A Second Win For Ms. Rice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
(Editorial) December 19, 2007 - 3:37pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was as successful in passing the hat for the Palestinians this week as she was in persuading reluctant Arab leaders to attend last month's peace summit. She had to be because the limited progress made at the Annapolis meeting isn't going to be enough to sustain peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority without improvements in the daily lives of its citizens.

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Palestinian Militants Die In Israeli Strikes On Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Rushdi Abu Alouf, Ken Ellingwood - (Special Report) December 19, 2007 - 3:08pm

Israel on Tuesday carried out more airstrikes against Palestinian rocket squads based in the Gaza Strip, killing at least six more militants a day after slaying Islamic Jihad's military chief. Israeli air operations have killed at least 11 militants since Monday evening. Most belonged to Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of cross-border rocket attacks into southern Israel in recent months.

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Down Payment On Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) December 19, 2007 - 3:07pm

The political and territorial challenges facing Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators are formidable and familiar. The economic obstacles to the creation of a viable Palestinian state are also formidable, but easier to make a dent in — if all the donors who claim to care about the Palestinians and peace live up to their promises.

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Bush's Itinerary Includes Jerusalem, The West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
December 19, 2007 - 3:06pm

President Bush will make his first trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank next month to push Israel and the Palestinians toward peace, the White House announced yesterday. Bush also plans to stop during his nine-day trip in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The trip, which begins Jan. 8, comes after a conference in Annapolis last month reenergized White House efforts toward assisting Israel and the Palestinians in forming an independent Palestinian homeland.

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Annapolis Gains Momentum
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - December 18, 2007 - 12:36pm

There is great public skepticism regarding the outcome of the Annapolis meeting. Many of the skeptics state that at the end of the day, it was little more than a photo-op for the principals - Bush, Olmert and Abbas - and that it produced no real substance. The failure of the parties to produce a joint statement that contained any content on the principles for resolving the core issues for permanent status, for some, points to the Annapolis meeting as a failure.

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The Demographic Argument Is Inherently Racist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Hanan Ashrawi - (Interview) December 18, 2007 - 12:34pm

bitterlemons: Israel's demand to be recognized as a "Jewish state" at Annapolis caused an uproar among Palestinians. This doesn't seem like a new demand, so why the uproar?

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It Will Take More Than Money To End The Plight Of The Palestinian People
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) December 18, 2007 - 12:31pm

Monday's gathering in Paris of donor countries to support the widely hoped-for establishment of a Palestinian state was necessary but not sufficient. Without the funds that were pledged, any form of Palestinian independence that might be negotiated as part of a peace agreement to end the Israeli occupation would be a flimsy thing indeed. The more important litmus tests are yet to come, however, and each demands unprecedented levels of seriousness from both the principals and their American mediators.

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Annapolis Unsettled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
(Editorial) December 18, 2007 - 12:30pm

The hopes raised by last month’s Annapolis conference on Middle East peace, at which Israel and the Palestinians undertook to negotiate a solution to the conflict by the end of next year, are already in danger of being dashed. Only days afterwards, the Israeli government gave the go-ahead to complete work on arguably the most contentious of its settlements on occupied Arab land.

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Israel Alone Can Offer Something All The World's Money Cannot Buy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Bronwen Maddox - (Commentary) December 18, 2007 - 12:28pm

Today's conference in Paris, a drive to breathe life into the Palestinian economy, is as easily derided as last month's summit in Annapolis, but it is worth much more.

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Blair's Uphill Battle To Revive Palestinian Economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - (Special Report) December 18, 2007 - 12:26pm

It was hard to avoid the obvious seasonal message when Tony Blair, briefly playing the tourist, stayed overnight in Bethlehem recently: yes, there was room at the inn in the little West Bank town, a rare public vote of confidence in prospects for the Palestinian economy. Britain's former prime minister has been travelling incessantly since becoming the representative of the "Quartet" of Middle East peacemakers in the summer, and generally keeping a low profile.

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