Eu Urges Israel To Stick To Peace Commitments
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by David Brunnstrom - December 10, 2007 - 6:59pm

The European Union joined the United States on Monday in expressing concern about new Israeli settlement activity and urged Israel to stick to its commitments in Middle East peace efforts. "I am very concerned," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters when asked about Israel's plan to build 300 homes and other units on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

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Made In Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yotam Feldman - December 7, 2007 - 5:59pm

RAMALLAH - The streets here were tumultuous on the last Tuesday of November, the day the Annapolis conference opened. The Palestinians who didn't watch the proceedings on television streamed onto the streets, and a small demonstration in Manara Square by opponents of the summit escalated into a violent clash with the Palestinian police, who used truncheons and teargas to disperse the crowd.

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Signs Of Political Fission
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn And Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) December 7, 2007 - 5:56pm

A few months ago the host of one of America's late-night talk-shows - the ones that are off the air now because of a writers strike - cracked a joke at the expense of the European powers, in their supposed determination to halt the Iranian race toward a nuclear bomb: "France and Germany warned Iran this week not to pursue their nuclear research program. In fact, France and Germany warned Iran that if they didn't stop their program, they would, you know, warn them again," he scoffed.

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A Jewish Israel Needs A Wholesome, Healed Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami G. Khouri - (Opinion) December 7, 2007 - 5:48pm

One of the most complex and confounding elements that emerged during the run-up to the Annapolis meeting was the demand by several senior Israelis, and its parallel rejection by Palestinian officials, that the Palestinians recognise Israel as “a Jewish state” as a precondition for the start of talks.

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Iran's Response To Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Marwan Kabalan - (Opinion) December 7, 2007 - 5:44pm

When the Bush administration called for the Middle East peace meeting in Annapolis, Iran was, perhaps, the only country in the region that was not invited. In fact, isolating Iran was one of the key objectives of the US-sponsored gathering and was hence treated very much like a pariah. In response, Iran developed a strategy to undermine US policy. It included several steps. At the very beginning Tehran tried to convince the Arab world not to attend the meeting.

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Syria “not Pessimistic” On Mideast Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 7, 2007 - 5:39pm

WASHINGTON - Syria is not pessimistic about US-brokered talks that had set a goal of a Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of 2008, said its envoy to Washington, Imad Moustapha. But he warned that Israel’s occupation of territories and killing of Palestinians could wreck negotiations launched at the US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland last month.

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Us Criticises Israeli Homes Plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
December 7, 2007 - 5:38pm

The United States has voiced rare criticism of Israel, for its decision to build more homes on occupied land. "This doesn't help build confidence," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after meeting Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni in Brussels. Israel said on Tuesday it had invited bids to build 300 new homes in Har Homa, a settlement in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians asked the US for help. Israel says it annexed the area in 1967 and so does not regard it as occupied.

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Olmert Attempts To Bring Presidential Candidates Into Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - December 7, 2007 - 5:31pm

Looking to the post-Bush era in American politics, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is attempting to enlist leading presidential candidates to support his renewed push for a settlement with the Palestinians. When Olmert was in the United States for the Annapolis, Md., peace summit, he took the opportunity to call each of the leading presidential candidates to brief them on the plans for engaging in final-status talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

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Rice Criticizes Israel On Settlement Building
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - December 7, 2007 - 5:29pm

Condoleezza Rice criticized Israel on Friday for planning to build new homes on occupied land in the Jerusalem area -- a move Palestinians say could wreck a peace process Rice helped launch last week in Washington. "We are in a time when the goal is to build maximum confidence with the parties and this doesn't help to build confidence," the U.S. Secretary of State said in rare public censure of Washington's closest ally in the Middle East.

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Rebuffs That ‘diminish’ Bush’s Stature
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
December 6, 2007 - 4:44pm

The Bush administration has suffered three serious rebuffs since the Annapolis meeting at the end of November. The most dramatic was the rejection, on Monday, by all 16 of the United States’ intelligence agencies of administration claims that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

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