October 4th

Mideast Negotiating Teams Get Orders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Bourdreaux - October 4, 2007 - 2:44pm

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders brought their negotiating teams together for the first time Wednesday and instructed them to start work next week on a joint declaration that would pave the way for full-scale peace talks. The two-hour meeting at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's residence did not delve into the core issues of the decades-old conflict. That task was handed to the negotiators, who have just weeks to draft a document to serve as the agenda for a peace conference called by President Bush.

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Fatah Fights To Keep Hamas Out Of Mosques
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Joshua Mitnick - October 4, 2007 - 2:42pm

He has been charged with no less a mission than ridding the local branch of the Palestinian religious authority of Hamas’s influence. But when a reporter arrives in his office, Hassan Hilali goes stiff. “I am only a simple man,” he apologizes, while dialing a superior to get authorization to talk. “I’ve only been in the job for a month.”

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Abbas Sees Six-month Timeframe For Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - October 4, 2007 - 2:38pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government said on Thursday formal negotiations to create a Palestinian state could be completed six months after a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference. Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said the agreement would then be brought before the Palestinian people, both inside the Palestinian territories and abroad, for a referendum.

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Israelis, Palestinians To Draft Declaration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - October 4, 2007 - 2:36pm

Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Wednesday to begin work on a joint declaration setting out their positions on the core issues of their long conflict before a U.S.-proposed peace conference tentatively scheduled for next month.

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October 3rd

Reuters reports on expectations by the Palestinian government that formal negotiations to create a Palestinian state could be completed six months after the fall Mideast meeting (2.) The Forward looks at how Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are replacing Hamas-affiliated prayer leaders at mosques across the West Bank (3.) In the New Republic, Carnegie Endowment's John Judis comes to Congressman Jim Moran's defense regarding charges of anti-Semitism leveled against him as a result of comments in an interview he gave (5.) The Independent (UK) reports on the results of a telephone poll of Gazans taken yesterday on the issues of rocket attacks against Israel, Hamas, and a peace agreement with Israel (7.) The Guardian (UK) looks at how Palestinian youth in the West bank are using technology and the internet to overcome the restrictions placed on them by the Israeli occupation and culture (8.) A Jordan Times (editorial) urges the U.S. to use its influence with Israel to make meaningful gestures to the Palestinians in the lead-up to the fall Mideast meeting (10.) A Ynet/Yedioth News (Israel) opinion by settlement expert Dror Etkes addresses the discriminatory policy of the Jewish National Fund when it comes to leasing land to non-Jews (11.)

Rice's Clock
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - October 3, 2007 - 6:35pm

Four former ambassadors to the Middle East, three of whom also served as under secretary of state, have signed a paper circulated this week under the sponsorship of the Israel Policy Forum, a dovish Washington institute. They were joined by a CIA man, an adviser and a professor - an impressive group. Tell me who your writers are and I'll tell you what's in the paper. In this case, it's advice to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in advance of the "Annapolis meeting," the Israeli-Palestinian peace summit planned for November.

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The Right And The Return
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ruth Gavison - October 3, 2007 - 6:32pm

In his article "The problems are already here" (Haaretz, October 1), Danny Rubinstein reported that the Palestinians will oppose any move - which is said to be at the basis of the talks between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas - toward recognizing not only Israel's right to exist, but also its status as the state of the Jewish people. This opposition stems from both the implications of such recognition for the status of Arab citizens of Israel and the concession of the right of return that it implies.

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Where Is The Occupation?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 3, 2007 - 6:30pm

The occupied territories and the Palestinians living there are slowly becoming virtual realities, distant from the eye and the heart. Palestinian workers have disappeared from our streets. Israelis no longer enter Palestinian towns for shopping. There is a new generation on each side that does not know the other. Even the settlers no longer meet Palestinians because of the different road systems that distinguish between the two populations; one is free and mobile, the other stuck at the roadblocks.

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A Bittersweet Homecoming
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Joharah Baker - (Editorial) October 3, 2007 - 6:30pm

In a perfect world, little could be comparable to the joy of receiving a son, daughter, father or husband from the clutches of Israeli incarceration. Even in the terribly distorted world of Palestine where absolutes do not exist and every political move is dissected, analyzed and reanalyzed, the release of a handful of Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli prisons is still a joyous event.

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Is Israel Planning To Release Barghouti?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Sami Moubayed - October 3, 2007 - 6:29pm

The man who arrested Marwan Barghouti in 2002 is now lobbying for his release. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Minister of National Infrastructure in the Kadima-led government, has made the following offer: Marwan Barghouti in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

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