PA letter to ask Israel’s position on peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 4, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will send a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking Israel to state its position regarding restarting peace talks. The letter, which reportedly will be delivered to Netanyahu as soon as he returns from his visit to North America, will accuse Israel of harming the process by not fulfilling its obligations under current agreements and inform Israel what steps the Palestinian Authority requires of Israel in order to be willing to restart talks.

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Palestinians to give Israelis deadline on talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - March 3, 2012 - 1:00am

JERICHO, West Bank — Palestinian officials said Saturday they plan to give a deadline to Israel to accept ground rules for negotiations, and suggested that a 'no' will allow them to shelve Mideast talks until it does. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to spell out the requirements in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. He said he did not know by when Netanyahu would have to respond.

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Mideast peace, with something short of a deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Robert Malley, Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) March 3, 2012 - 1:00am

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will devote little time Monday to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in part because of Iran and election-year politics. But the principal cause is this: A negotiated, two-state solution is running harder than ever against intractable political and psychological realities in Israel, Palestine and the Arab world. These are pushing toward a de facto outcome that will not be negotiated, comprehensive or conflict-ending.

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Israeli, Palestinian leaders hastening the next intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

At last Likud and the moderate right have found a formula to save the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No longer will they talk about "conflict resolution" - the phrase now is "conflict management." The explanations are many and they sound convincing - the split between Hamas and Fatah, the large gap between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the core issues, and the most common excuse of all: There's no partner on the other side.

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Israel report: West Bank Palestinians may turn to violence if peace talks freeze persists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 27, 2012 - 1:00am

The stalled peace process and instability in the Middle East are liable to push the Palestinians in the West Bank to turn increasingly violent toward Israel, the Foreign Ministry said in its annual intelligence assessment. The assessment also states that a potential Israeli military operation in Gaza would generate a severe response from Egypt.

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Netanyahu's latest Mideast peace push was nothing more than a swindle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) February 27, 2012 - 1:00am

The Natan Eshel affair, in which the head of the Prime Minister's Bureau resigned and admitted to harassing a female subordinate, turned the three senior aides who blew the whistle on him into the heroes of a Greek tragedy. The three - Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser, Military Secretary Yohanan Locker and chief media adviser Yoaz Hendel, who has since resigned - must have known what they were getting into for ratting on a darling of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. Nevertheless, they put themselves in harm's way and reported Eshel's misdeeds to the attorney general.

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Encountering Peace: Q&A on the future of the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Interview) February 27, 2012 - 1:00am

Meeting with American Jews and non-Jews on college campuses, synagogues and churches all across America is always a refreshing opportunity to see how much interest our small country attracts. It is also quite disturbing how divisive the issue of support for Israel has become. The divisions are not between Jews and non-Jews, but within each community there are conflicts between those who are pro-Israeli versus those who are pro-Palestinian.

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Palestinian Negotiator: Israel Presented No Position or Offer in Amman Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - February 24, 2012 - 1:00am

The only document Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far presented to the Palestinians during the recent peace talks in Amman is a list of 21 topics for discussion in negotiations on a final-status agreement, Haaretz has learned.

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Hamas Denies Placing Barriers to Unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 24, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas officials on Thursday played down reports that the movement was placing barriers in front of a reconciliation deal it signed with Fatah earlier this month. Party spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Hamas was moving forward with the deal in line with the terms agreed in Doha by President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal. Barhoum was responding to reports that a Hamas official said the group was setting new terms for implementing the deal, including demands for certain ministries.

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PA angry over Israeli leaks regarding Amman talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is angry over Israeli leaks regarding the recent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Jordan. Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday he filed a complaint with the Quartet members – the US, EU, UN and Russia – about leaks by the Israeli government regarding the Amman talks. Erekat said that reports in the Israeli media about the meetings contained “half-truths.” The Israeli government was behind these leaks, he charged.

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