Israel needs to show it is serious about peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - October 29, 2008 - 8:00pm

And now it's Israel's turn to vote in a new parliament. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. The results of the elections in Israel and America are bound to affect the Middle East and, hopefully, the new leaders of the two countries will bring good tidings for traumatised Arabs and Israelis.

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Tzipi or Bibi?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
October 29, 2008 - 8:00pm

IT SEEMS to happen every time. The moment Israel comes close to getting a prime minister serious about making peace with the Palestinians, fate steps in to block the way. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated; Shimon Peres was rejected by the voters; no sooner had Ariel Sharon come round to ceding (far too little) land for peace than he was felled by a stroke.

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Israel's multilateral option
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
October 28, 2008 - 8:00pm

The inability of Tzipi Livni to form a coalition government in Israel and her subsequent calling of elections has sadly obscured two unexpected peace proposals that emerged in her final weeks of horse-trading. The first was an examination by the foreign ministry into a possible non-aggression pact with Lebanon. The second comes after Labour leader Ehud Barak proposed a revival of Saudi Arabia's 2002 peace plan which offers Israel universal recognition in the Arab world were it to fully withdraw to its pre-1967 borders.

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Middle East challenges for next president
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alistair Lyon - October 28, 2008 - 8:00pm

Major foreign policy challenges await the next president in the Middle East. Here are some of the intertwined issues that Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain will inherit from President George W. Bush.

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US's Dayton Views PA-US Security Coordination, Denies US Targeting HAMAS
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by General Keith Dayton - (Interview) October 26, 2008 - 8:00pm

Interview with General Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator, by Abd-al-Ra'uf Arna'ut; Dayton: These Are the Objectives of My Task, Truth of What I Did in Gaza [Arna'ut] You are very well known in the Palestinian arena, but few people actually know what you do. What do you specifically do?

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Livni Abandons Effort to Form Israeli Coalition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Linda Gradstein - October 26, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday gave up trying to form a coalition government, paving the way for new elections in early 2009. Palestinian officials worried that her decision could also mean the end of the fragile Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which resumed just under a year ago and had been a priority of the Bush administration.

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No peace deal with Israel this year - Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 26, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel and the Palestinians will not be able to reach a peace agreement this year, the Palestinian chief negotiator in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Jewish state said on Monday. "I don't think that we will be able to reach an agreement this year," Ahmed Qurie told a group of former Israeli security officials at a conference near Tel Aviv on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

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Next US leader should get to work on Mideast: Palestinian
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

The next US president, be it Barack Obama or John McCain, should get to work immediately to jump-start Middle East peace talks, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said here Thursday. Erakat was visiting Tokyo for talks with Israel's Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, in the latest meeting arranged by leading donor Japan aimed at building confidence between the two sides. "Whoever will be the next president of the United States, whether Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama, they must immediately engage and continue their engagement and no time should be wasted," Erakat told reporters.

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Time to resurrect the Arab peace plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - October 17, 2008 - 8:00pm

In late July, when Barack Obama toured the Middle East, he met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, for a private briefing on the state of the world's most intractable conflict - a major priority for the next occupant of the Oval Office. Abbas revealed later that when he told the Democratic candidate about the Arab peace initiative - offering Israel normal relations with all 22 Arab countries in exchange for a Palestinian state - Obama's (clearly private) response was unambiguous: "The Israelis must be crazy not to accept that."

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The price of peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Petra Marquardt-Bigman - October 16, 2008 - 8:00pm

With the potential repercussions of the global financial crisis still hard to imagine, Middle East commentators have begun to wonder how the economic turmoil will affect the region and particularly the chances to achieve success in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, or Israel and Syria.

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