Prisoner swap pours cold water on peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Khalaf Ahmad al Habtoor - (Opinion) October 27, 2011 - 12:00am

I’ve lived long enough to know that not everything is as it seems at first glance. I’m sure that most Arabs view the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas as a good deal. After all, who can complain about exchanging one skinny youth weighing around 45 kilogrammes for 1,020 Palestinian prisoners, including many who were serving life sentences? Sounds great until one analyses the motivations and ramifications.

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In memoir, Rice says 'historic peace' nearly reached
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 26, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (Ma'an) -- In Condoleezza Rice's new memoir, No Higher Honor, the former US secretary of state claims a "historic peace deal" between Israel and the Palestinians was once close at hand in 2007. In the memoir, Rice says Israel's then-prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was ready to make "an extraordinary offer" to President Mahmoud Abbas, Newsweek Magazine reported Tuesday citing an advance copy.

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Peres, Ashton defend Abbas after attack by Israeli FM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 26, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres came to the defense of Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday after Israel's far-right foreign minister called the president an obstacle to peace. "Abbas and Prime Minister (Salam) Fayyad are serious leaders that want peace and are working to prevent violence and extremism in our region," said Peres in public remarks.

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Palestinian statehood bid adds urgency for Israeli-Palestinian peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant, Joshua Mitnick - October 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Tel Aviv and Washington Quartet envoy Tony Blair held talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah today to convince Israelis and Palestinians to resume negotiations, a mission given added urgency by a looming vote on Palestinian membership in the United Nations. Amid widespread pessimism that the two sides aren't even interested in coming back to the table, the quartet of Middle East peace mediators – the US, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations – fears that the Palestinian bid could further unravel the peace process and isolate Israel.

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The Mideast deal that could have been
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - (Opinion) October 26, 2011 - 12:00am

To the catalogue of missed opportunities for peace in the Middle East, we can add a tantalizing if also depressing chapter: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s secret offer in 2008 to create a Palestinian state that would feature international control of holy sites in a divided Jerusalem — a concession many Israelis have said was impossible.

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Egypt's new face in swap for Israeli 'spy' Ilan Grapel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Kevin Connolly - (Opinion) October 26, 2011 - 12:00am

At first glance, Israel's decision to trade 25 prisoners with Egyptian passports for the release of Ilan Grapel from a Cairo prison has echoes of the exchange which saw captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit traded for a thousand Palestinian prisoners. But only at first glance. The plight of Sgt Shalit - a young conscript who was abducted by Palestinian militants five years ago - engaged the sympathy of the nation. His family staged a long vigil in a tent outside the residence of the Israeli prime minister and made his plight a central issue in Israeli life.

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Palestinian official: no new U.S. proposals for resuming peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 25, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian negotiator on Tuesday denied reports that the United States presented new proposals for resuming peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel. Saeb Erekat, the negotiator, said the Palestinian leadership received no offers from the Obama administration regarding Jewish settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Erekat also stressed that the settlement construction must be completely suspended, not partially.

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Netanyahu must treat Abbas as a genuine peace partner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Haaretz's Barak Ravid reported Monday that the Israel Defense Forces' top officers are crafting a proposal to mitigate the damage to the Palestinian Authority's status caused by Hamas' success in freeing over 1,000 prisoners. In addition to the release of Fatah prisoners in the Shalit deal's second stage, the IDF recommends significant gestures that will allow PA President Mahmoud Abbas to present accomplishments to the Palestinian people. One proposal considers handing over empty lands to the PA (lands that remain under Israel's security authority under the Oslo Accords ).

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Gilad Shalit has been brought home to an Israel that has no plan for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jonathan Freedland - (Opinion) October 25, 2011 - 12:00am

The posters are still up, showing the face of Gilad Shalit, the boy soldier freed last week after five years hidden in the dark. "How good it is to have you back home," runs the slogan, appearing on the side of shopping malls in Tel Aviv and on lampposts in Jerusalem. Shalit's return has enabled Israelis to walk with an unaccustomed spring in their step, despite their fear that the price was dreadfully high.

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Mideast 'quartet' tries new approach with Israel, Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Interview) October 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem— Frustrated in its bid to restart peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, the international group known as the Mideast quartet is pushing both sides to submit detailed proposals for borders of a Palestinian state and measures to ensure Israel's long-term security, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday. Blair, who serves as envoy for the quartet — consisting of the U.S., Russia, the European Union and United Nations — will discuss the latest approach during separate meetings Wednesday in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

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