Poll: Record high support of peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

According to the monthly War and Peace Index, some 75% of the Jewish public in Israel support holding peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. This marks the highest support rate recorded on the War and Peace index in recent years. Despite the optimistic numbers, the public is split vis-à-vis the demand to freeze construction in settlements in order to advance negotiations.

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Ban Ki-moon condemns plan to expand Gilo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly denounced Wednesday Israel's plan to expand the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, calling it a blatant expansion of a settlement. A spokesman for the secretary general said that Ban "believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution". The Secretary-General reiterated his position that settlements are illegal, and called on Israel to respect its commitments under the Road Map to cease all settlement activity, including natural growth.

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America speaks Arabic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moshe Elad - (Opinion) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

US Special Envoy Mitchell’s demand that the Israeli government refrain from building in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood is merely the prelude to a process meant to erode the legitimate status of Israel’s Jerusalem neighborhoods. These neighborhoods (including Gilo, Ramot Alon, French Hill, and Neve Yaakov) were built after the Six-Day War within the jurisdiction of Israel’s capital; now, they are finally being granted American recognition of their traditional Palestinian name: Settlements.

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Let down by Obama, Palestinians see few options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Tom Perry - (Opinion) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

With US diplomacy seemingly going nowhere, Palestinians are exploring desperate and at best symbolic measures to press a demand for a state that even firm believers in peace among them fear may never emerge. Appeals to the United Nations and European Union to consider recognizing a state that Israel says it cannot accept on the Palestinians’ terms look unlikely to break the deadlock.

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The Obama Presidency and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brandeis University Crown Center for Middle East Studies
by Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

The first ten months of the Obama administration’s efforts to achieve a breakthrough in Arab-Israeli peacemaking have led to widespread disappointment among Palestinians and to growing anxiety among Israelis. Inevitably, this unsatisfactory interim report card is partly a result of the high expectations created by President Barack Obama himself, during the presidential campaign as well as in his inaugural address and following his inauguration.

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Real Estate Shopping Is Used as Political Theater on Jerusalem’s Contested Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Dov Hikind, a member of the New York State Assembly, was in this disputed city on Wednesday looking for property to buy. He said he was most excited about a new apartment complex overlooking the Old City called Nof Zion. At noon, Mr. Hikind led a group of about 50 American Jews in laying a cornerstone for the next phase of Nof Zion, with construction scheduled to start next spring. “I want to buy here,” Mr. Hikind said. “I might make a deal while I am here this time.”

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Recognize Palestinian statehood now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The failure of the Obama administration to launch a serious negotiating process between the PLO and Israel has led to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, announcing that he will not seek re-election. He cited Washington's inability to ensure an Israeli settlement construction freeze as well as American bias toward Israel as the main reasons.

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Plan to Expand Jerusalem Settlement Angers U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel said Tuesday that it had advanced plans to expand a Jewish district of Jerusalem in territory that was captured in the 1967 war and that the Palestinians claim as part of their future state. The move is likely to further complicate the Obama administration’s faltering efforts to restart peace talks.

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Middle East peace: Is two-state solution kaput?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The seemingly perpetual Middle East "peace process" is now at a moment of truth. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said so himself at a press conference on Nov. 4.

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Q&A: No Unilateral Declaration of Palestinian State, Says Erekat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
(Editorial) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority has embarked on a new strategic drive to get renewed international recognition for the borders of the future Palestinian state. Last Thursday it gained backing for this approach from the Arab League. Going into a meeting with European representatives in Ramallah on the West Bank to explain the Palestinian strategy, and hours before embarking with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on a three-nation tour of Latin America, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, spoke exclusively Monday morning to IPS's Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler.

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