Mr. Zahar And Mr. Carter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) April 17, 2008 - 6:07pm

ON THE OPPOSITE page today we publish an article by the "foreign minister" of Hamas, Mahmoud al-Zahar, that drips with hatred for Israel, and with praise for former president Jimmy Carter. We believe Mr. Zahar's words are worth publishing because they provide some clarity about the group he helps to lead, a group that Mr. Carter contends is worthy of being included in the Middle East peace process. Mr. Carter himself is holding what appears to be a series of meetings with Hamas leaders during a tour of the Middle East.

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Jimmy Carter: A Fool On A Fool's Errand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Michael Young - (Opinion) April 17, 2008 - 6:06pm

Say what you will about Jimmy Carter, he has a way of transforming moments of plodding gravitas into uproarious comedy. Remember that moment during the 1980 Democratic convention when Carter stood up, and in a phrase paying tribute to Hubert Humphrey, instead praised "Hubert Horatio Hornblower," confusing the late vice president with the character from the C.S. Forester novels?

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The Palestinians Are Under Inner And Outer Siege
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Bassem Eid - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:54am

Before Oslo, Palestinians primarily desired unity and an end to the occupation. But as soon as the first intifada began to fade, divisions among Palestinians emerged. Throughout the Oslo years, these rifts continued to widen. While scores of Palestinians took to the streets, armed with stones and kitchen appliances, during the first intifada, the present uprising is increasingly characterized by the deadly firepower of small arms.

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Approach The Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Ori Nir - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:39am

The League of Arab States has re-adopted its six-year-old peace initiative, offering comprehensive peace and normal relations with Israel by all its members in return for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, and a resolution of all outstanding issues between Israel and the Palestinians. This initiative is to be commended, but it has a major flaw: it is addressed to the international community at a time when the Arab League really needs to focus on the Israeli public.

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Slow Progress For Palestinians In Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Andrew Lee Butters - (Blog) April 3, 2008 - 5:24pm

In the past few weeks of writing about Palestinian refugees, I've painted a grim picture of their treatment by Lebanese society: how after nearly sixty years and four generations in exile here they still don't have citizenship, how they are barred from some seventy professions and face all sorts of other legal discrimination, and how during last summer's battle with foreign jihadis based in Nahr al Bared camp, the Lebanese army appears to have taken out its frustrations on Palestinian civilians.

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Abbas: Talks With Israel Touch On All Core Issues Including J'lem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 27, 2008 - 12:05pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are tackling "all the core issues without exception: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, and security." "We hope to achieve a settlement in 2008, there are many obstacles but we hope they will be removed. We are all pressing to reach a settlement by the target date," Abbas said.

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Pressure? What Are You Talking About?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) March 20, 2008 - 6:31pm

To tell the truth, I didn't ask him," Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Welch said in response to a question from U.S. Representative Gary Ackerman (Democrat, N.Y.). The person who wasn't asked was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the question that wasn't asked was whether he planned to run for a second term in a year.

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U.s. To Transfer $150 Million In Aid To The Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
March 19, 2008 - 7:07pm

The U.S. is transferring $150 million in aid to the Palestinian government in coming days, the Palestinian Prime Minister announced Wednesday. The payment is part of a total of $550 million the U.S. pledged to pay to the Palestinians over three years, part of a total of $7.7 billion in pledges from international donors made at a conference in Paris in December.

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' Anything Is Possible'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al- Ahram
by Saleh Al-naami - March 18, 2008 - 6:54pm

Just two weeks after Israel began its bloody incursions into the Gaza Strip Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resumed today under American auspices. Despite repeated decisions by the Israeli government to step up settlement and Judaisation activities in the West Bank, and a week following the attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, and the two sides are meeting against the backdrop of an un- announced truce that, with the exception of minor violations, appears to be holding.

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'this May Be The Last Chance'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gidi Weitz And Meron Rapoport - (Interview) March 6, 2008 - 7:39pm

Yasser Abed Rabbo is worried and one of the reasons for this becomes immediately apparent when we meet: An armed guard escorts him into his office on the third floor of a building in Ramallah midday on Saturday. "Who is he protecting you from - the Israelis or Hamas?" we ask. "From Hamas," he says without hesitating.

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