Netanyahu hopes for talks with Palestinians in weeks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he had reason to hope stalled peace talks with the Palestinians could resume within weeks. "I have a basis to hope, in a realistic way, that in the coming weeks we will renew the peace process with the Palestinians," Netanyahu said at a keynote national security conference in Herzilya, near Tel Aviv. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked in Washington about the prospect of talks, said the United States hoped to relaunch talks as soon as possible.

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Blair: Gaza's great betrayer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Avi Shlaim - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

The savage attack Israel ­unleashed against Gaza on 27 December 2008 was both immoral and unjustified. Immoral in the use of force against civilians for political purposes. Unjustified because Israel had a political alternative to the use of force. The home-made Qassam rockets fired by Hamas militants from Gaza on Israeli towns were only the ­excuse, not the reason for Operation Cast Lead. In June 2008, Egypt had ­brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement.

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Build a Partnership for Peace, Right Here in America
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

With the turbulence surrounding diplomacy and the Middle East peace process, it is more urgent than ever for civil society to unite around the obvious reality that a conflict-ending solution can only be attained through the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

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Build a Partnership for Peace, Right Here in America
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Jewish Daily Forward (Opinion) - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

With the turbulence surrounding diplomacy and the Middle East peace process, it is more urgent than ever for civil society to unite around the obvious reality that a conflict-ending solution can only be attained through the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

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Palestinian premier speaks at Israeli conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Before Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stepped on stage here Tuesday before a gathering of Israeli intellectuals and policymakers, he had already been likened to Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion, vilified as the leader of a movement bent on undermining the peace process and dismissed as a technocrat without popular support. But his presence here -- at a packed conference in the heart of Israel, in a town named after the founder of modern Zionism -- perhaps said as much as any comment about the role he has played as the Palestinians' chief go-between with Israel and the West.

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Fear of peace will be the death of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

As the grandson of anarchists, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for fanatics. Expressions of extremism, and passionately reasoned, exquisitely twisted world views make me feel, how shall I put this, at home. So it was with a certain relish that I approached the cover story of a recent issue of Commentary, "The Deadly Price of Pursuing Peace," written as it was by a talented colleague and friend, Evelyn Gordon.

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Salam Fayyad: Occupation must end
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

In a rare speech to an Israeli audience, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that Israel must show the Palestinians that it is beginning to roll back the occupation, and that the way to do that is primarily by stopping both settlement construction and IDF incursions into Palestinian areas.

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Jordan king urges more peace efforts from Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

US President Barack Obama telephoned Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss efforts to "overcome obstacles" facing the launch of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the palace said. "The two leaders discussed Middle East developments, mainly efforts aimed at overcoming obstacles facing the launch of serious and effective Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in line with a two-state solution," a palace statement said.

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Helping Abbas climb down the high tree
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Analysis) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

If anyone sought proof that President Mahmoud Abbas was planning to return to the negotiating table with Israel in the near future, it was provided by the results of “public opinion” polls published in the past few days by a number of Fatah-controlled media outlets and an interview he gave to Britain’s Guardian newspaper. The polls are seen by many Palestinians as an attempt to prepare local public opinion for the possibility that the Palestinian Authority will soon resume the stalled peace talks with Israel.

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Mitchell Urges Europe to Pressure Abbas Back to Negotiations- French Sources
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Michel Abu Najm - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Well-informed official French sources have revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that US Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has called for French and European officials to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table with the Israelis.

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