The right's strategy of phases
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shaul Arieli - (Opinion) July 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Most of the Jewish public perceives the refusal by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accede to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand to recognize Israel as the Jewish state prior to negotiations and a final agreement as evidence of a hidden agenda. For them, this agenda is based on a "strategy of phases" and the aspiration to destroy Israel as a Zionist state.

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Israel needs a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Alon Ben-meir - (Opinion) July 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel’s national security and self-preservation as a democracy, if not its very existence, depend on its ability and willingness to come to terms with the reality of coexistence with the Palestinians on the basis of a two-state solution. Unfortunately, instead of seeking to promote the creation of a Palestinian state, the current government has sought to impede it.

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Abbas to ask for extension to proximity talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 27, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas will request an extension to US-mediated indirect talks with Israel from the Arab Peace Initiative Committee when in Cairo on Thursday, a PLO official said Monday. Executive Committee member Hannah Amireh told Ma'an radio that Abbas would ask for talks to continue until 8 September, one month over the 4-month deadline sanctioned by the Arab League. Abbas will also discuss the possibility of re-entering into direct negotiations with Israel, Amireh said.

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Abbas: Israel renewing cycle of violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Israel’s continued settlement building on what would become a future Palestinian state was impeding a two-state solution and renewing the cycle of violence. In his speech delivered at the summit of the African Union in Kampala, Abbas said Palestinians were clinging to peace “to build a better future for our coming generations and all peoples of the region,” the PA news agency Wafa reported.

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Fighters turn to theatre to advocate Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Phoebe Greenwood - (Blog) July 23, 2010 - 12:00am

In a list of unlikely places to look for peace in the Middle East, the Israeli Defence Force has to come top. But the field of amateur dramatics definitely comes a close second. Enter Combatants for Peace, a group of Israelis and Palestinians who have been trained to fight either in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) or as Palestine's Fatah paramilitaries, but have now put down their guns and together taken to the stage. The group, formed in 2005, perform sketches based on their own experiences of war to promote a "non-violent" resolution to the conflict.

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One-State or Two-State: If Israel Doesn’t Decide, the UN Will
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Felice Friedson - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am

It is conceivable within the course of realpolitik that despite obfuscation; political filibustering; dancing the diplomatic two-step (direct, indirect); wading through a plethora of plans, initiatives, think-tank reports, white papers and expert opinions (from Madrid to Oslo to Allon to Arab to Faya’d); it appears increasingly likely that all might boil down to a single resolution enacted by the United Nations Security Council.

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Abbas: Specific US assurances on borders needed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told his Fatah movement he wants a more specific U.S. commitment on the borders of a future Palestinian state before agreeing to direct talks with Israel, an adviser said Wednesday. Abbas told Fatah leaders in a closed-door meeting late Tuesday that President Barack Obama's assurances so far aren't clear enough. Obama has urged Abbas to resume direct talks that broke off in December 2008.

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Foundation of peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
July 18, 2010 - 12:00am

It might seem Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas forgot something when he recently put forth only one condition to resume direct peace talks: That Israel accept its 1967 frontier as a baseline for the borders of a Palestinian state. Abbas did not state the usual prerequisites — the halt of Jewish settlements, that Jerusalem be the capital of the future Palestinian state, the right of return or the return of Palestinian prisoners.

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PA not ruling out direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah on Monday did not rule out the possibility that the PA would agree to begin direct negotiations with Israel, in what appears to be a departure from its previous position. According to the officials, the PA was now inclined to agree to hold direct negotiations, especially following assurances from US President Barack Obama to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. “We don’t rule out direct talks,” said one official. “But before we move to these talks, we want to have a clear agenda and timetable.”

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Palestine stands up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Shlomo Avineri - (Opinion) July 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Although the crisis over Israel’s naval interventions to defend its blockade of Gaza is gaining all the headlines around the world, something of far more historic importance is taking place in the Middle East. The Palestinian Authority is preparing to issue a unilateral declaration of independence, and it is taking concrete steps on the ground to make any such declaration viable.

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