Palestinians Deliver Letter from Abbas to Israel’s Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karin Brulliard - April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A much-anticipated letter written by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was delivered here Tuesday, but both sides expressed little hope that it would resuscitate peace talks that have been stalled since 2010. The contents of the letter were not made public, but drafts had been widely circulated. Palestinian leaders had depicted it as a salvo of frustration from a leader who believes that Israeli actions have caused the Palestinian Authority to lose its clout.

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Netanyahu’s offer for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Musa Keilani - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be drafting a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, detailing his offer of renewed peace negotiations in response to a Palestinian statement on their stand. Netanyahu’s letter, according to officials quoted in the Israeli news media, will contain nothing new except that it will not include a demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Netanyahu will restate his demand that Israel maintain control over the Jordan Valley and that any future Palestinian state be demilitarised, according to the reports.

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Two-State Solution Loses its Champion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The spines of the books that bear Sari Nusseibeh's name are testimony to the cause he once championed. There is Palestine: A State is Born, published in 1990. A year later, it was No Trumpets, No Drums: A Two-State Solution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. To the dismay of those who continue to support the two-state solution, Mr Nusseibeh now believes the convictions he espoused in the pages of these books are as faded and musty as the volumes.

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The Peace Process Stuck in a Rut of Malaise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, the UN, the EU and Russia - met Wednesday on the sidelines of the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Washington. But the Quartet's first high-level meeting since December passed almost without notice in the US. Neither The Washington Post nor The New York Times had a story about it in yesterday's editions. In part, say observers, the lack of interest is due to other, more pressing issues. The violence in Syria dominates the attention of the foreign-policy circuit in Washington, where Iran's nuclear programme is also a perennial concern.

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The Peace Process Stuck in a Rut of Malaise
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The National - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, the UN, the EU and Russia - met Wednesday on the sidelines of the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Washington. But the Quartet's first high-level meeting since December passed almost without notice in the US. Neither The Washington Post nor The New York Times had a story about it in yesterday's editions. In part, say observers, the lack of interest is due to other, more pressing issues. The violence in Syria dominates the attention of the foreign-policy circuit in Washington, where Iran's nuclear programme is also a perennial concern.

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Middle East mediators seek to revive peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed - April 12, 2012 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - Middle East peace mediators on Wednesday criticized Israeli settlement building and called on donors to meet aid pledges to the Palestinians as they sought to revive moribund peace talks. The so-called Quartet - the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States - said they stood behind their Sept. 23, 2011, call for the parties to reach a peace deal by the end of 2012, an objective that seems increasingly remote.

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Don't Give Up on Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jimmy Carter - (Opinion) April 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The current focus of leaders in Washington and Jerusalem on Iran has obscured the near-death of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the inevitable catastrophe toward which Israel is now moving.

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How to Evacuate 100,000 Israelis From the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Zvika Krieger - (Opinion) April 12, 2012 - 12:00am

A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still possible. As part of my debate on this question with Robert Wright, who says "it's too late" as "there are just too many settlements," I offered some proposals on how to include the vast majority of settlers within a new Israeli border that would still allow for a viable and contiguous Palestinian state. Wright was not convinced, arguing that there are practical and political barriers to implementing those proposals. I still think he's wrong, and here's why.

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Quartet to Meet in DC, but Expectations are Low
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Senior Quartet representatives will meet in Washington on Wednesday amid little expectation that they will have more luck this time kick-starting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and Quartet envoy Tony Blair will meet on the sidelines of the G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process.

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No, Of Course I'm Not
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Since the emergence of the one-state movement, I've been routinely described by the pro-Palestinian far right and ultra-left as a “Zionist,” and even a “traitor” and “collaborator,” because I remain committed to ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Of course, most of these people were, in the past, themselves supporters of a two state solution, so by their logic they were also once “traitors” and “collaborators.”

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