The Palestinian challenge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) March 5, 2012 - 1:00am

Something must be done, and quickly, to save the two-state solution. We are nearing the end of the road and soon there will be no one between the river and the sea who actually believes that it will be possible to partition the land into two states.

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Mideast peace, with something short of a deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Robert Malley, Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) March 3, 2012 - 1:00am

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will devote little time Monday to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in part because of Iran and election-year politics. But the principal cause is this: A negotiated, two-state solution is running harder than ever against intractable political and psychological realities in Israel, Palestine and the Arab world. These are pushing toward a de facto outcome that will not be negotiated, comprehensive or conflict-ending.

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Encountering Peace: Q&A on the future of the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Interview) February 27, 2012 - 1:00am

Meeting with American Jews and non-Jews on college campuses, synagogues and churches all across America is always a refreshing opportunity to see how much interest our small country attracts. It is also quite disturbing how divisive the issue of support for Israel has become. The divisions are not between Jews and non-Jews, but within each community there are conflicts between those who are pro-Israeli versus those who are pro-Palestinian.

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Jerusalem Isn't Just for Arabs, Either
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) February 27, 2012 - 1:00am

I write this late on Sunday night in Doha, following the first day of the Arab League’s Conference on Jerusalem. I am attending the conference as an individual and a member of the foreign policy community — not as a representative of any organization (as is the case when I attend most conferences). That said, the organizers of the conference knew when they invited me that I am a Zionist. Most of my professional life (and much of my personal life) has been dedicated to fighting for peace for Israel and fighting against biased views on all sides of the issues.

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Jordan’s Blames Israel for Deadlocked Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

AMMAN, Jordan — King Abdullah II on Tuesday blamed Israel for deadlocked Mideast peacemaking in a meeting with U.S. Jewish leaders, the official Petra News Agency said. But the king's guests offered a more optimistic version of events, saying Abdullah had also been complimentary of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position in recent peace talks. Jordan last month played host to talks that have subsequently been broken off. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have blamed the other for the cut-off.

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Beating a dead horse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Chuck Freilich - (Opinion) February 20, 2012 - 1:00am

How long can you beat a dead horse? The peace process died some years ago and the only humane thing to do may be to allow it to rest in peace. Indeed, it is questionable whether this is an opportune time to consider revival, when the future of peace with Egypt and Jordan hangs in doubt, Palestinian elections portend a possible Hamas takeover in the West Bank, and Hamas' radical mini-state in Gaza is the embodiment of every Israeli nightmare.

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Milestones along the road to a new Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) February 16, 2012 - 1:00am

The first basic assumption of the new peace is that, in the coming years, no Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will be signed. Of course, we must keep trying. Some secret diplomatic team must always be maintained to conduct hushed-up negotiations to check whether it is possible. But the working assumption is that, in the current strategic environment, there's no chance of resolving the problems of Jerusalem, the refugees or Hamas. Someday there will be peace, perhaps, but not in this decade.

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Abbas will have to choose
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yigal B. Caspi - (Opinion) February 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Hamas and Fatah, the ruling faction in the Palestinian Authority, signed an agreement in Doha, Qatar on 6 February 2012 to form an interim unity government. According to the agreement, PA President and leader of Fatah Mahmoud Abbas will head the government, replacing the current Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, who is supported by the West. The move is a further step in implementing the so-called reconciliation agreement that the two Palestinian factions signed in Cairo in May 2011.

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The Psychological Dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Alon Ben-Meir - (Opinion) February 9, 2012 - 1:00am

On the surface, the lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process seems illogical and unsettling.

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Words matter: A new language for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) February 8, 2012 - 1:00am

The words people use, often unconsciously, can have a critical impact. Dangerously misleading terminology remains a major obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace. The current initiative by Palestine to upgrade its status at the United Nations from “observer entity” to member state or, temporarily failing that, “observer state” is commonly referred to, by both supporters and opponents of this initiative, as an effort to “achieve statehood” or “recognition of statehood” through the United Nations. It is nothing of the sort.

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