October 8th

Condi's Keys
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic
by Dennis Ross - October 8, 2007 - 1:54pm

Secretary of State Rice is planning to convene an international meeting in Annapolis sometime in November. While President Bush has spent little time during his tenure on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, he has embraced Secretary Rice's ambitious desire to use the Annapolis meeting to endorse a statement of principles on how to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Dissenting At Your Own Risk
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Star-telegram
by Cecilie Surasky - (Opinion) October 8, 2007 - 1:51pm

Last year, I agreed to speak to a Jewish youth group about my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, and our opposition to Israel's occupation. My talk was to follow one from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself "America's pro-Israel Lobby." A week before, a shaken program leader said the AIPAC staffer had threatened to get the entire youth program's funding canceled if I was allowed in the door. The threat worked, and in disgust, they canceled the whole talk.

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Hate Week Comes To Campus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Counterpunch
by Aaron Hess - October 8, 2007 - 1:47pm

If you wanted to know what Sen. Joe McCarthy would sound like if he came back from the dead, read David Horowitz's explanation for "Islamofascism Awareness Week," an event he is sponsoring on college campuses across the country from October 22-26:

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The Stakes At Mideast Summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
(Editorial) October 8, 2007 - 1:44pm

THERE ARE many reasons to be skeptical about next month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md. The political frailty of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, the fractured condition of the Palestinian Authority, the six years President Bush wasted refusing to emulate Bill Clinton's attempts to broker an Israel-Palestinian agreement - these are only some of the most obvious grounds for doubting that anything of value will come from the conference.

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Israel May Ok Division Of Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 8, 2007 - 1:38pm

Senior Israeli officials expressed support Monday for the transfer of Arab parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian control, offering a concession on one of the most contentious issues in the Mideast conflict. The offer appeared to fall short of Palestinian calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from key areas of the holy city. The officials spoke as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to begin talks in Jerusalem to work out a joint document they hope to issue at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference next month. The meetings were closed.

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As Lebanon Goes . . .
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) October 8, 2007 - 1:37pm

Lebanon has long been described as a theater where the larger tensions and conflicts of the Middle East are played out in miniature, and in the past three years its drama has seemed particularly representative. When the Bush administration's push for democracy appeared to be gaining momentum in 2005, Lebanese responded to the assassination of their prime minister with a classic "people power" revolution, and a relatively democratic election installed a pro-Western government.

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Palestinians See Rifts With Israel On Peace Draft
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - October 8, 2007 - 1:33pm

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are deeply divided over the content of a joint document they are drafting for next month's U.S.-sponsored statehood conference, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, both weakened by internal crises, have avoided formal discussion of agenda issues in a series of pre-conference summits. They appointed top aides to find common ground instead.

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Neocons Converge Around Giuliani Campaign
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Newsweek
by Michael Hirsch - October 8, 2007 - 1:26pm

Neocons can't help but slink around Washington, D.C. The Iraq War has given the neoconservatives—who favor the assertive use of American power abroad to spread American values—something of a bad name, and several of the Republican candidates seem less than eager to hire them as advisers. But Rudy Giuliani apparently never got that memo. One of the top foreign-policy consultants to the leading GOP candidate is Norman Podhoretz, a founding father of the neocon movement.

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October 7th

Reuters explores some of the differences between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators working on producing a joint document in the lead up to the fall Mideast meeting (2.) the Associated Press examines further statements from senior Israeli officials expressing support for returning the Arab parts of occupied East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part of a final peace deal (4.) A Boston Globe editorial urges ISraeli PM Olmjert to address the substantive issues needed to attract wide Arab attendance at the fall meeting, particularly since the Saudi offer for peace includes normalization for Israel with all the Arab world (5.) In a Star-Telegram opinion, Jewish Voices for Peace communications director Cecilie Surasky provides a personal example to illustrate the tactics used to stifle any dissent in the U.S. of Israeli policies (7.) In the New Republic, former top Mideast negotiator Dennis Ross outlines an achievable outcome for Secretary Rice at the fall Mideast meeting that would transform current realities between Israelis and Palestinians (8.) The Economist (UK) labels as dubious the current Palestinian Authority strategy to strengthen Fatah and weaken Hamas (10.) The Independent (UK) analyzes how two years of internal and external conflict, and deepening poverty.have resulted in a devastating deterioration in educational indicators across the Gaza Strip (11.) An Institute for Palestine Studies (Palestine) policy note by senior fellow Nadia Hijab takes a historical look on how the U.S. has only used its influence to bring about serious shifts in Israeli policy when it has perceived its vital interests to be at stake (13.) A Haaretz (Israel) editorial by Akiva Eldar outlines why the timing is right for Israel to reach a final settlement with the Palestinians and Arabs on the establishment of a Palestinian state (14.)

October 5th

All's Quiet On The Golan Heights, For Now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - October 5, 2007 - 4:21pm

  Deep, freshly carved military trenches cut through rocky pastures filled with Israeli cows. Green Israeli army jeeps zip along the narrow mountain roads that parallel the Syrian border. United Nations patrols in white SUVs rumble along uneven dirt roads that run among empty Israeli tank positions and rolling fields stretching northeast toward Damascus. For decades, this 45-mile border has been one of Israel's quieter ones. These days, however, many Israelis are wondering if this is where the next war will start.

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