Bush, Olmert Said Hopeful On Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh, Amy Teibel - November 26, 2007 - 12:45pm

Hours before the opening of a high-stakes international conference on the Middle East, President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed hope Monday that peace finally could be achieved. A senior member of the Palestinian delegation said an elusive joint statement on the contours for future talks was within reach.

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Appointment In Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) November 26, 2007 - 12:42pm

SECRETARY OF State Condoleezza Rice chose to plunge into Mideast peacemaking earlier this year because, she said, she saw an opportunity in the rise of a moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank and a common interest of Israel and many Arab states in checking Iranian-backed extremism in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Yet exploiting that opening is proving excruciatingly difficult. The Bush administration is expecting some 40 countries to attend a meeting Tuesday in Annapolis that is meant to kick off intensive negotiations on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

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Rice’s Turnabout On Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Elisabeth Bumiller - November 26, 2007 - 12:37pm

At President Bush’s first National Security Council meeting in January 2001, he announced that he did not want to be drawn into the shattered Middle East peace process, people at the meeting recalled, because he believed that former President Bill Clinton had pushed so hard for an Israeli-Palestinian accord that he made the situation worse.

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More Palestinian-israeli 'normalization' Is Needed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Walid Salem - (Commentary) November 23, 2007 - 6:43pm

In the Arab and Islamic world, normalization is looked upon as the process of building open and reciprocal relations with Israel in all fields, including the political, economic, social, cultural, educational, legal and security fields. Those who reject such "normalization" are divided into two groups: one thinks that Israel was established on Islamic and Palestinian land and at the expense of the Palestinian people, the legitimate owners of the land, who consequently suffered a fate as refugees outside their country.

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America Holds The Key To Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Anatol Lieven - (Commentary) November 23, 2007 - 6:37pm

The absurd and tragic thing about the inability of the Israelis and Palestinians to work out a final peace settlement is that, compared with many conflicts, the terms of a settlement are not difficult to delineate and most impartial experts are agreed on them. They are as set out in a public letter jointly issued by the New America Foundation and other bodies. Key points are a territorial settlement on the basis of the 1967 borders and that Palestinian refugees give up the demand of return to Israel in return for massive compensation.

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Un Official Says Israel's Siege Of Gaza Breeds Extremism And Human Suffering
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:36pm

A senior United Nations official has issued an unprecedented appeal to British MPs to use their influence to try to alleviate the impact of "indiscriminate" and "illegal" Israeli sanctions in Gaza which display "profound inhumanity" and are "serving the agenda of extremists".

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Demolition Decimating Palestinian Village
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Ramsey Ben-achour - November 23, 2007 - 6:35pm

Al Walajeh village was once a quiet but busy place. Just four kilometers from Bethlehem and 8.5 km from Jerusalem, its rolling hills filled with fruit trees, natural forests, and blooming vegetation made it a prime farming location. Easy access to large and consistent markets led its inhabitants to relative economic prosperity. Life was good. Today, however, Al Walajeh village is a different place altogether. "The demolishing of houses is a weekly event here in Al Walajeh, " Sheerin Alaraj, Al Walajeh Village Council member, told IPS.

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Saudi Arabia To Attend Middle East Peace Meet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohamed Abdellah, Will Rasmussen - (Opinion) November 23, 2007 - 6:25pm

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Friday he would attend a conference to relaunch talks on ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a move that the United States and Israel hope will bolster the chances of its success. Saudi participation in the November 27 U.S.-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland could improve Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's ability to reach an agreement and help Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sell it to Israelis by holding out the prospect of wider peace with the Arab world.

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Pact Unlikely Before Talks In U.s., Palestinian Insists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 23, 2007 - 6:23pm

A senior Palestinian official said here on Thursday that it would be a “miracle” if the Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams agreed on a joint document, as they had hoped, to present at the American-sponsored Middle East peace gathering set to start Tuesday in Annapolis, Md. But the official held out the possibility that a last-minute agreement on a short outline of intentions or principles could be reached in Washington, with help from the Bush administration, on the eve of the meeting.

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Mushroom Soup On The Road To Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) November 22, 2007 - 10:44pm

There is something unconvincing, even insincere, about the tentative steps and gestures being made by the parties trying to arrange the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, next week to re-launch Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. It is hard to generate any real anticipation from a process in which the principal Israeli and Palestinian parties are politically weak, the American hosts are imprecise and hesitant, the supporting Arab state actors are playing hard to get, and the agenda is as clear as mushroom soup.

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