Olmert: Significant Progress Possible On Borders Of Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid Shmuel Rosner - February 13, 2008 - 5:06pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says it is possible to advance significantly the resolution of the issue of borders in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in spite of a shared concern by officials of both sides, and the United States, as to their ability to realistically achieve a detailed agreement by the end of 2008.

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'no Change' From Israel, Fayyad Says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - February 13, 2008 - 5:04pm

Nearly three months after the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis was supposed to usher in new cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad yesterday accused Israel of having "not done a thing materially on the ground to help my government."

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Hamas Must Stand Down
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-sharif - (Opinion) February 13, 2008 - 5:00pm

Hamas, the staunchly anti-Israel Islamist movement, which has been governing Gaza ever since its bloody showdown last June with the PNA, is looking increasingly like a spent force. It is not that the Palestinian National Authority has scored any meaningful gains in its peace negotiations with Israel since these talks were resumed in Annapolis last November. Nor is it a result of Israeli sanctions against the enclave that has left more than 1.5 million Palestinians without access to basic needs such as gasoline, food and medicine.

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Israelis, Palestinians Up War Of Words
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
February 13, 2008 - 4:57pm

Israeli threats to invade Gaza and target Hamas leaders in retaliation for rocket firing have elicited sharp responses from both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.   P.A. Chairman Mahmoud 'Abbas threatened on Tuesday to announce the failure of the ongoing peace negotiations in protest at what he calls Israeli 'stubbornness', which is impeding progress in the talks, sources at his office said.   Final talks between Israel and the P.A. resumed last December following the U.S. sponsored Annapolis conference.   Meanwhile, P.A.

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'no Progress' In Mideast Peace Process: Arab League, Eu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by John Inguanez - February 13, 2008 - 4:56pm

Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Tuesday slammed a lack of progress in the Middle East peace process as EU and Arab foreign ministers wrapped up two days of talks in Malta. "We see no progress. We want to send a message, a message of concern," he said following the talks, the first between the two blocs at the level of foreign minister. He added: "We all supported the process with the hope that it will bring peace in 2008. We are now asking what happened, why no progress?"

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Palestinian President Leaves Bahrain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna)
February 13, 2008 - 4:55pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas left Manama on Wednesday following a two-day official visit that came as part of his tour of Arab countries. He was bid farewell by Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak al Khalifa, ministers, senior military officers, the Muharraq governor and Palestinian ambassador to Bahrain. During his visit, Abbas held talks with the kingdom's leadership on bilateral ties, the latest developments in Palestine and Arab and international issues of mutual concern.

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Encountering Peace: The Way Forward
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) February 12, 2008 - 7:17pm

There is a very curious news black-out both in Israel and in Palestine regarding what President Bush read in the Olmert-Abbas joint statement in Annapolis: "We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008." Are those negotiations taking place? We don't really know. Not only the politicians aren't talking, most of the media is not reporting, the international community is silent and I have even heard that Tony Blair has instructed members of his staff to keep quiet.

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Palestinian Questions Peace Progress
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Anne Gearan - February 12, 2008 - 7:15pm

The U.S.-backed Palestinian prime minister said Monday that time is running short to demonstrate progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks President Bush launched to fanfare last fall. "Unless there is tangible progress in the period immediately ahead" on a list of pledges made by Israel, "I think, honestly, it would require that we begin to really call this for what it is," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said. Fayyad did not write off the peace effort, but said there is good reason for skepticism.

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The Us Helps Itself By Helping Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Samir Abdullah - February 12, 2008 - 7:13pm

In his final State of the Union address, US President George W. Bush said he believed that a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal would be a reality by the end of his term. Despite the optimism that his remarks generated in the Palestinian government, the goal of reaching a Palestinian-Israeli agreement by the end of 2008 - which Bush set at the Annapolis summit last year and again during his visit to Ramallah last month - remains subject to question, and this is a matter that merits immediate attention.

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Palestinian Divisions Serve No One
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) February 11, 2008 - 9:24pm

Palestinians themselves are first and foremost to blame for the breakdown in their internal relations and the split between Fateh and Hamas and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is especially true of the fierce military clashes in Gaza that led to this division between the two major Palestinian factions and the two main areas of Palestinian territory.

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