The Obama Administration and the Unavoidable Issue of Palestine
Policy Focus by ATFP - February 5, 2009 - 1:00am

Overview

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Another price of the Gaza operation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Meir Javedanfar - (Opinion) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am

The recent invasion of Gaza is likely to have an impact on Barack Obama-Israel relations, both for good and bad. Hamas's provocative attacks made it very difficult for Jerusalem not to respond. The government, through Egypt, tried on several occasions to convince Hamas to stop attacking southern cities. But that failed, as did the siege of Gaza.

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Report: Olmert privately proposed division of Jerusalem to Arab leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Were Ehud Olmert running in the upcoming election, his spokesmen would most likely hasten to deny the revelation of the Ir Amim organization, according to which the outgoing prime minister proposed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Jerusalem be divided along lines that strongly resemble the Clinton outline of December 2000.

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The Return of Dennis Ross
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
January 20, 2009 - 1:00am

The return of veteran U.S. peace envoy Dennis Ross to his old beat on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process should receive a qualified welcome across the region: Ross and the policies of reconciliation that he can be guaranteed to energetically promote will be a vast improvement on the malign neglect of the past eight years practiced by President George W. Bush.

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How Not to Make Peace in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - January 15, 2009 - 1:00am

1. Foreign affairs had no more than a small part in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and the Middle East peace process only a fraction of that. Yet the sorry prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians make a break with past US policy on this matter imperative, regardless of the new administration's priorities.

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Think of Gaza as a prison – and all becomes clear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Oren Yiftachel - (Opinion) January 15, 2009 - 1:00am

Let us start with the current sad irony: the invasion and destruction of Gaza is being carried out by an ousted Israeli government, and actively supported by a defeated US administration. Yet, the two outgoing governments are colluding against a democratically elected government of Palestine. Further, instead of sanctioning Israel for placing Gaza under siege for the last two years, and for occupying Palestine for the last four decades, the world has imposed sanctions on the Hamas government. Gazans are being punished twice: by occupation, and for their resistance.

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Gaza, a chance to reaffirm the two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 12, 2009 - 1:00am

The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians. Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel.

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Transcript: Stephen Hadley
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by John D. McKinnon - (Interview) January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

The Journal's John McKinnon sat down with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley at his office in the West Wing. They talked about the situation in Gaza, the U.S. relationship with Russia, Iraq and more in an interview previewing a valedictory speech Mr. Hadley plans to deliver Wednesday. Below is an edited transcript of the interview. * * * The Wall Street Journal: Talk a little about the challenges, as well as the opportunities, that the next administration is going to face.

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Birth Pangs of a New Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report
by Mouin Rabbani - (Opinion) January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Shortly after 11:30 am on December 27, 2008, at the height of the midday bustle on the first day of the Gazan week and with multitudes of schoolchildren returning home from the morning shift, close to 90 Israeli warplanes launched over 100 tons of explosives at some 100 targets throughout the 139 square miles of the Gaza Strip. Within minutes, the near simultaneous air raids killed more than 225 and wounded at least 700, more than 200 of them critically.

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Mideast political conundrum: Settlement expansion is a threat to peace negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another definitive demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians; Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel.

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