U.S. to Push Peace in Middle East Media Campaign
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - August 2, 2009 - 12:00am

George J. Mitchell likes to remind people that he labored for 700 days before reaching the Good Friday accord that brought peace to Northern Ireland. So the fact that Mr. Mitchell has shuttled back and forth to the Middle East for the last 190 days without any breakthroughs, he said, does not mean that President Obama’s push for peace there is stalled.

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Not quite as gloomy as they look
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Editorial) July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

BACK in the autumn of last year, Ehud Olmert, then Israel’s fading prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinians’ more durable president, were astonishingly close to a peace deal. Judging by an interview with Mr Olmert published in Newsweek in June, after he had given up his post, they appeared to have been only a whisker apart—though Mr Abbas has since called the gap “wide”. But it is worth spelling out what Mr Olmert says he offered, in an account that other senior Palestinians have pretty much verified.

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Another historic opportunity for Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

As days and events unfold, the Obama administration - though recent on the global and Middle-Eastern scenes - has proven itself to be a most knowledgeable and reliable peace patron or broker: the Arabs’ and Israelis’ best bet, I would say.

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Egypt's peace role – and its influence – under fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Liam Stack - July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

Since the historic 1979 Camp David Accords with Israel, Egypt has used its regional clout to broker peace in the Middle East – and curry favor with the West. With ties to both Israel and Hamas, Cairo sees a natural role for itself in helping to bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a just solution. But its neutrality, motives, and, more recently, its political influence, have been challenged by other countries, calling into question its effectiveness as a peacemaker.

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Saudi Rejects Israel Recognition without Withdrawal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia on Wednesday rebuffed US calls for diplomatic overtures toward Israel and said the Jewish state's settlement expansion is jeopardizing efforts to revive peace talks. "It is Israel that has to move seriously towards the peace process," Saudi foreign ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said. "As we all know, Israel is continuing to take unilateral measures by changing the geographic and demographic facts on the ground, by building settlements and expanding the existing ones," he told AFP.

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‘Israel should be serious about peace’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
by Paul Handley - July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday rebuffed US calls for diplomatic overtures toward Israel and said the Jewish state’s settlement expansion is jeopardizing efforts to revive peace talks. “It is Israel that has to move seriously toward the peace process,” Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said. “As we all know, Israel is continuing to take unilateral measures by changing the geographic and demographic facts on the ground, by building settlements and expanding the existing ones,” he told AFP.

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Get stuck in, Mr President
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

THE American president may think he has enough on his plate without worrying about the dog’s dinner simmering away in the corner: the sickly Middle East peace process, with its often nauseous ingredients. This week he has sent an array of colleagues to stir the pot, including his envoy, George Mitchell, who has been in and out of the region; Robert Gates, his secretary of defence; and Jim Jones, his security adviser, who knows the Palestinians from the past. But Mr Obama is the indispensable head chef. However preoccupied, it is he who must decide what to serve up—and when.

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With a Semi- or Quarter-Normalization
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Zuheir Kseibati - (Opinion) July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

US peace envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell neither utters a word nor reveals the features of the final solution that President Obama’s administration wants, when he insists that comprehensive peace means the normalization of Arab ties with Israel. The Arab peace initiative does not rule out normalization as a result of final settlements, which would restore the Golan Heights and the remaining occupied lands in southern Lebanon. This settlement would also end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict once and for all by establishing a Palestinian state.

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Obama's Middle East map
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Analysis) July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

The utter determination of US President Barack Obama to bring peace to the Middle East is no longer in doubt. The US president's manner is gentle. He seeks to persuade rather than coerce. He gives precedence to the carrot rather than the stick. But the iron will is there. It would be rash indeed for Arabs or Israelis to attempt to thwart him. Right across the region the message is sinking in. We are beginning to witness what might be called the 'Obama effect'.

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No peace without support from all parties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) July 29, 2009 - 12:00am

It has emerged that the US president Barack Obama delivered letters to the leaders of several Arab nations in June, including the UAE, requesting their support in a renewed peace process. While some have responded positively to the request, and some tentatively, others have criticised the effort so long as Israel refuses to budge on the settlements, Gaza remains under crippling blockade, and Israel continues to promote policies aimed at making the country exclusively Jewish in nature.

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