Israel: Missile Shield Before West Bank Pullout
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 23, 2007 - 11:05am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel must have a missile defense system in place to protect it from Palestinian rocket fire before it could carry out a large-scale pullback in the West Bank, an official said Wednesday. Military experts said it would take between two and a half and seven years to develop a system that would protect Israel from the type of crude rockets that Palestinian militants use.

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Push For Mideast Peace Plan Gains Momentum Ahead Of Upcoming Summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 23, 2007 - 11:04am

Israeli officials are giving the first signs that they are preparing for negotiations on a final-status peace agreement with the Palestinians. Both Israelis and Palestinians are readying for an international meeting set to discuss the Middle East conflict in November, but until now the Israelis have been wary of looking at this meeting as an entry point to final-status peace talks.

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Don't Miss This Opportunity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 23, 2007 - 11:01am

After seven bad years - years of terror, a diplomatic freeze, Hamas' victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections and its takeover of Gaza - empty words about a "diplomatic horizon" and barren meetings between representatives of the parties are giving way to genuine diplomatic processes and practical plans for solving the conflict.

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Fatah: The 'moderate' Alternative?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - (Opinion) October 23, 2007 - 10:57am

Recently, President Mahmoud Abbas urged the PLO Central Council to support his decision to call early elections. The usually composed Fatah leader showed signs of agitation in his address, directing his words towards his rivals Hamas, the victors of the bloody battle for Gaza over a month ago. ‘We will not wait for approval from those sitting over there in Gaza or from those sitting abroad…Hamas dug their own grave with their own nails as a result of the crimes they carried out in Gaza.’

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Ayoon Wa Azan ( Both Are Wrong )
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al Hayat
by Jihad El-khazen - (Opinion) October 23, 2007 - 10:55am

The present situation in the Palestinian territories has placed me in a position of objection par excellence as I oppose everything that is taking place in Palestinian politics today. 

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Abbas Insists No Dialogue With Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 22, 2007 - 2:51pm

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday insisted there would be no dialogue with Hamas until the Islamists return Gaza to his legitimate authority after seizing the territory in June. “What Hamas did was a destructive operation which helped those who don’t want to see an independent Palestinian state,” Abbas told journalists after talks with Eygptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Egyptian port of Alexandria.

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Palestine: A Policy Of Deliberate Blindness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Régis Debray - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 2:49pm

Dennis Ross, formerly the United States envoy to the Middle East, admitted back in 2000 that mistakes had been made in the 1978 Camp David accords: the diplomatic process had not taken enough account of developments on the ground, especially the settlements. The number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories doubled from 1994 to 2000. As many Israelis have settled in the West Bank since the Oslo accords of 1993 as in the previous 25 years. With an international conference again being discussed, it would be a mistake to continue to ignore the real state of affairs.

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Mideast Two-step
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
(Editorial) October 22, 2007 - 2:42pm

To advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, President Bush needs the support and involvement of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis last week cautiously expressed interest in attending a regional peace conference Mr. Bush had proposed for the fall, provided the meeting tackles the core issues dividing Israel and the Palestinians.

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Saudi Says Palestinian State Should Be "viable"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 22, 2007 - 2:37pm

Saudi Arabia voiced support on Tuesday for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference and said a future Palestinian state should be "viable" on contiguous territory, apparently backing Washington's stand on the issue. Washington backs Israel in its rejection of a withdrawal from all of the lands it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal appeared to endorse that position in a statement that did not call for full withdrawal but used U.S. language about a "viable" state.

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Back To The Iranian Arena
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn, Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 1:28pm

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona began his remarks with a joke about erstwhile movie star Zsa Zsa Gabor. After her wedding to her fifth husband, the guests had gone home and the husband was perplexed. I know what I am supposed to do now, he said to her, but as husband No. 5, I'm not certain I can do it in an interesting way.

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