Rice’s Turnabout On Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Elisabeth Bumiller - November 26, 2007 - 12:37pm

At President Bush’s first National Security Council meeting in January 2001, he announced that he did not want to be drawn into the shattered Middle East peace process, people at the meeting recalled, because he believed that former President Bill Clinton had pushed so hard for an Israeli-Palestinian accord that he made the situation worse.

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Annapolis: Why Failure Is Not An Option
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Walid Awad - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:44pm

The Israeli right-wing and its allies in the media are working relentlessly to undermine the Annapolis peace conference. To make the conference convened by President Bush, his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made no less than eight visits to the Middle East in less than a year. But the Israeli government’s position on the conference has always been that of a reluctant participant, sending contradictory messages, lowering expectations and discouraging optimism about the outcome.

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Don't Knock Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) November 23, 2007 - 6:42pm

Lucky for Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill that the disparaging phrase "photo-op" had not been coined during their time. Otherwise, the wise guys of their generation would have torn into the Tehran Conference (1943) even before it could convene, causing the war to last even longer.

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Saudis To Attend Middle East Peace Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Peter Walker - November 23, 2007 - 6:40pm

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister is to attend next week's Middle East peace conference, he announced today, in a significant boost to the US-sponsored talks. "I'm not hiding any secret about the Saudi position. We were reluctant until today," Saud al-Faisal told a press conference at the ongoing Arab League meeting in Cairo.

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Rice Sets Mid-east Peace Target
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
November 23, 2007 - 6:39pm

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the United States will try to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians over the next year. Ms Rice said both sides had agreed to work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state before US President George W Bush leaves office. She also said Washington hoped such negotiations would be launched at next week's peace conference in Annapolis. Invitations have been issued to Israel, the Palestinians and key Arab states.

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Time Does Not Favor The Jewish State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - November 23, 2007 - 6:34pm

Habonim Camp Moshava, which I attended as a camper many years ago, was then located on Maryland’s Severn River. The landmark (or watermark, I suppose) was significant, since the Severn was frequently infested with antisemitic jellyfish. (“Jellyfish” are actually not fish at all, since they are not vertebrates. They have no brain, either, but oh do they have tentacles, which they use to sting and even kill.)

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Needed: A Cease-fire With Hamas, Now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:27pm

Hamas's victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006 and its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June were very bad news for those who believe in Israeli-Palestinian peace. But as Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization prepare to launch formal negotiations on final status -- for the first time in seven years -- Israel should seek to reach a cease-fire with Hamas as soon as possible.

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Saudi Arabia To Attend Middle East Peace Meet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohamed Abdellah, Will Rasmussen - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:25pm

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Friday he would attend a conference to relaunch talks on ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a move that the United States and Israel hope will bolster the chances of its success. Saudi participation in the November 27 U.S.-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland could improve Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's ability to reach an agreement and help Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sell it to Israelis by holding out the prospect of wider peace with the Arab world.

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Pact Unlikely Before Talks In U.s., Palestinian Insists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 23, 2007 - 6:23pm

A senior Palestinian official said here on Thursday that it would be a “miracle” if the Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams agreed on a joint document, as they had hoped, to present at the American-sponsored Middle East peace gathering set to start Tuesday in Annapolis, Md. But the official held out the possibility that a last-minute agreement on a short outline of intentions or principles could be reached in Washington, with help from the Bush administration, on the eve of the meeting.

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Mushroom Soup On The Road To Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) November 22, 2007 - 10:44pm

There is something unconvincing, even insincere, about the tentative steps and gestures being made by the parties trying to arrange the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, next week to re-launch Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. It is hard to generate any real anticipation from a process in which the principal Israeli and Palestinian parties are politically weak, the American hosts are imprecise and hesitant, the supporting Arab state actors are playing hard to get, and the agenda is as clear as mushroom soup.

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