Pope tells Abbas of hope for Mideast solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 17, 2012 - 1:00am

VATICAN CITY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday the Vatican hoped the recent de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations would spur the international community to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Abbas, who is on a tour of Europe to thank countries that supported the Nov. 29 resolution by the U.N. General Assembly recognising Palestine, held private talks with the pope for about 25 minutes in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

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Report: Jordan to host peace talks in February
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian and Israeli officials will meet in Jordan in February in efforts to support the peace process, King Abdullah II of Jordan was quoted as saying by Al-Hayat newspaper on Wednesday. Officials from both sides will meet under the auspices of the European Union and United States, the Jordanian King said while visiting the United Kingdom on Tuesday, Al-Hayat reported.

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Interview: Palestinian negotiator rules out declaring new Mideast peace initiative soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Palestinian negotiator said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday that there will be no new peace initiative declared on the Middle East conflict before February 2013. Mohamed Ishteya, also a member in the central committee of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party, told Xinhua at his office in the city of Ramallah that the Palestinian leadership welcomes any international initiative aiming at resuming the stalled peace talks with Israel.

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Two-state attrition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Journal
by Rob Eshman - (Analysis) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

There are three subjects that Jews in my social circle never tire of: food, movies and the two-state solution. Consider me officially tired of the third.

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The Arab Peace Initiative under review
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Jerome M. Segal - (Opinion) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The Arab League Ministerial Council that convened in Doha Sunday to review the Arab Peace Initiative and reevaluate the peace process concluded without any decisive action. Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani maintained that the initiative would "not be on offer for ever." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas objected saying, "It is not permissible to talk about sidelining the Arab Peace Initiative.

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Gaza: 'My child was killed and nothing has changed'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - (Opinion) December 11, 2012 - 1:00am

The morning ritual goes like this: three-year-old Ali Misharawi wakes up and reaches for his father's mobile phone. He kisses and strokes the face of his baby brother, Omar, on its small screen. Then he starts asking questions. Why is Omar in paradise? Why did you put my brother into the ground? Why can't I play with him any more?

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Peace moving further away
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am

There were times when the entire world would "hold its breath" before Egyptian rulers delivered their speeches, thinking they would make some earth-shattering remarks. In Israel, way before the Egyptian leaders spoke, IDF intelligence officers would hand their commanders reports containing the statements they expected the Egyptian leaders would make. The result, in most cases, was quite amusing.

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Beyond the UN vote: New futures for Palestine and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New Jersey News
by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am

On Nov. 29, which marked the 65th anniversary of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for partitioning British-mandate Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states and a special international regime for the city of Jerusalem, the U.N. granted Palestine the status of a “nonmember observer state.”

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1947's Zionists, Today's Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by David N. Myers - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Sixty-five years ago, the Zionist movement scored the greatest success in its history—recognition on November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly, of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. U.N. General Assembly resolution 181 called for the creation of a Jewish state alongside an Arab State, with Jerusalem as an international protectorate. It was this diplomatic act that brought the State of Israel into existence.

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Israel bars academic from Berlin diplomatic event
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel barred a dovish Israeli academic from taking part in a science symposium in Berlin on Thursday that was part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Germany, drawing renewed charges that his government has little tolerance for dissent.

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