Palestinians uproot Hebrew road signs in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

The US international aid agency says Palestinian authorities in the West Bank have started replacing Israeli-installed road signs bearing Hebrew script with new signs in just Arabic and English. The move is in preparation for a future Palestinian state. Howard Sumka, of USAID, says the American-funded project is expected to take up to four years and cost about $20 million. Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and built military camps and civilian settlements throughout the territory.

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State Dept.: Policy against new Israeli settlements stands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Charles Keyes - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

The State Department is sticking with a strict no-new-settlements policy toward Israel, its spokesman said Thursday, but he held out the possibility that Israelis and Palestinians might eventually take a different path. "The position that the secretary has stated remains our position," spokesman P.J. Crowley said at his daily briefing. "And we continue to discuss with Israel and with the other parties what they have to do on the settlement issue."

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Palestinians: Abbas open to meeting with Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian officials say President Mahmoud Abbas is open to a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations next month. The meeting would be the first between the two leaders since Netanyahu took office in March. Earlier, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev said "there is a possibility" that a three-way meeting may be held between Abbas, Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama in September.

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Israel and US discuss settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has met US envoy George Mitchell as part of a renewed drive to reach a deal on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The US has been pushing for a complete end to Israeli construction in the hope of kick-starting stalled peace talks. The meeting in London followed talks with UK PM Gordon Brown, when Mr Netanyahu rejected any construction freeze in occupied East Jerusalem. He demanded again that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

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US takes on Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme in one massive gamble
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ewen Macaskill - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Obama administration's approach to two of the world's most intractable and dangerous problems, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme, is to link them together in the search for a solution to both. The new US strategy aims to use its Iran policy to gain leverage on Binyamin Netanyahu's government.

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U.S. says nearing renewal of Israel-Palestinian talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that its Middle East envoys are approaching an agreement on renewing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that tomorrow's meeting in London between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell may not yield a breakthrough, but that the process aimed at forming a framework for renewing talks is close to bearing fruit.

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Barack Obama on brink of deal for Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ewen Macaskill - August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Barack Obama is close to brokering an Israeli-Palestinian deal that will allow him to announce a resumption of the long-stalled Middle East peace talks before the end of next month, according to US, Israeli, Palestinian and European officials. Key to bringing Israel on board is a promise by the US to adopt a much tougher line with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme. The US, along with Britain and France, is planning to push the United Nations security council to expand sanctions to include Iran's oil and gas industry, a move that could cripple its economy.

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Peace plans come and go. Obama may have to try a wholly new approach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jonathan Freedland - August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Surely the heart should give a cheer at the hints and signals that suggest Barack Obama will stand before the world next month, either at the UN general assembly or the G20 in Pittsburgh, and launch his own bid for Middle East peace. We have told ourselves for so long that a solution is possible – that everyone knows the contours of an eventual agreement between Israelis and Palestinians – that the urge is almost overwhelming to believe it is within reach.

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Pressure Israel by acting first
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Salam Fayyad is certainly doing his best to dominate the headlines ahead of his Israeli counterpart’s visit to Europe. As Benjamin Netanyahu met with Gordon Brown to discuss faltering peace talks yesterday, the world was atwitter over the Palestinian prime minister’s stated intention to declare a “de facto” Palestinian state within two years. For an Israeli premier under pressure from both the United States and at home and attempting to overcome a resurgence of anti-Israeli sentiment in Europe, Mr Fayyad’s announcement could not have come at a worse time. That, of course, is the point.

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Israel PM expects no breakthroughs in London talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - August 24, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects no breakthroughs at a meeting this week with a U.S. peace envoy, but hopes talks with the Palestinians can resume within two months, a spokesman said on Monday. A right-winger in power since March, Netanyahu has resisted Western pressure to freeze Jewish settlements on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. The dispute has opened a rare rift between Israel and its top ally, the United States.

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