Obama asks Abbas to prevent anti-Israel incitement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama Tuesday asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to prevent anti-Israeli incitement during indirect peace talks and said he would welcome him at the White House "soon." During a phone conversation between the two leaders, Obama also expressed appreciation for Abbas' recent decision to appear on Israeli television, and said he would hold both the Palestinians and the Israelis accountable for any actions that undermine the proximity talks.

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Jerusalem: Still Relevant After 2000 Years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ed Koch - (Opinion) May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

Here's my advice on how Israel and the Palestinian Authority should proceed with their so-called "proximity" talks mediated by George Mitchell. Instead of putting the hot-button issue of Jerusalem last on the agenda, the issue should be addressed first. If the Jerusalem question is solved, everything else should fall into place more easily. I believe there is a way to keep Jerusalem unified. I am talking not only of the old walled city, which is a very small part of the city of Jerusalem, but the whole city, east, west, north and south.

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Palestinians report first Israeli violation of talks to U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Just two days after resuming peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority has reported to the United States what it termed the first violation of negotiation terms, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo said the construction of 14 housing units for Jewish settlers in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood, as reported by the Israeli Peace Now pressure group, violated the terms of new talks.

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Israel's tourism ministry is wiping Palestinians off the map
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Daoud Kuttab - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

As Israeli-Palestinian negotiations restart, Palestinians are determined to begin by tackling the issue of borders, before working backwards toward deciding how to implement the establishment of a Palestinian state. Once agreement is reached on borders, the thinking goes, it will become clear who has the right to decide whether or not settlement activity can continue.

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All over again?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Opinion) May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians and Israelis are projected to soon commence proximity talks, expected to touch on certain final status issues of crucial import, such as borders and security. Proximity talks, by one definition, mean “diplomatic discussions between intermediaries, though the involved parties are close by”; in the case of Palestinians and Israelis, the notion seems to have gone awry, as it will involve an impartial representative acting as a mediator between parties who are willing to attend the same conference but unwilling to meet face to face.

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Proximity and peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

A POTENTIAL four months of indirect negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis began yesterday, mediated by US Middle East special envoy George Mitchell. Like the tumbler in a complex lock mechanism, success will rely on the progressive definition of a succession of key issues. It is by far from certain that the key to open direct talks between the two sides will work, and even then there is the second bigger lock of substantive face-to-face agreement to be opened.

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How to bolster a delicate situation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the peace process, seems to have succeeded for a second time in getting both Palestinians and Israelis to agree to start proximity talks. The first time around, the talks were sabotaged by an Israeli decision to build 1,600 settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem during a visit by Joe Biden, the US vice-president. This time, the situation remains equally delicate.

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A Conversation with President Mahmud Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali El-saleh - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Asharq Al-Awsat- This interview- the sixth of its kind with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (Abu-Mazin) since he assumed the presidency in 2005- took place away from the presidential headquarters, or what is called Al-Maqataah in Ramallah, which witnesses most of the interviews conducted by Asharq Al-Awsat whether with Abu-Mazin or his predecessor the late Yasser Arafat.

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A PALESTINIAN VIEW: The price of indirect talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Mkhaimar Abusada - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The PLO Executive Committee's decision to approve so-called proximity talks between the Palestinians and Israelis marked a shift in Palestinian politics. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had previously stated that there would be no talks with Israel until it halts all settlement expansion, including in East Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, has not veered from his vow that building in Jerusalem is just like building in Tel Aviv.

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AN ISRAELI VIEW: The best of a bad lot?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Gilead Sher - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The good news first: after more than a year wasted over trial and error in United States foreign policy, President Barack Obama has set the Israeli-Palestinian process back on track. The bad news is that for the first time in close to two decades, Israelis and Palestinians will be talking indirectly to one another.

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