Netanyahu: I want final accord with PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - November 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is interested in aiming for a final-status agreement, and not an interim one as some of his ministers are proposing, if and when negotiations with the Palestinian Authority resume, The Jerusalem Post has learned. In various internal discussions this week, Netanyahu said that were there "courageous leadership" on the Palestinian side, a resumption of negotiations could lead to a final peace agreement, and that this was preferable in his mind to an interim agreement based on a Palestinian state within temporary borders.

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Israel conducting secret talks with Hamas, Abbas says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Israel is currently conducting secret negotiations with Hamas. In an interview with the BBC in Arabic, Abbas said that the talks between Israel and Hamas revolved around a Palestinian state with temporary borders. The Palestinian president reiterated his criticism against Israel, saying that Jerusalem wasn't truly interested in peace, adding that "Washington isn't pushing Israel enough to advance the peace process."

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Palestinian leader wants popular, diplomatic action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - (Interview) November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Peace talks with Israel have failed and the Palestinians must launch popular and diplomatic campaigns to achieve statehood, Marwan Barghouti said in an interview from his prison cell. Still popular and articulate despite five years behind bars, the 50-year-old activist is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanise a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel.

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Does sinking Mideast peace process hold any hope?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Douglas Hamilton - (Analysis) November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Efforts to rescue the sinking Middle East peace process are losing support. Influential U.S. pundits have lost faith. Those Israelis who never did believe in it are saying: we told you so. Some Palestinians believe it is as good as dead, strangled by Israel. They talk gloomily of a moment of truth. Middle East veterans say they have seen such hopeless spells before, and seen them lead to outbreaks of violence.

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The Obama Presidency and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brandeis University Crown Center for Middle East Studies
by Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

The first ten months of the Obama administration’s efforts to achieve a breakthrough in Arab-Israeli peacemaking have led to widespread disappointment among Palestinians and to growing anxiety among Israelis. Inevitably, this unsatisfactory interim report card is partly a result of the high expectations created by President Barack Obama himself, during the presidential campaign as well as in his inaugural address and following his inauguration.

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Housing plan for Jerusalem neighborhood spurs criticism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

City officials moved forward Tuesday with a plan to build 900 homes in a disputed neighborhood of Jerusalem, prompting sharp criticism from the White House, the Palestinians and others who feel it will further undermine the chance of renewing peace talks. The new units will expand the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, one of several built on land taken by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed to the city in a step not recognized by the international community.

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Abbas in Cairo: PA committed to seeking UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

President Abbas confirmed on Tuesday the unilateral decision to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state in accordance with the recent Arab Peace Initiative committee’s support, during a news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mobarak. Abbas confirmed the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to appealing to the UN Security Council for a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Arab support.

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ANALYSIS / Netanyahu senses Obama's weakness on Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

If there is anything that irks the White House more than news from the American consulate in Jerusalem about new West Bank settlements, it is a newspaper report on a new neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Thus when U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, on Monday about a new construction project in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, which is beyond the 1967 lines, Mitchell was hoping to settle the matter quietly.

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Comment / Why Netanyahu really does want to advance peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

I could hear the prime minister's familiar voice on the telephone. "I want to advance a peace agreement with the Palestinians. I am capable of achieving an agreement. I have the political will inside me," Benjamin Netanyahu told me. He repeated this message during his speeches at the conference of Jewish communities in Washington and at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem: great concessions, generosity of spirit, territorial compromise, let's start negotiations and surprise the world, he said.

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Poll: Record high support of peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

According to the monthly War and Peace Index, some 75% of the Jewish public in Israel support holding peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. This marks the highest support rate recorded on the War and Peace index in recent years. Despite the optimistic numbers, the public is split vis-à-vis the demand to freeze construction in settlements in order to advance negotiations.

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