Arabs Return From Summit Uneasy And Skeptical
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman - November 29, 2007 - 4:56pm

This week's Middle East conference in Annapolis, Md., has highlighted Arab unease over the ability and will of a weak U.S. president to deliver peace. At the same time, it has stoked fears that Israel has scored a public relations coup while refusing to concede on such core issues as Palestinian refugees and the fate of Jerusalem.

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Annapolis Talks Prompt Much Doubt, A Few Jokes, In Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ellen Knickmeyer, Scott Wilson - November 29, 2007 - 4:55pm

A day after their leaders announced a new push for peace, Israelis and Palestinians returned Wednesday to a familiar and deadly routine, deeply skeptical over the timetable set for the talks and whether an end to the conflict is achievable at all in the current political climate. In cafes and blogs in the Arab world, the Annapolis conference prompted little more than wisecracks. Commentators made much of a linguistic coincidence: In Arabic, "ana polis" means "I am the police."

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An Opportunity For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Rafi Dajani - (Opinion) November 29, 2007 - 4:38pm

THE IMPORTANCE of the Annapolis meeting on Middle East peace was not in the joint statement it produced, or in the speeches of the American, Israeli, and Palestinian leaders. Rather, it is in the real opportunity that the meeting has created for peace.

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Rice’s Way: Restraint In Quest For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper - (Analysis) November 29, 2007 - 4:37pm

Three weeks ago, in a windowless conference room in the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confidently dismissed the Middle East peacemaking attempts of her predecessors. “It hasn’t worked,” she told reporters traveling with her. “So, with all due respect, I’ll try it my way.”

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The Palestinians / Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) November 28, 2007 - 4:15pm

Minutes after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert finished their speeches, Palestinian spokesmen rushed to the press room at Annapolis to lower expectations. Being well-versed in peace conferences that end with glorious fanfares but lead nowhere in practice, they warned that it is necessary to see whether the promises made at the conference are implemented on the ground.

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If The Conference Fails, What's Plan B For Peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Daoud Kuttab - (Commentary) November 28, 2007 - 4:07pm

American officials usually spend enormous energy highlighting the "process" in the Middle East "peace process." Only in the last 18 months of a second-term president or following a military engagement in the Middle East does the United States actually start to concern itself with "peace."

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Keep The Cynics At Bay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Daniel Levy - (Commentary) November 28, 2007 - 4:02pm

Theories abound as to why an Annapolis conference and why now. Jerry Seinfeld would be excused for thinking that this is all a personal conspiracy against him - his visit to Israel was dominating the headlines until Annapolis came along. In fact some in the Israeli media have been drawing a rather unflattering analogy: the Annapolis conference resembles a Seinfeld episode - it's about nothing. Yada yada yada.

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Annapolis: The End Of The Beginning
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Paul Reynolds - November 28, 2007 - 4:00pm

That was the easy bit. Now for the hard work. All the old unresolved issues have to be tackled - the borders of Israel and the new state of Palestine, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, Palestinian refugees. A pessimist, a realist maybe, can look at the target date for an agreement - December 2008, the end of the Bush presidency - and say that the agenda is too large and the room for manoeuvre too little for success to be likely, let alone assured. The concept is to create a critical mass of opinion that will enable the centre ground to be held.

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The Major Breakthrough: Bush Agrees To Arbiter Role
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - November 28, 2007 - 3:56pm

The most striking concession to emerge from the Palestinian-Israeli talks this week came neither from the Israelis nor the Palestinians, but from the Bush administration. The United States agreed to become the sole arbiter of peace agreements between the sides -- not only an about-face from a seven-year policy of "let the sides duke it out," but an unprecedented venture into waters even the hyper-involved President Clinton feared to enter.

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Annapolis: A View From Amman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Open Democracy
by El Hassan Bin Talal - (Commentary) November 28, 2007 - 3:52pm

The middle-east conference to be convened in Annapolis, Maryland on 27 November 2007 must, if it is to be effective, be conceived as a return to a peace-building process whose objective is to realise a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian impasse.

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