Abbas Juggles Initiative While Israel Takes None
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) February 6, 2012 - 1:00am

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process was dead well before the Arab revolutionary wave began a little over a year ago. Nor does it appear likely that the Arab revolutions, in and of themselves, will catalyze its revival. Still, they have affected the peace process in a number of significant, albeit still evolving ways.

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What would you do?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Elyte Baykun - (Analysis) February 4, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel is blaming the Palestinians for putting "preconditions" on peace talks by insisting on a settlement freeze before returning to direct negotiations. They say that Palestinians have negotiated for the past twenty years without this condition, so why demand it now? But the PLO says that is precisely the point. They have been negotiating in good faith with the Israelis for the past 20 years without first insisting on a settlement freeze and look where it has gotten them.

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Blair, PM Working to Enable Continued PLO Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am

Quartet envoy Tony Blair is involved in intensive talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about putting together a package of economic gestures to keep the Palestinians directly engaged with Israel in low-level talks in Jordan. Blair has met at least five times with Netanyahu over the past two weeks, including twice on Wednesday.

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Israel Adds to its Crimes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 3, 2012 - 1:00am

Ten years ago about 50 Israeli soldiers, including some officers, refused to serve in the Occupied Territories, roughly the size about 22 per cent of the original state, Palestine, which until mid-1948 was a mandate under British rule.

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Ban Says ‘Time Running’ for Israel, Palestinian Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 3, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said Thursday Israel and the Palestinians were running out of time to solve their conflict and ought to give "highest priority" to resuming stalled peace talks. Ban, wrapping up a two-day visit to the region, said he had pushed for faster progress in separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are impossible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Bilal Hassan - (Analysis) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

At present, there are no Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as the conditions laid down by Israel would render them doomed to failure before they even start. Yet the Palestinian side has no alternative plan to the negotiation theme, which means that the issue will remain pending and frozen unless some change happens on the ground and alters the balance of power.

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Tunisia as a Model
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Uri Savir - (Opinion) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

In early 1994, I visited Tunisia. I was sent there by then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and then-foreign minister Shimon Peres to pay condolences to Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership in the aftermath of the horrendous Hebron massacre committed by Baruch Goldstein. It was obviously not an easy trip, but an occasion for me to get acquainted for the first time with the PLO leader, and to encounter a new Arab country. It is with the latter that this article will deal.

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Israel asks U.S. to prod Palestinians to continue peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to continue the talks with Israel that began last month in Amman. The Prime Minister's Office said that the conversation with Clinton lasted 45 minutes, and quoted Netanyahu as saying, "Israel is interested in continuous talks with the Palestinians while preserving the security interests of Israeli citizens."

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Israel adds to its crimes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Ten years ago about 50 Israeli soldiers, including some officers, refused to serve in the Occupied Territories, roughly the size about 22 per cent of the original state, Palestine, which until mid-1948 was a mandate under British rule.

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Abbas to Resume Negotiations For Goodwill Gestures
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an international suggestion that Israel offer a package of goodwill gestures in exchange for resuming direct peace talks, sources said Thursday. Abbas informed the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers that the economic gestures were not enough for the Palestinians to accept the resumption of negotiations, which have stopped in 2010, the sources said.

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