No Partner For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Ever since Benjamin Netanyahu’s Bar Ilan speech in 2009, in which he declared himself ready to work toward a demilitarized Palestinian state, his defenders in the United States have justified the collapse of any dialogue with the Palestinians in terms of Israel’s understandable caution. “There is no partner for peace,” we hear again and again, which suggests a number of things at once.

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Erekat: Israel must choose - peace or settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - June 22, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel must choose between peace and settlements and release Palestinian prisoners, Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat was quoted Thursday as saying.

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The Palestinians’ best friend
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am

No western statesman has done more to promote the cause of Palestinian statehood than the charismatic Foreign Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Store, a Labour politician who enjoys unrivalled popularity in his own country. Yet all his efforts over the past several years in favour of the Palestinians have ended in failure. He has been defeated by Israeli intransigence, by US President Barack Obama’s collapse under Israeli pressure, and by Palestinian disunity.

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The game of buying time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram
by Saleh Al-Naami - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am

It is difficult to keep track of how many media interviews Shaul Mofaz, acting Israeli prime minister, was given to publicise a political initiative aiming at reviving negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA). In order to make his initiative seem serious, Mofaz declared that re-launching talks will be based on 1967 borders, and that he will seek to meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas to present the proposal to him.

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Lally Weymouth interviews Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Lally Weymouth - (Interview) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am

“If only we could clone him,” a senior U.S. official said to me recently, speaking about Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Held in great respect by foreigners, Fayyad may soon find himself out of a job if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (also called Abu Mazen) forges a national unity government with Hamas. This past week, Fayyad sat down in the West Bank city of Ramallah with The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth. Excerpts:

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The Overshadowed Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, there once lived something called the Arab-Israeli peace process. It never lived an altogether happy life, but it did actually exist and breathe. In fact, it was capable of some spectacular highs (Egyptian-Israeli and Israeli-Jordanian peace treaties) and a great many lows. More failures than successes, to be sure, but there was—at least most of the time—a real sense of hope and possibility and a credible process worth pursuing.

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Mofaz: Peace talks with PA soon to be renewed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
June 21, 2012 - 12:00am

Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz said Thursday morning that he believed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would be renewed soon without preconditions. Speaking to Israel Radio from Washington, Mofaz said that "I believe that there is an opportunity to restart negotiations. I have a firm basis for believing this will happen in the near future."

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'Israel in a unique place to make peace with Arabs'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
June 20, 2012 - 12:00am

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan asserted that the Arab Spring and changes taking place in the region could have a positive effect on Israel's chances to improve its relations with Arab states, speaking on a panel at the Presidential Concerence in Jerusalem Wednesday. "The radicals in the Arab League are no longer there and a range of mutual interests that require regional cooperation provide an incredible opportunity for fostering peaceful relations," Dagan said.

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Obama administration keeps Israeli, Palestinian wheels spinning, hopes for traction on peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
June 20, 2012 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is accelerating diplomatic efforts to get Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks although there is little evidence the two sides are ready to resume direct negotiations.

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The minuses of unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shaul Arieli - (Opinion) June 19, 2012 - 12:00am

The stalemate in negotiations with the Palestinians and the assumption that it's impossible at present to reach a final-status solution have revived the idea of evacuating part of the West Bank unilaterally. Supporters of this idea believe that current trends, especially the expansion of the settlement enterprise, must be stopped before taking a decision that will anchor the two-state solution. A unilateral evacuation, they believe, will create a two-state reality that will make it easier to implement a final-status agreement.

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