Mideast Summit Faces Huge Challenges
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Steven Gutkin - October 16, 2007 - 12:22pm

Israel keeps building settlements, Islamic militants are in control in Gaza and both the Israelis and the Palestinians have politically vulnerable leaders. All that will make it difficult to implement an agreement even if the two sides agree on a path to peace at a summit next month. Weighing heavily on the U.S.-brokered summit is memory. Everyone remembers the steep price paid for the failure of the last round of peacemaking in 2001: thousands killed in years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting that broke out months after the talks fell apart.

»

Only Bush Can
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 15, 2007 - 3:41pm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists that the Annapolis declaration will detail the principles of the permanent settlement, so yesterday's newspaper headlines proclaimed. Prior to her arrival in the region, her aides had said that the United States would not issue invitations to the peace conference before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas succeed in drafting a clear and mutually agreed upon document. In practice, this means that the peace summit initiated by President George W. Bush will not convene next month. Nor next year.

»

Colonization And A Mediator's Bias Remain The Death Knells Of Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) October 15, 2007 - 3:20pm

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Middle East over the weekend to try and prod the parties into attending the planned Arab-Israeli gathering in Annapolis next month. Her arrival coincided with the 13th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to the late Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, and to Shimon Peres. The Oslo Accords that Arafat, Rabin and Peres signed in 1993 were a breakthrough in their day; but they never achieved their promise.

»

Blair Admits He Is Shocked By Discrimination On The West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - October 15, 2007 - 3:19pm

While his aides munched tuna bagels thoughtfully provided by the Israeli military, a shirt-sleeved Tony Blair peered intently at a map showing the two main cargo crossing-points that will function between the West Bank and Israel once the 450-mile separation barrier between them is complete. Why, Mr Blair wanted to know from his host, an Israeli general in civvies, couldn't goods also be moved directly across the border from the nearby Palestinian industrial park that he is pressing Israel to approve?

»

Condoleezza Rice Warns Israelis Over Land Grab
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by Carolynne Wheeler - October 15, 2007 - 3:15pm

Condoleezza Rice gave a warning yesterday that progress would be slow as the US Secretary of State embarked on a round of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East in advance of a peace conference next month. Progress on a joint statement on Palestinian statehood, the framework of the US-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland, is still so limited that invitations have yet to be issued, and Dr Rice conceded yesterday that the coming days were unlikely to produce any significant breakthroughs.

»

Israel Signals Readiness To Cede Parts Of Jerusalem To Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Mark Tran - (Special Report) October 15, 2007 - 3:13pm

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, today signalled his readiness to give up parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians in an apparent concession ahead of a US-sponsored peace conference. Mr Olmert noted that Israel had built a series of thriving Jewish neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, but signalled that Israel's control of Arab areas was not necessary.

»

Rice Treads Carefully Towards Peace Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Jan Mcgirk, Roulaf Khalaf, Daniel Dombey - October 15, 2007 - 3:09pm

Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Middle East on Sunday to lay the ground for a showpiece meeting to be held this year in the US that is designed to advance Palestinian statehood and lift the fortunes of the beleaguered US administration. But as the clock starts ticking on the meeting, provisionally scheduled for late November in Annapolis, near Washington, the US secretary of state was confronted with the conflicting expectations of the Israelis and Palestinians on a document setting out the parameters of a final peace deal.

»

Uphill Climb For Rice On Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Howard Lafranchi - October 15, 2007 - 3:04pm

As the Bush administration moves to revive the long-dormant Middle East peace process – most notably by calling Israeli and Palestinian leaders to an international conference to be held next month outside Washington – pressure is building for a White House to deliver on its new quest for peace.

»

Rice Pushes Israelis, Palestinians Toward Middle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed - October 15, 2007 - 2:47pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried on Monday to push Palestinians and Israelis toward a middle ground in drafting a joint document seen as key to the success of a U.S.-hosted peace conference this year. After meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said the document should "seriously and substantively" address the core issues of the conflict -- a sharp contrast with Israeli hopes to keep it as vague as possible.

»

Arabs Skeptical Of U.s. Peace Effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman - October 15, 2007 - 2:41pm

The upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace conference resembles a dinner party with a less-than-inspiring menu and a bunch of well-tailored yet exasperated guests who, if they show up at all, doubt that anyone will go home happy. Posturing and recrimination often characterize such negotiations, but Arab nations, including Washington's closest allies, are criticizing the November conference as a miscalculated photo op by a Bush administration desperate to repair its image in the Middle East.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017