Smothered by Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mustafa Barghouthi - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Negotiations between two unequal parties cannot succeed. Success in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations requires a reasonable balance of power, clear terms of reference and abstention of both sides from imposing unilateral facts on the ground. None of that existed in the talks that were re-initiated in September.

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Abbas urges the Quartet to realize Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urged the international Quartet for Middle East peace to find alternative solutions to end the Israeli occupation and give the Palestinians a homeland. Abbas made the comments at a joint press conference in Ramallah with visiting Finnish President Tarja Halonen. "We want a state on the lands occupied in 1967 and to live in peace with our neighbors, including Israel," Abbas said.

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Palestinians counter Israeli offer on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM - Responding to an offer by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to extend a freeze on building in West Bank settlements if Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, a top Palestinian official said Wednesday that such recognition could be granted to Israel within its 1967 borders, without the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. In media interviews, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior official of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, countered Netanyahu's offer in another volley of the verbal ping-pong that has taken the place of direct negotiations.

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US backs Palestinian demand to see borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (Ma’an) -- The US on Wednesday supported the PLO's request to see a map of Israel's borders, but said such demands must be made face-to-face, not through the media. PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo on Wednesday called on Israel and the US to provide a map of Israel's borders before "asking anything else." "Israel is an unknown entity in terms of borders [so] how does it suggest to recognize it as a Jewish state? Israel and the US should first set out Israel's borders," he explained.

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No to a third intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Whether or not a solution to the crisis over settlements is achieved in the coming days, it's becoming increasingly clear that the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are in serious trouble. The Israeli daily Ha’aretz quoted unnamed Western officials as saying the talks are “going nowhere.” And the most cautious, sober and measured of the senior PLO leadership, Yasser Abed Rabbo who is a member of the negotiating team, has been moved to declare that, “there will be no serious political process with Netanyahu's government.”

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Danger of Israel’s racist demands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Without any reason, the Israeli government has created a totally artificial problem for all future persons wishing to get citizenship: they will have to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Once again the Israelis are trying to push their internal problems and their hesitation to pay the needed price for peace onto others.

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Rattling the Cage: Any more doubts about Bibi?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Until this week, the question posed by “neutral observers” about Binyamin Netanyahu was whether he was going to follow the examples of Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, or that of Yitzhak Shamir. Would he transform himself into a peacemaker like Begin and Sharon by uprooting settlements and relinquishing occupied territory, or would he be an immovable object like Shamir, aiming only to keep things “quiet” so he could build more settlements and close the door on Palestinian statehood?

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Why Not Just Submit to Netanyahu?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Osman Mirghani - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Those who predicted that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was serious in his pursuit of peace should now engage in some self-reflection. Netanyahu is a manipulative and deceitful man of the highest order, and it is a fact that he does not want to achieve a genuine peace settlement, which would lead to a viable Palestinian state. Instead, he has demanded complete Palestinian and Arab submission, to all his prohibitive conditions, and provocative maneuvers.

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Buying “Time” Will Lead Negotiations Out of Predicaments?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by George Semaan - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

The ball is now in Washington’s court, knowing it never exited it in the first place, after Washington decided to be the sole sponsor of the new round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian authority.

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Palestinians: US not taking Bibi seriously
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - October 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Neither the Palestinian Authority nor Washington are taking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel prior to a renewed movement freeze seriously, a senior Palestinian official told Ynet Tuesday. The source went on to say that the PA viewed the demand as "unacceptable" and that the US sees it as "ridiculous."

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