Report: Meshal to fly to Cairo to approve Shalit deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal is expected to fly to Cairo next week to approve a deal that includes the release of captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, the London-based Arabic language newspaper al-Hayat reported on Friday. Meanwhile, a German intelligence official has arrived in Cairo to help mediate on the Shalit deal, senior German officials told Haaretz on Thursday.

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US: Settlements no precondition on Mideast talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

The United States indicated Friday that its calls on Israel to freeze settlements were not a precondition for restarting Middle East peace talks, as the Jewish state held firm in its refusal. President Barack Obama's administration insisted it was not changing its stance, which has caused friction with the close US ally, that Israel halt all settlements in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem. But State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the main US goal was to relaunch talks between Israel and the Palestinians, who will decide for themselves on the contours of a peace deal.

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Obama steers the peace train
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

It isn't formal yet, but it's bound to be soon - within the coming six weeks, Palestinians and Israelis will again sit down around the peace table. That's the upshot of Wednesday's London meeting between United States President Barack Obama's special Middle East envoy, Senator George Mitchell, and Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitchell is set to come to Jerusalem in a fortnight's time with the goal of finalizing an agreement on both an Israeli settlement freeze and the consequent re-igniting of direct peace talks.

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Palestinians say full settlement freeze is precondition to new peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ashraf Khalil - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

A senior Palestinian peace negotiator says the terms of a proposed Israeli deal to restart the peace process, leaked to the press this week, are unacceptable. But he did not rule out a meeting at the United Nations next month between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In Germany today, Mr. Netanyahu said that no new agreement to stop settlement building has been reached.

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Running to stand still? The peace test for Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Philip Stephens - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu has what kindly observers might describe as a credibility problem. Travelling in Europe this week, the Israeli prime minister said he was straining every sinew to restart peace talks with the Palestinians. His interlocutors were unconvinced. Mr Netanyahu looks too much like a politician running in the cause of standing still.

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Netanyahu: We haven’t agreed to a settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel’s prime minister denied reports that Israel has agreed to halt construction in West Bank settlements. At a news conference in Berlin on Thursday following his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Benjamin Netanyahu also said the Palestinians first must recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state before negotiations could be held.

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Bibi in control until Obama calls settlements illegal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Alan Philps - (Opinion) August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

In June, Barack Obama declared to the consternation of Israel that “the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements”. Since then the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has chipped away at the principle of a total freeze on settlement building with what looks like increasing success.

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Report: Abbas to meet Sarkozy in Paris next week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on 4 September, Agence France-Presse reported on Wednesday. "President Abbas will travel to Paris on September 3 and will meet President Sarkozy the next day," an anonymous Palestinian official told AFP. The visit would be Abbas’ second to France since February, amid an international effort led by the US to reinitiate long-stalled peace negotiations with Israel.

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U.S. drops demand for Israel building freeze in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

BERLIN - The Obama administration has agreed to Israel's request to remove East Jerusalem from negotiations on the impending settlement freeze. According to both Israeli officials and Western diplomats, U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell has recognized the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot announce a settlement freeze in East Jerusalem. The officials said the U.S. will not endorse new construction there, but would not demand Jerusalem publicly announce a freeze.

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Analysis: History is not on the side of peace-makers in Israeli-Palestinian conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph
by Robert Spencer - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

But then, it is not the first time his presence in London has heralded a supposed breakthrough in the Middle East peace process. Eleven years ago, it was no less a peacemaker than Tony Blair who claimed credit. In the warm aftermath of the Belfast Agreement, Mr Blair summoned Mr Netanyahu, during his first stint as Israel's leader, for talks with Yasser Arafat of the PLO. The success of that and subsequent summits can be easily described.

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