Top U.S. negotiators in Israel to soothe tensions ahead of Washington peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Two top U.S. officials were scheduled to arrive in Israel Wednesday to begin preliminary negotiations ahead of next week's diplomatic summit in Washington, the first direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in 20 months. The two officials are Daniel Shapiro, a top National Security Council staffer handling Israel and neighboring countries, and David Hale, deputy to special Mideast envoy George Mitchell. Each official will meet separately with Isaac Molho - an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of the Israeli negotiating team - and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

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Mideast talks offer promise, peril for Obama
Media Mention of ATFP In Politico - August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's announcement Friday of new direct Middle East peace talks will renew the sense of opportunity that had faded as the regional stalemate hardened. But the talks also renew the political peril for President Barack Obama, who once again is in the position of pledging progress that's easier to promise than to deliver.

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Stakes are high in Mideast peace talks
Media Mention of ATFP In The Boston Globe - August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The United States will host the launch of direct peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington early next month, a diplomatic breakthrough for the Obama administration, which has invested much of the president’s global political capital in an attempt to broker peace in the Middle East.

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Washington Watch: An inauspicious beginning
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

No sooner had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the resumption of Mideast peace talks “without preconditions” than the Palestinians threatened to walk out, nearly two weeks before they were even scheduled to begin, unless their conditions were met. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who constantly kvetched that everyone in the world, particularly his Arab brethren, was pressuring him to sit down with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, demanded all Jewish construction in territories he wants for a Palestinian state be frozen before he’d talk.

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Lawsuit Accuses IRS of Screening Israel-Related Charities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

A hawkish pro-Israel activist group has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Internal Revenue Service is impeding or denying applications for tax-exempt status from nonprofit organizations that oppose the Obama administration’s Israel policies. But experts in nonprofit tax law say that the allegations seem far-fetched.

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Israeli and Palestinian extremists are attempting to sabotage negotiations before they begin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

I suppose it was to be expected, but the brazenness with which extremists on both sides are trying to sabotage upcoming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is simply breathtaking. The far more serious effort is on the Israeli side, in which activists, and even members of the government, to the right of PM Netanyahu are trying to destroy the key to the talks, which was a private understanding between Netanyahu and Pres.

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U.S. warns Israel, Palestinians: Refrain from harming peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The Obama administration expects Israel to refrain from making any move that could potentially damage peace talks with the Palestinians once they begin, United States Middle East envoy George Mitchell has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitchell conveyed the same message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In recent days, Abbas has made clear that if Israel renews building in West Bank settlements, after a 10-month freeze on settlement construction on September 27, the Palestinian Authority will abandon the direct peace talks.

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US official: We want full peace deal in 1 year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - August 24, 2010 - 12:00am

A partial peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, even if achieved within a year, will not satisfy Washington, a US official said Tuesday. The American official told reporters in Jerusalem that the upcoming peace summit in Washington aims to strike a full peace agreement between the parties. The official rejected the possibility of "only" a partial or interim peace deal within the timeframe set for the peace talks.

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In response to vague talks, Jewish groups deliver vague message
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - August 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Two weeks before their launch, the promised renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks has already engendered a first: a joint statement of welcome by mainstream U.S. Jewish and Palestinian groups. "We congratulate the Obama administration on succeeding in getting direct negotiations back on track," said a statement issued jointly on Friday by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the American Task Force on Palestine. "Both parties must now show courage, flexibility and persistence in order to move towards a negotiated end of conflict agreement."

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Israelis and Palestinians to Resume Talks, Officials Say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - August 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to announce Friday that Israel and the Palestinians will return to direct negotiations for the first time in 20 months, delivering the Obama administration a small victory in its protracted effort to revive the Middle East peace process, two officials briefed on the situation said Thursday evening. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, have agreed to place a one-year time limit on the talks, these officials said.

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