In New Mideast Talks, A Small Victory For U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Michele Kelemen - August 21, 2010 - 12:00am

The Obama administration has set the date for the first direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in two years, a small diplomatic victory for an administration that made Arab-Israeli peace an early priority. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have been invited to the White House on Sept.1. They will be joined by Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

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Stakes are high in Mideast peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Farah Stockman - August 21, 2010 - 12:00am

The United States will host the launch of direct peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington early next month, a diplomatic breakthrough for the Obama administration, which has invested much of the president’s global political capital in an attempt to broker peace in the Middle East.

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Counterpoint: Land and Sovereignty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Charles Glass - August 20, 2010 - 12:00am

In the elegant and incisive style that characterizes all of his writing, James Carroll set out in these pages (“The wandering Jew and the mad Saracen,” Views, Aug. 12) the theological genesis of the dispute in Israel-Palestine. Mr. Carroll presented a compelling vision of Christian religious prejudice against both Jews and Muslims that he believes informs this seemingly intractable conflict. Christian insistence from St. Augustine onward that “Jewish exile was a matter of theological proof,” he wrote, animates Christian hostility to Zionism.

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Palestinians see danger for Abbas in resumed Israel peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ben Lynfield - August 20, 2010 - 12:00am

There was little for Palestinians to be upbeat about Friday as they waited for an official invitation to join Israel at resumed direct peace talks to be hosted by President Obama on Sept. 2.

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Before we talk to Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ron Prosor - August 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Groucho Marx famously quipped: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them … well, I have others." The International Quartet (the US, the UN, Russia and the EU) has long applied three principles Hamas must adopt to take part in negotiations. It must renounce violence, recognise Israel and abide by previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. At no point has Hamas satisfied these conditions – or indicated any intention to do so.

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US gambles on new Middle East talks with no clear plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Kim Ghattas - August 20, 2010 - 12:00am

This time, scepticism is at an all-time high and expectations are low, including for the near term, let alone the ambitious goal set out by Hillary Clinton of resolving all key issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict within a year. The statement by the secretary of state and her special envoy, George Mitchell, was high in aspirations, low on details.

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Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks: What Will Help, Hinder?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from PBS
August 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Transcript JEFFREY BROWN: And to talk about the talks, we go to David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute and co-author of the book "Myths, Illusions and Peace," and Ghaith Al-Omari, advocacy director at the American Task Force on Palestine and a fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is a former aide to President Abbas. Ghaith al Omari, what is your answer to the question posed at the announcement today, why now?

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One Solution: Two States
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Lara Friedman - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am

The steady march of settlements, the rightward shift in Israeli politics, the growing sense that a conflict-ending peace agreement is impossible — all these things are feeding some pundits’ impulse to declare the death of the two-state solution as a means of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But what are the alternatives?

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Quartet dispute delays statement on direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am

A statement by the Quartet that was expected to lead to long-awaited direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians has been delayed due to disputes between the United States and European Union, Israeli diplomatic sources revealed Tuesday. The Quartet, which is made up of the US, EU, UN, and Russia, was expected to bring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the negotiating table by releasing a statement early this week about the basis for direct talks.

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New Israel Fund Considering Red Lines
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am

The New Israel Fund, the target of attacks by right-wing organizations accusing it of supporting anti-Zionist groups, is discussing the possibility of specifying in its guidelines that grants will be given only to groups that accept the idea of Israel as a Jewish homeland. The discussions have been taking place in recent months in Israel and in the United States, where NIF’s headquarters are located and most of the group’s donors reside.

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