Abbas Lays Out Territorial Demand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Conal Urquhart - October 11, 2007 - 2:41pm

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, insisted yesterday that Israel must give up 2,400 square miles of territory under its control for a Palestinian state, as he set out his demands before a US-sponsored peace conference next month. The area is the sum of territory of the West Bank and Gaza which Israel conquered in 1967, and which the Palestine Liberation Organisation has argued should be set aside for a Palestinian state.

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Palestinians Set To Trade Away Parts Of West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karin Laub - October 11, 2007 - 2:37pm

The Palestinians are ready to yield parts of the West Bank to Israel if compensated with an equal amount of Israeli territory, the lead Palestinian negotiator said in an interview yesterday. Ahmed Qureia, a former prime minister who has dealt with five Israeli prime ministers during 14 years of failed peacemaking, is trying again with No. 6, Ehud Olmert.

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Talk Grows In Israel About Splitting Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 11, 2007 - 2:30pm

Jerusalem, the perennially divided city, is again becoming a central point of contention as Israelis and Palestinians prepare for the first serious peace discussions in years. Last Monday, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s closest allies, Haim Ramon, brought the issue into the open when he suggested in an interview that Israel would be willing to cede some parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

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Mideast: November Talks Must Be Inclusive, Urge U.s. Graybeards
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jim Lobe - October 11, 2007 - 2:25pm

To succeed, next month's Israeli-Palestinian conference here should establish and endorse the contours of a permanent peace accord and secure the participation of Arab states that do not currently recognise Israel, including Syria, according to a letter sent Wednesday to President George W. Bush from a bipartisan group of eight former top U.S. policy-makers.

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So That Annapolis Will Not Be A Failure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) October 10, 2007 - 2:04pm

The November Arab-Israeli peace-making meeting that US President George W. Bush has called for replays several similar moments in the past quarter-century, when gatherings were convened but did not achieve their full promise - at Madrid, Camp David, Taba and Oslo, among others. Will this year be any different? I hope so in my heart, but I do not think so, to judge by current political realities.

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Israel Allows 3,500 Palestinians To Stay In Wb
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur
October 10, 2007 - 1:57pm

The Israeli government has granted official residency status to 3,500 Palestinians who in the last decade entered the West Bank on Israeli-issued visitors’ visas but never left, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. Israel however did not grant official residency status to another 1,500 Palestinians residing illegally in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

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Mid-east Diary: Summit Prospects
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Jeremy Bowen - October 10, 2007 - 1:53pm

Another Middle East peace summit is coming up in the United States, but there are risks in holding summits on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and one of the main parties to the conflict, Hamas, is being excluded.  At the moment, the summit looks likely to start in Annapolis, Maryland, on 15 November. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are having regular meetings about it. They are trying to produce an agreed document about the future. Mr Abbas wants more detail. Mr Olmert wants something pretty vague.

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Israeli Army Orders Confiscation Of Palestinian Land In West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Conal Urquhart - October 10, 2007 - 1:49pm

The Israeli army has ordered the seizure of Palestinian land surrounding four West Bank villages apparently in order to hugely expand settlements around Jerusalem, it emerged yesterday. The confiscation happened as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met to prepare the ground for a meeting hosted by President George Bush in the United States aimed at reviving a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

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Pressure In Israel For Missile Defense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - October 10, 2007 - 1:44pm

The firing of a long-range Katyusha rocket into Israel from Gaza on Sunday has ratcheted up concerns here for the increased threat of missiles against the Jewish state. The weapon of choice of Palestinian militants in Gaza has been the Kassam rocket, which has relatively poor aim and short range, but has nonetheless caused damage and killed 14 Israelis and injured hundreds more, according to an Israeli government tally.

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Abbas Wants Return To Pre-1967 Borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 10, 2007 - 1:42pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Abbas' claim comes as Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams are trying to hammer out a joint vision for a future peace deal in time for a U.S.-hosted conference next month.

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