More Than Words Needed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Susie Becher - (Opinion) November 14, 2007 - 1:08pm

Hardly a day goes by without some new twist in the preparations for the Annapolis conference, and speculation is rife on whether it will end in success or failure. The Israeli prime minister is trying to lower expectations, emphasizing that it is not a peace conference but a starting point for negotiations toward a peace accord. The Palestinian president has his eye on the day after Annapolis, pushing for a time limit on the negotiations that will follow the event. The truth is that the summit itself cannot fail, because nothing will be left to chance.

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Bush's Turn To Step Into Mideast Peace-making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Steve Holland - November 14, 2007 - 12:41pm

Richard Nixon left office hopeful that "peace can settle at last over the Middle East." Jimmy Carter staked his career on it. Bill Clinton told Yasser Arafat, "I am a failure, and you have made me one." Now George W. Bush becomes the latest president to try to resolve the bitter, long-standing differences between close U.S. ally Israel and the Palestinians.

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The Prime Minister Vs. Public Opinion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - (Opinion) November 13, 2007 - 3:54pm

Most commentaries inundating the press at the moment meticulously analyze the consequences of a failed summit and center on the probable break out of another Intifada, as highlighted by Ahmad Qurei. This may well be the case but it is important to recognize that a successful summit could also cause uproar amongst Israelis which in turn could affect the Palestinians and hinder any positive steps taken.

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Good Ackerman, Bad Ackerman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - November 12, 2007 - 1:46pm

There are people in Jerusalem who have not yet forgotten the criticism leveled at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by Gary Ackerman, a United States congressman from New York and head of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. He "kissed President Bush's ass," said the representative, in language that was not quite diplomatic, commenting to The Forward about Olmert's criticism of the new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, after her visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus last April.

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U.s. And Israel Play Down Hopes For Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - November 12, 2007 - 1:30pm

The American-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected by the end of the month looks to be thin on content, mostly serving as a stage to begin formal negotiations on a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli and American officials have been so busy dampening expectations that they are not even calling the event a conference anymore, instead referring to it merely as a “meeting.”

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The Skeptic And The Believer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) November 9, 2007 - 6:30pm

Defense Minister Ehud Barak rose to speak at the annual conference of the Saban Forum in Jerusalem, on Monday of this week. Unlike Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Quartet envoy and former British prime minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had delivered their speeches the previous evening directly into the cameras transmitting directly into the news broadcasts, Barak maintained ambiguity and his remarks were ostensibly intended only for closed discussion.

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High Stakes For Annapolis Peace Meet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Ali Gharib - November 9, 2007 - 5:55pm

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas joined U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah Monday to express optimism that progress towards a Palestinian state could be made in the upcoming talks sponsored by the George W. Bush administration between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Annapolis, Maryland. But many critics fear that the hastily thrown-together meeting has greater inherent risks than the participants are willing to acknowledge.

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The Jewish Lobby Israel Needs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) November 9, 2007 - 5:51pm

The next few weeks may determine the future of Zionism. This is not an exaggeration. If the upcoming Annapolis peace conference ends the same way as the Camp David summit of 2000, the future of the Jewish state will be in jeopardy.

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If Not Annapolis, Then What?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) November 8, 2007 - 3:42pm

Gideon Sa'ar, Likud's most fluent spokesman, believes that after Hamas took over Gaza, Israel should have understood the trap it had fallen into and "run for its life" instead of getting into another round of talks in Annapolis. The question is, of course, where does Likud want Israel to run to. Likud has no solution to the conflict with the Palestinians and has made do for 40 years with taking the wind out of the sails of every agreement.

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Barak Still Bears The Scars From Camp David
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - November 8, 2007 - 3:37pm

Even by the volatile standards of Israeli politics, the comeback of Ehud Barak has been a remarkable one. Ousted as prime minister in 2001 after the acrimonious failure of the Camp David peace talks, Mr Barak left the political stage for almost six years to pursue a career in business. Yet in June, Israel's most decorated soldier and former chief of staff was back, taking the helm of his centre-left Labour party and assuming the post of defence minister in the coalition government headed by Ehud Olmert.

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