To show determination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

It is no surprise that the US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, left the region empty handed after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A series of meetings were held between the two over the past few days in an effort to convince the Israeli premier that the Israeli settlement activity must end immediately. Netanyahu did not budge; his promises came short of the minimum demands of the Arab side and the rest of the international community, including, of course, the US.

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Barak, Clinton may join Mideast summit at UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will apparently participate in a tripartite meeting on Middle East peace in New York on Tuesday. U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, for a meeting all sides have declared would unlikely bring about an immediate resumption of peace negotiations.

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Why Israelis and Palestinians will meet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

A day after U.S. special envoy George Mitchell left Israel with no deal on a resumption of peace talks in the region, the White House announced Saturday that President Barack Obama will meet Tuesday in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. That meeting will be immediately preceded by separate meetings between Obama and each leader, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

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Little hope of breakthrough at Mideast meet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
by Yana Dlugy - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli and Palestinian leaders headed on Monday for a summit with US President Barack Obama, with both sides sceptical the "photo-op" encounter will lead to a resumption of stalled peace talks. The US leader is to hold a three-way meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. It will mark Netanyahu's first meeting with Abbas since the hawkish premier was sworn into office nearly six months ago.

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Obama convenes talks to break Mideast impasse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Harvey Morris - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

Barack Obama, US president, will host a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York tomorrow, seeking to break the Middle East stalemate after a troubled week for US diplomacy in the region. A weekend statement from the White House that Mr Obama would chair a joint session with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, came after the failure of both sides to budge on the issue of Israeli settlement activity had threatened to scupper the encounter.

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Obama to Meet With Mideast Leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - September 20, 2009 - 12:00am

After a frustrating week of shuttle diplomacy here in which the Obama administration failed to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to renew peace talks, leaders of the two sides are heading to the United States to make their cases again that the administration should push the other harder.

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US envoy faces stalemate over settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

A burst of shuttle diplomacy by President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy today did not produce immediate results, with Palestinian and Israeli leaders still at odds over terms for resuming direct talks. An Israeli official said after envoy George Mitchell met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem that Israel might freeze settlements in the West Bank for longer than the six months it previously suggested, but not for as long as a year.

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Peace and prosperity in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Michael Mylrea - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama’s commitment to Middle East peace has made little progress in the last eight months. As his Middle East envoy George Mitchell visits leaders in the region this week, Palestinian optimism has turned to resentment. Time is quickly running out. Unless there is immediate progress toward establishing a sovereign Palestinian state, there will be a deadly third intifada that could quickly escalate into a major regional conflict. To prevent this volatile situation from becoming a catastrophe, US policy makers need to make immediate steps toward a two-state solution.

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Palestinians: State within 2 years with Obama's support
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu twice on Wednesday. Senior Palestinian officials who met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after his meeting with the American statesman Tuesday told Ynet that the US commitment to reach a peace deal within two years was clarified during the meeting. The Palestinians estimate the Americans are adopting de facto the plan presented by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

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US to extend settlement talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

He has held an extra unscheduled meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, with another due on Friday. The US is seeking a moratorium on settlement building that would be acceptable to the Palestinian side. It hopes to re-launch peace talks with a Israeli-Palestinian-US summit at the UN General Assembly later this month. Bilateral talks have been suspended since December and Mr Mitchell has spoken of his "sense of urgency" to get them resume them. 'Positive conclusion'

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