Israeli And Palestinian Leaders Meet In Jerusalem To Move Toward Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - October 19, 2007 - 8:23pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, met Monday and agreed to set up a team of negotiators to flesh out their understandings of what a permanent, two-state solution would look like and require.

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Saudi Says Israel Future Hangs On Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 19, 2007 - 8:22pm

Saudi Arabia said on Monday Israel was increasing tensions in the region and its future hinged on recognising Palestinian rights to statehood. The unusually strong comments from the Muslim kingdom, which has traditionally close ties to Washington, come as the region awaits a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected to take place in November.

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The Missing Link
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 19, 2007 - 4:46pm

The continued give-and-take over the predawn Israeli air strike at an unmanned Syrian site, reportedly a nascent nuclear facility close to the Turkish border, remains a mystery several weeks after it happened. Even the United Nations watchdog organisation handling nuclear issues, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has pleaded ignorance on the subject.

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Progress Eludes Condoleezza Rice In Middle East Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by Richard Beeston - (Editorial) October 19, 2007 - 4:41pm

After five days of shuttle diplomacy, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, returned home empty-handed yesterday, having failed to pin down participants, an agenda or a firm date for a planned Middle East peace conference. At the end of a punishing round of talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders, Dr Rice said that she was “encouraged” by her mission, but admitted that serious obstacles remained.

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Burns Echoes Rice: Time Is Right For Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Claude Salhani - October 19, 2007 - 4:31pm

"Establishing a Palestinian State is the "right thing to do," said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. "The time for a Palestinian state," said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "is now." "Israel should halt the settlements' expansion, and reduce its footprint in the West Bank," said Burns, the keynote speaker at the second annual gala of the American Task Force on Palestine in Washington Wednesday night.

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The Roadblocks To Another Mideast Summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick, Dan Murphy - October 19, 2007 - 4:29pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spent four days in the Middle East this week to drum up support for an international summit that the US hopes will push the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward.

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Analysis-gruelling Road Ahead For Rice On Middle East Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous, Arshad Mohammed - October 19, 2007 - 4:26pm

The battle over the agenda of a conference on Palestinian statehood offers U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a glimpse of the gruelling process that awaits if and when the two sides enter formal negotiations. The odds of ultimate success are slim at best unless the Bush administration, which once derided what it called former U.S. President Bill Clinton's "shoot the moon" diplomacy, can bring weakened Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take risks their predecessors would not accept, former negotiators said.

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National Security Adviser To Travel To Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Michael Abramowitz - October 19, 2007 - 4:21pm

National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley will head to the Middle East next week, the latest in a procession of senior U.S. officials trying to keep nascent Israeli-Palestinian talks on track in advance of a possible peace conference later this fall. The trip was disclosed by officials traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in the British capital for talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II after spending four days shuttling between Israel, Egypt and the West Bank.

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Rice 'encouraged' By Mideast Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Matthew Lee - October 19, 2007 - 4:17pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she was encouraged by a round of furious Mideast diplomacy to prepare a U.S.-hosted peace conference in the fall despite divisions between Israel and the Palestinians that could derail it. With tensions running high and time running out to plan the meeting, a senior U.S. official said Rice would return to the region at the end of October or early November after National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley goes there next week to press the two sides to launch formal peace talks.

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Joint Israeli, Palestinian Statement Will Address 'core Issues,' Sources Say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Barak Ravid - (Opinion) October 18, 2007 - 5:47pm

Israel is prepared to make a joint declaration with the Palestinians at the international peace conference scheduled to take place next month in Annapolis that will address the core issues of Jerusalem, refugees and permanent borders, a senior government official told Haaretz yesterday. Palestinian officials demanded Israel commit to a timetable for negotiations.

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