Angry Start To Palestinian Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - December 13, 2007 - 1:02pm

The first formal Israeli Palestinian negotiating process for seven years made an acrimonious start yesterday in the shadow of plans for new Jewish housing in Arab East Jerusalem and the threat of military escalation in Gaza. Palestinian negotiators used the first session since the international Middle East conference in Annapolis to express their outrage over plans for an expansion of the settlement of Har Homa - already criticised by the US, EU and UK government.

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Prerequisites For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
by Mustafa Barghouthi - December 13, 2007 - 12:58pm

As one who for decades has supported a two-state solution and the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian rights, I view the recent conference in Annapolis with a great deal of skepticism - and a glimmer of hope. Seven years with no negotiations - and increasing numbers of Israeli settlers, an economic blockade in Gaza and an intricate network of roadblocks and checkpoints stifling movement in the West Bank - have led us to despair and distrust. Any commitment must be made not only to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008 but also to end Israel's occupation.

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Israel 60 Years On - Partition Or Apartheid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Gwynne Dyer - December 12, 2007 - 5:36pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was just back from the Annapolis summit where President George W. Bush tried to reboot the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More importantly, November 29 was also the 60th anniversary of the United Nations vote that divided British-ruled Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. That promised Arab state still doesn’t exist, of course, but if the peace talks fail to produce it in the end, Olmert told the newspaper Haaretz, then Israel is “finished”.

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Israel's Palestinians Speak Out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Nadim Rouhana - December 12, 2007 - 5:19pm

The Annapolis peace talks regard me as an interloper in my own land. Israel's deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, argues that I should "take [my] bundles and get lost." Henry Kissinger thinks I ought to be summarily swapped from inside Israel to the would-be Palestinian state.

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Key Players In Mideast Talks May Remain Unseen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - December 12, 2007 - 5:16pm

A handshake across a table and a spray of camera flashes will probably serve as starting gun of the first official Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in seven years Wednesday – talks aimed at producing a treaty on Palestinian statehood in 2008. Over the coming months, the talks will break into about a half-dozen subcommittees to tackle such issues as dividing Jerusalem and dealing with Palestinian refugees. But none of those discussions are likely to lead to breakthroughs necessary to clinch a final agreement, analysts say.

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Israel, Palestinians Launch Peace Talks In Discord
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr, Adam Entous - December 12, 2007 - 5:15pm

The first peace talks in seven years between Israel and the Palestinians opened in discord on Wednesday with the Palestinians demanding a halt to settlement building and Israel calling for a crackdown on militants. The tensions, coming just two weeks after a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, highlighted the difficulties ahead for negotiators trying to reach agreement on a Palestinian state before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

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The 'four-phase' Approach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Uri Savir - December 11, 2007 - 1:51pm

In May 1996, permanent status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership officially began. I represented Israel and my Palestinian counterpart was Mahmoud Abbas. The discussion of permanent status issues lasted only two hours. Instead, we opted to commence our negotiations by talking about the desired outcome of Israel's and the future Palestinian state's relations. We intended to give this focus several months' time and to postpone resolution of the final status issues to the last stage.

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Just Another Forgotten Peace Summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Tamar Hermann, Ephraim Yaar - December 11, 2007 - 1:49pm

Many assume that if the Israeli decision-makers were to openly change their position on the conflict and its resolution, the public would throng after them en masse and support an agreement. The present survey, like earlier surveys we conducted, shows that this assumption is very flimsy and that people are not hurrying to get on the Olmert government's peace train.

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U.s. Jews Must Be Ready
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Kenneth Bob - (Opinion) December 11, 2007 - 1:41pm

My first visit to Israel was in 1969, only two years after the Six-Day War, and soon after my arrival I was walking through narrow Jerusalem streets on my way to the Western Wall.

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Utility Cuts Increase Misery In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from World Peace Herald
by Erica Silverman - December 11, 2007 - 1:39pm

Israeli cuts in fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip are hitting home, affecting schools, hospitals and businesses as officials from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority exchange blame for the suffering. Utility cuts are intended to pressure Hamas to halt rocket fire into Israel. Filling stations across this seaside territory have shut down, crippling public transportation systems.

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