Why the road to peace may run through Damascus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Mohamad Bazzi - (Opinion) December 18, 2009 - 1:00am

Is peace possible between Syria and Israel? That question has taken on new urgency after the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to negotiate with the Syrian president Bashar Assad “anytime, anywhere” – and Mr Assad rebuffed the approach.

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Use the 'road map' out of the peace mud
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Martin Indyk - (Opinion) December 18, 2009 - 1:00am

How can President Barack Obama drag the Middle East peace wagon out of the mud? He can’t – at least not until the region’s leaders feel enough of a sense of urgency to take the risks necessary to achieve breakthroughs. Right now, Arab and Israeli leaders are convinced that Obama is in more of a hurry than they are, so they are content to have him do the heavy lifting.

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Report: Hamas leans toward accepting Israel offer on Shalit deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Hamas is leaning toward accepting Israel's latest offer on a deal for the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the pan-Arab newspaper A-Sharq Al-Awset reported Thursday. According to the paper, the proposal does not include the release of hardened Palestinian terrorists from Israeli custody. There are still divisions within Hamas over the matter, A-Sharq Al-Awset reported, between those who back accepting the current offer, and those who want the Islamist militant group to insist on the terrorists' release.

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Report: Israel refusing to release senior Hamas prisoners
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel is refusing to release senior leaders of the Hamas movement currently imprisoned in Israel for security reasons as part of a Shalit prisoner swap deal, according to a report published Thursday by the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. Palestinian sources known to be reliable and close to the negotiations for brokering a prisoner swap deal for the release of Shalit told the newspaper, "The Hamas movement is inclined to agree to a deal in which Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit."

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Oslo: far from perfect but it’s the best place to start
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Two authors who have written lucidly and imaginatively on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process are Robert Malley and Hussein Agha. Mr Malley served in the National Security Council under Bill Clinton, and heads the Middle East programme at the International Crisis Group, while Mr Agha is a senior associate member at St Antony’s College, Oxford. Yet recently they wrote an article in The New York Review of Books that showed how, when it comes to a final settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, their imagination has dried up.

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An Open Letter to the Arab World
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Danny Ayalon - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Since the reestablishment of our state, Israeli leaders have sought peace with their Arab neighbors. Our Declaration of Independence, Israel’s founding document that expressed our hopes and dreams reads, “We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help.” These words are as true today as when they were first written in 1948. Sadly, sixty one years later, only two nations, Jordan and Egypt, have accepted these principles and made peace with the Jewish State.

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Middle East peace efforts face race against time, UN envoy warns
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Efforts to forge a Middle East peace are "in a race against time" with both sides needing to do more -- Israel by fulfilling its commitments, including a settlement freeze, under an internationally endorsed plan for a two-State solution, and the Palestinians by resuming negotiations, a senior United Nations official warned here on Thursday.

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UN official: Settlement freeze falls short
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate as neither Israel nor the Palestinians do enough to obtain peace, a senior UN official told the UN Security Council on Thursday. Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said Israel's announced 10-month suspension of settlement activity fell short of its commitments under the 2003 Road Map peace plan. He called on Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel, which were suspended after military operations against Hamas left the Gaza strip in a state of calamity

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Opening up the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Petra Marquardt-Bigman - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

In recent months, veteran Middle East experts such as Hussein Agha and Robert Malley or Aaron David Miller have done a good job explaining why peace between Israelis and Palestinians is likely a long way off. But it seems that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, begs to differ: Haaretz reported that Abbas declared negotiations could be completed "within six months" if Israel halted all settlement construction.

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France to deliver €200m in aid to PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The French government will deliver 200 million Euros for the support and development of Palestinian infrastructure over three years, officials announced Wednesday. Palestinian Minister of Foreign affairs Riyad Al-Maliki and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner signed three agreements for the funds in the French minister’s office in Paris shortly before the announcement.

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