Losers in election stretch beyond Israel's borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Roula Khalaf - February 17, 2009 - 1:00am

It will be weeks before the real Israeli election winner emerges, but one thing is clear. Whether a coalition led by Tzipi Livni's Kadima or Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud prevails, the public's shift to the right ensures that there are losers beyond the Jewish state's borders. One of them is Mahmoud Abbas, the embattled president of the Palestinian Authority, who has been desperately seeking a revival of a peace process.

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Optimism and the Dangers of Relapse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - February 16, 2009 - 1:00am

There are conflicting signs related to the two main areas of conflict in our region, Lebanon and Palestine. On the one hand, there is optimistic talk about defusing the crises that have recently swept the region, in a manner that enhances the inter-Arab reconciliation and cements optimism. On the other hand, there are warnings that herald a potential relapse and a return to square one.

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Critics aside, Israeli officials see successes in Gaza operation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - February 16, 2009 - 1:00am

A month after the Gaza war, with Kassam rockets continuing to fall in southern Israel, many skeptical Israelis are questioning whether the war achieved anything. Since the cease-fire on Jan. 18, militiamen have fired nearly 50 rockets and mortars at civilian targets in the Gaza periphery. Israel has retaliated with targeted assassinations and airstrikes against smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egyptian border.

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Hamas said ready to sign deal on Shalit release
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
February 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Hamas is prepared to sign a deal next week for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit as part of a long-term truce agreement between Israel and the Gaza Strip, the Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported on Friday. According to the report, Hamas will cement the truce within the next few days and finalize the deal to free Shalit by Wednesday. Palestinian sources told Al-Hayat that Shalit, who was captured by Hamas-allied militants in a 2006 cross-border raid from Gaza into southern Israel, would be freed in exchange for 1,000 Palestinians jailed in Israel.

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Can Obama envoy George Mitchell kick-start Mideast peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Mark Rice-Oxley - February 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Few people can kick off a résumé like this: "1995-99: solved one of the world's most durable and intractable conflicts." So when President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were casting around for a peace envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell was the obvious choice. Who better to deploy than someone experienced in the tortuous dealmaking that defused a comparable crisis and steered Northern Ireland toward a (sometimes frosty) civility?

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Egypt savours peace mediator role
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Matt Bradley - February 6, 2009 - 1:00am

Representatives from more than half a dozen Arab nations may have met this week, but the fact that they all agreed to a plan drafted by Egyptians has not been lost on analysts here. After years of watching Saudi Arabia take the lead in the Middle East peace process and after more than a month of facing the collective anger of the Muslim world for its refusal to open its border crossing with the Gaza Strip, Egypt, many here say, has once again taken its seat at the head of the Middle East’s diplomatic table.

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Much at stake for Egypt in Palestinian-Israel talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman - February 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Men with satchels and briefcases come and go, negotiating into the night, slipping away in the morning, attempting to make peace in a place where it seems hardest to find. An Egyptian spy with a wisp of a mustache and an array of tailored suits listens to them all: the Israelis and the moderate and radical Palestinians, including those from the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has been working to cement a lasting truce between Hamas and Israel, and to bring reconciliation between rival Palestinian parties.

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No rush to talk with Abbas, Hamas says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Khaled Yacoub Oweis - February 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Hamas will not push for Palestinian reconciliation talks if President Mahmoud Abbas insists on the supremacy of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Islamist group said yesterday. In a statement, a high-level Hamas official accused Abbas of siding with Israel during its invasion of Gaza and seeking to "return on Israeli tanks" to govern the territory. Abbas on Sunday rejected a call by Hamas to replace the PLO with an organization less dominated by his allies and said recognizing the primacy of the PLO in representing all Palestinians was a condition for dialogue.

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Abbas, US envoy push Mideast peace in Paris talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
February 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas headed to Paris on Monday to try to drum up diplomatic support for a unity government and to push for a role in rebuilding the war-shattered Gaza Strip, controlled by rival Hamas. With scattered violence in Gaza straining an informal cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants, Abbas was expected to join French, U.S. and other officials in meetings aimed at finding sturdier solutions for Gaza.

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A long and bumpy road
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
January 30, 2009 - 1:00am

AS AN array of diplomats intensify their efforts to consolidate the ceasefire that took hold in the Gaza Strip after January 18th, the battered territory’s 1.5m people were still gasping for desperately-needed help. Gazans are terrified that violence might return, as tit-for-tat attacks resumed at a relatively low but still dangerous level. Most Gazans now rely on food handouts to survive.

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