Insider Account Of Peacemaking Details History Of Misguided Diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - December 13, 2007 - 12:56pm

As negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians reached their peak at the Camp David summit of 2000, the Clinton administration was facing such a shortage of manpower that a translator who had no diplomatic experience was drafted to fulfill diplomatic missions in the most delicate moment of the negotiation process.

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Key Players In Mideast Talks May Remain Unseen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - December 12, 2007 - 5:16pm

A handshake across a table and a spray of camera flashes will probably serve as starting gun of the first official Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in seven years Wednesday – talks aimed at producing a treaty on Palestinian statehood in 2008. Over the coming months, the talks will break into about a half-dozen subcommittees to tackle such issues as dividing Jerusalem and dealing with Palestinian refugees. But none of those discussions are likely to lead to breakthroughs necessary to clinch a final agreement, analysts say.

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The Pro-israel Consensus Shifts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) December 11, 2007 - 1:36pm

Good news. Some of the more conservative American Jewish institutions are coming around to acceptance of the two-state solution, ending the occupation, and sharing Jerusalem. It’s about time. The overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jewish Americans favor those positions and eventually the more status quo-oriented organizations had to catch up—especially now that the Israeli government asserts that it finally has a genuine Palestinian partner.

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Promises Of Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) December 6, 2007 - 4:33pm

Now that the dust has settled on the recent Annapolis conference that promised to try and reach a Palestinian-Israeli settlement by the end of next year, it is time to review the event that was an unprecedented achievement for the lameduck Bush administration, particularly on the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict that has been virtually neglected in Washington for nearly seven years.

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More Gazans Turn Away From Hamas As Fatah Heads Toward Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - December 6, 2007 - 4:29pm

Support for Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has controlled Gaza since June, has frayed as Israel keeps intense pressure on the thin, coastal strip and its chief Palestinian rival is embracing a language of peace.

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A Letdown Even To Skeptics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - December 4, 2007 - 2:23pm

Even those who had modest expectations for the Annapolis conference were disappointed by its results: an agreement to start negotiations and a statement that selectively reiterated parts of the roadmap that the parties had anyway failed to implement since it was introduced in 2003.

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Peace Talks Back From The Dead
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Speigel International
by Ralf Beste, Christoph Schult , Bernhard Zand - December 4, 2007 - 2:16pm

Peace in the Middle East has been but a faint glimmer on the horizon since the 2000 Camp David talks failed. But now, both the Israelis and Palestinians say they are once again committed to reaching an agreement. But it might depend on their neighbors. A Palestinian member of the Fatah Movement watches the Annapolis summit on television last week.

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Lieberman's Cigar Test
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - December 3, 2007 - 4:24pm

While MKs from all the parties crowded into the Knesset cafeteria to watch the television broadcasts from Annapolis, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman pushed aside the sign that bans smoking in the sitting room at the end of the main auditorium. It was clear he did not care a bit about the controversy over the joint declaration's content. Nor did the decision to begin accelerated talks about a final-status agreement arouse much excitement in right-wing circles, inside and outside the coalition.

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Peace Summit: 'if These Talks Fail, We Will All Be In Deep Trouble'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - December 3, 2007 - 4:20pm

Wael Mansour watched the Annapolis conference on al-Arabiya television last week in the barely furnished three-room Gaza home he shares with his wife, mother and five children. Did he think the proceedings – intended to clinch the start of a year of peace negotiations – will do any good? "Inshallah [God willing]," said Mr Mansour, 32. "I hope to get out of what we are in. We are in deep trouble."

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Peace? Sure, I’ll See What I Can Do
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg - December 3, 2007 - 4:06pm

“I’M only a phone call away,” President Bush told the Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week, after they set the ambitious goal of negotiating a peace treaty by the end of next year. But as they joined him in the White House Rose Garden before going their separate ways, Mr. Bush had a slightly different message for the pair. “I wish you all the best,” he said — a send-off that did not exactly give the impression he was eager to pick up the phone.

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