Parties bargain ahead of peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Like its predecessors in trying to solve the vexing riddle of Middle East peace, the Obama administration has sought to manage expectations for progress. But despite the best efforts of Washington, parties on all sides of the conflict now anticipate an early moment of truth for the young administration: the possibility that President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will announce an agreement next week, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting, to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

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No Deal, but Middle East Envoy Sets Further Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The Obama administration’s special representative to the Middle East, George J. Mitchell, was set to leave Israel on Wednesday without agreement on a settlement freeze. But he was expected to return Friday to press his efforts to pave the way for resumed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Over the past two days, Mr. Mitchell has held two private meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as talks with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank. Officials here indicated that he had not persuaded the two sides to restart the stalled talks.

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Peres met Erekat in Jerusalem over peace talks; PA firm in stance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli President Shimon Peres reportedly met with Chief Negotiator for the PLO Saeb Erekat last week in what Israeli press called an “effort to ease the way toward a tripartite meeting at the UN.”

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PA Cabinet maintains hope for Obama peace efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

In their Monday meeting the West Bank cabinet ministers expressed positive sentiments around current US efforts to halt settlement construction and limit Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas. In a statement summing up the proceedings of the meetings, ministers expressed their hope around the visit to the region of US Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell this week. The cabinet said the visit indicates the serious of the US administration around re-launching the peace process.

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Mitchell, Netanyahu fail to agree on settlement halt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis, Barak Ravid - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel and the United States failed Tuesday to reach a compromise on the contentious issue of West Bank settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for two hours in Jerusalem with U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. The meeting ended with no results. The prime minister's bureau released a statement to the press describing the sit-down as "good." The two men will resume their discussions in Netanyahu's office Thursday morning.

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Fatah to Haaretz: No settlement freeze, no talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) will meet Tuesday afternoon with the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. The two will discuss the prospect of renewing talks between the PA and Israel and the possibility of Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Netanyahu was supposed to have met Mitchell Monday, but postponed the meeting to today to take part in the funeral of Capt. Asaf Ramon, son of Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon.

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Editorial: It’s time for action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Opinion) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Egypt has been quietly negotiating between Israel and Hamas for the release of Hamas prisoners held by Israel and also for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006. A deal appears imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was also in the Egyptian capital a few days earlier and is expected there again this week. Neither of the two men would have turned up there if there were still a mountain of details to climb.

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How to get Mideast peace talks out of 'dark corner' of Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

A group representing prominent Israelis and Palestinians, including former negotiators, released a "cookbook" for peace on Tuesday designed to help decisionmakers reach a two-state solution to the conflict. The release of the Geneva Accord and Annexes coincided with the visit of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who met Tuesday with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He is just the kind of diplomatic "chef" that the group, known as the Geneva Initiative, is targeting.

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Squandering the Moment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Unless something happens soon, Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs may squander the best chance for Middle East peace in nearly a decade. President Obama is committed to serious negotiations and, for now, there is a lull in regional violence. But all of the region’s major players are refusing to do what is needed to keep their own people safe and move the peace process forward. Mr. Obama has called on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to freeze all settlement construction as a way to demonstrate his government’s commitment to trading land for peace.

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Passions High Ahead of Talks On Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

The scene from the Dr. Billye Brim Community Pool, named after the American pastor from Branson, Mo., who helped underwrite it, is decidedly suburban and removed from the international fray over Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The modern design lets in ample sunlight and fresh air for swimmers doing laconic laps in the midafternoon, while sunbathers lounge on a courtyard of clipped grass spotted with white umbrellas. The more energetic pound away on treadmills in a swanky fitness center.

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