US slams new east Jerusalem homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
March 2, 2010 - 1:00am

The United States criticized Israel on Monday for authorizing 600 new housing units in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev, describing the move as "counter-productive." "We've relayed our strong concerns to the government of Israel, that this kind of activity, particularly as we try to relaunch meaningful negotiations is counter-productive and undermines trust between the parties," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

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US answers not yet enough for Mideast talks-Dahlan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Sawafta - March 1, 2010 - 1:00am

A Palestinian official said on Monday the United States had yet to give adequate answers to Palestinian queries on a proposal for indirect negotiations with Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, facing U.S. and Israeli calls for an immediate resumption of peace talks, had asked the United States to clarify its proposal for indirect negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week she hoped talks would start "shortly". But Mohammed Dahlan, senior official in Abbas's Fatah party, said the U.S. clarifications received so far were not enough.

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Palestinians threaten to adopt one-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - February 26, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority has warned that it may abandon its support of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which outlines a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, and instead pursue the creation of a binational state between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, according to a document drafted by the PA's veteran chief negotiator. The paper, entitled "The Political Situation in Light of Developments with the U.S. Administration and Israeli Government and Hamas's Continued Coup d'etat," was written by Saeb Erekat in December 2009.

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PNA denies indirect talks to start next week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

A Palestinian official on Thursday denied reports that indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) were going to start next week. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said President Mahmoud Abbas is still in an Arabian and European tour to discuss about the U.S. offer to hold the indirect negotiations. "How can a decision be taken while President Abbas has not yet ended his consultations?" Erekat wondered. Earlier, an Israeli newspaper quoted Palestinian sources as saying the negotiations would start next week.

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Clinton: US hopes talks will start soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told US lawmakers on Wednesday that she hoped Israelis and Palestinians could resume negotiations toward a peace settlement “soon.” A year of US efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table have failed so far, but Clinton struck an upbeat tone in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Clinton sounds upbeat on Israeli-Palestinian talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed, Andrew Quinn - February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would resume "shortly," sounding more upbeat than usual for a U.S. official. Separately, Israel's ambassador to the United States told Reuters if negotiations resumed after being frozen for more than a year they would start as indirect "proximity talks," with U.S. envoy George Mitchell shuttling between the sides.

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US slams Israel over designating heritage sites
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

The Obama administration criticized Israel for designating two shrines on Palestinian territory as Israeli national heritage sites. The criticism came as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday she hopes long-stalled peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians will resume. Clinton told a congressional committee that groundwork is being laid to restart the talks with the help of US envoy George Mitchell. She did not say exactly when the negotiations might resume, but her remarks come amid a flurry of US diplomatic activity in the region.

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Palestine's strongest weapon is peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

To live under occupation is to face many indignities and dilemmas. How to deal with the occupier? By violence or by peaceful means? History has examples of both. But parallels are never exact. The dilemma facing Palestinians is whether to go on working with the international consensus that supports our independence, or to wage war against the overwhelmingly superior forces of the occupier, Israel.

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Are serious negotiations around the corner?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinians and many others around the world are trying to figure out whether the current US-backed push to restart Mideast talks will lead to serious negotiations or will it be just another act that leads nowhere.

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Playing With Matches in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) February 24, 2010 - 1:00am

There are two ways to explain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of plans to renovate two sacred shrines in the West Bank and add them to his new heritage trail of Israeli historical sites. One explanation is that he wants to buy some credit with settlers and the religious right in order to shore up his right flank, because he’s preparing to enter negotiations with the Palestinians that will entail serious concessions. The other is that he‘s not prepared to make serious concessions at all right now, and he figures he can buy some time by stirring up a bit of a rumpus.

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