It's Not About Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Shibley Telhami - January 14, 2008 - 5:28pm

As President Bush travels through the Middle East, the prevailing assumption is that Arab states are primarily focused on the rising Iranian threat and that their attendance at the Annapolis conference with Israel in November was motivated by this threat. This assumption, reflected in the president's speech in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, could be a costly mistake.

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Still Waiting To Seize The Moment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) January 14, 2008 - 5:24pm

Visiting the Middle East this week, President Bush sounded an unaccustomed note of diplomatic urgency. He insisted that Israel and the Palestinians will conclude a peace agreement before he leaves office in early 2009, and he tried to rhetorically prod the process along.

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Welcome, Mr President, To The Misery You've Created
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jonathan Steele - (Commentary) January 11, 2008 - 3:53pm

It is a well-deserved irony for George Bush that his first presidential visit to Israel coincided this week with the storm of excitement produced by the unexpected outcome of the two New Hampshire primaries. Nothing could better highlight the irrelevance of the final year of the Bush presidency.

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Israel's Bethlehem Settlement Seen As Obstacle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph
by Tim Butcher - January 11, 2008 - 3:51pm

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa crowns a hill on the south-eastern approach to Jerusalem and towers over the birthplace of Jesus. It is built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war - which makes it a "settlement" in the eyes of the world - and shot up the agenda when Israel announced recently that it planned to build 307 more homes there.

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George Bush Drinks In The Last-chance Casbah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
January 11, 2008 - 3:49pm

GEORGE BUSH flew in to a fanfare of bugles and cynicism at the start of his tour of the Middle East this week. The cynicism, it must be said, is not misplaced. Although he said in Jerusalem that he detected “a new opportunity for peace”, he has waited too long to make his first visit as president to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Even if he did everything right in his final year, he does not have time to realise his “vision” of a free Palestine alongside an Israel at peace with its neighbours.

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Bush Calls For Fund To Compensate Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - January 11, 2008 - 3:42pm

US President George W. Bush on Thursday called for a compensation fund for Palestinian refugees as he set out what he said was the “point of departure” for negotiations on a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians this year. At the end of two days of meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Mr Bush sought to highlight his sympathy with the Palestinians more than on previous occasions and to dispel scepticism over the US’s readiness to lean on Israel.

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U.s. Seen In Policy Retreat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Khaled Moussa Al-omrani, Adam Morrow - (Analysis) January 11, 2008 - 3:37pm

Recent months have witnessed several notable political reorientations in the Middle East, involving Iran, the Gulf states, Egypt and Lebanon. Several experts say the changes reflect a shift in Washington's regional strategy following recent U.S. policy setbacks.

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Substance And Symbolism: Parsing Bush's Words
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - January 11, 2008 - 3:34pm

Picking apart President Bush's summing up of his Palestinian-Israeli peace brokering is a a little like reading the fine print in the nutritional information on comfort food: there's empty puffery, to be sure, but also nuggets of substance. Bush, speaking Thursday at Jerusalem's King David Hotel, was summarizing two days of working meetings with the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian governments, his first presidential visit to the region.

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Bush Ends Peace Mission Without Breakthrough
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tabassum Zakaria - January 11, 2008 - 3:23pm

U.S. President George W. Bush wrapped up his mission to Israel and the occupied West Bank on Friday, emboldened enough to have predicted a peace treaty within a year but with no major breakthroughs for his efforts. Bush arrived on Friday evening in Kuwait, the first of five stops with Arab allies he hopes will aid the fragile peace process and help contain Iran's growing regional clout. Bush met Kuwait's ruler, who thanked him for his efforts to make progress on issues crucial to the Middle East.

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A New Two-way Street Called Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) January 10, 2008 - 5:00pm

The objective of the US president is to rally the Arab neighbours of Iran against the latter's nuclear ambitions These are not the best of times for George W. Bush. The unpopular US president, a lame duck to boot, should not even consider venturing abroad, certainly to areas such as the turbulent Middle East where America's image has hit rock bottom during his tenure. The blame is attributed to his administration's policies which have wrecked havoc in the region and yielded little to brag about.

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