Abbas, Bush stress need for peace push
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Jerusalem Post - September 25, 2008 - 12:00am

Sep. 25, 2008 AP and HILARY LEILA KRIEGER , THE JERUSALEM POST US President George W. Bush told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday that the United States has not given up hope on an agreement to create a Palestinian state. "I appreciate your determination and your desire to have a Palestinian state," Bush told Abbas in front of reporters before a White House meeting. "I share that desire with you. It's not easy."

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Mid-East Quartet 'has lost grip'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 24, 2008 - 8:00pm

The Quartet of international powers has "lost its grip" on the Middle East peace process which it is meant to foster, a group of aid agencies says. In a damning report, the agencies say the Quartet - Russia, the US, the EU and the UN - is failing in its mission. Conditions for Palestinians, which it was meant to improve, have worsened since peace talks recommenced under US sponsorship in 2007, the agencies say. In the West Bank there was an increase in Israeli settlement and travel curbs. The report was issued ahead of a Quartet meeting in New York on Friday.

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Palestinians Pick Abbas Over Haniyeh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Angus Reid Global Monitor
September 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

Few people are ready to elect Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to run the Palestinian Authority, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO). If Haniyeh ran for the presidency against Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, Haniyeh would get 24.8 per cent of the vote, while Abbas would garner 46.6 per cent. In a different scenario, Haniyeh would also lose with 25.7 per cent of the vote against 48 per cent for Marwan Barghouthi, a Fatah member currently serving time in an Israeli jail.

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Palestinians win Livni pledge on talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - September 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie won an assurance from Israeli prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni on Tuesday that peace talks will not stall while she tries to form a new coalition government. In an interview with Reuters following their meeting, Qurie warned that violence could erupt if the talks collapsed. "The Palestinians will continue to negotiate. But, if the talks reached a dead end, what do we do? Capitulate? Resistance in all its forms is a legitimate right," Qurie said.

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Few Palestinians Expect to Form Own State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Angus Reid Global Monitor
September 19, 2008 - 8:00pm

Few people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip expect to see the creation of a Palestinian state within the next five years, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. 27.5 per cent of respondents believe the chances for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel are medium to high, while 69.2 per cent are more skeptical.

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Israel and Palestine Can Still Achieve Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Mahmoud Abbas - (Editorial) September 18, 2008 - 8:00pm

This month marks 15 painful years since the Arafat-Rabin handshake on the White House lawn. Palestinian children who started school when the Oslo Agreement was signed in 1993 are now young adults. They have not known a day of true freedom or genuine security in their lives.

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Jenin? Jenin!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amoss Harel, Avi Issacharoff - September 18, 2008 - 8:00pm

All military camps are similar, and in the Middle East they also occasionally change hands, without their external appearance undergoing any significant changes. As such, Israel handed Jenin's Muqata compound over to the Palestinian security forces in 1996. Although part of it was bombed in 2001, today the compound once again serves as an active Palestinian Authority headquarters. Even the mirror next to the exit gate, a familiar sight from every Israel Defense Forces base, has remained in place. Only the slogan, "Soldier, Improve Your Appearance," has been removed by the Palestinians.

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Patience frays
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram
by Dina Ezzat - September 16, 2008 - 8:00pm

The look on the face of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he exited meetings with Arab foreign ministers at a late evening hour Monday, or earlier in the week after talks with President Hosni Mubarak, was one of despair. Abbas is all but saying that he cannot conclude a final status deal with the Israelis as he had hoped and that he cannot keep on fighting -- or as hard -- his immediate political adversary, Hamas. Abbas is saying this to all Arab, including Egyptian, interlocutors and is not getting much support from either.

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Abbas and Olmert to meet amid doubts of a deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in a last-minute bid to clinch an agreement a day before his Kadima party holds an election to replace him. "Olmert will make a last-ditch effort to reach a deal, but I doubt they can finalize anything in tonight's meeting," an Israeli political source said. Senior Abbas aides said the Palestinians had rejected Israeli proposals to sign a "shelf" deal, which would not go into effect until Abbas regained control of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

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Abbas to Haaretz: We will compromise on refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm

Perhaps it was the daytime fast and abstention from smoking during the holy month of Ramadan, and perhaps it was the conversation about the exhausting negotiations with Israel that caused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to press the white button at least three times in the course of last Wednesday's interview. Sa'id, his personal assistant, enters without a word, pulls out the packet and lights a cigarette for the president. Abu Mazen's relaxed mood does not hint at all the troubles bombarding him from inside and out.

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