next week to begin negotiating the core issues that divide the Israelis and Palestinians, the first formal attempt to revive peace talks in seven years.

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Palestinian-American Experts Available for Comment on Annapolis Meeting
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - November 21, 2007 - 1:00am

The American Task Force on Palestine, a not-for-profit organization that advocates to the American people the national security interests of the United States in establishing a Palestinian state, has a number of experts available to the media for commentary on the recently announced Annapolis meeting and the broader context of the current Arab-Israeli peace initiative. For more details or to book any of our Washington based experts please call ATFP at 202-887-0177.


In Annapolis, A Middle East Peace Meeting Defined By Fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
by Trudy Rubin - (Opinion) November 20, 2007 - 1:43pm

Thirty years ago, on Nov. 19, 1977, I stood at Israel's Ben Gurion airport as Anwar el-Sadat's plane landed on the tarmac. The scene defied imagination, as the Egyptian leader embraced Israeli leaders. Hope was in the air. Suddenly, anything seemed possible. Mr. Sadat's bold move led to Israeli accords with Egypt and Jordan and the tantalizing hope of a deal with the Palestinians. But over the last seven years, the peace process has virtually collapsed.

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High-level Saudi Presence Seen Unlikely At Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Andrew Hammond - November 20, 2007 - 1:41pm

Saudi Arabia could keep the United States guessing until the last minute on whether it will attend a Middle East peace conference next week, but analysts and diplomats say a high-level delegation is unlikely. Saudi Arabia -- a key U.S. ally whose presence would give a major boost to the U.S.-sponsored November 26-27 summit in Annapolis, Maryland -- has said it will attend only if core issues are tackled at the latest in a line of high-profile Arab-Israeli meetings dating back to Madrid in 1992.

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Israel Setting Tone For Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Abraham Rabinovich - November 20, 2007 - 1:37pm

Israeli leaders have taken to using a new phrase loaded with hidden meaning ahead of a proposed conference this month in Annapolis — "two states for two peoples." The phrase is a variation on the Bush administration's repeated calls for a "two-state solution," which implies Israel's abandonment of the notion of a Greater Israel that incorporates the West Bank and the Palestinians' abandonment of any notion of destroying Israel.

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American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017