January 14, 2008 - Vol. 9, Issue 19
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Middle East Peace Report - January 14, 2008 - 5:53pm

EHUD VS. EHUD: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been trading barbs over Israel’s failure to evacuate settlement outposts built in violation of Israeli law and Israel’s commitments to the United States. During a media availability with Olmert, U.S. President George W. Bush displayed some impatience over this issue on Wednesday. He said: “Look, I mean, we’ve been talking about it for four years.  The agreement was, get rid of outposts, illegal outposts, and they ought to go.”

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With Concern And Bemusement, Israelis Follow U.s. Elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Dina Kraft - January 14, 2008 - 5:30pm

Hillary Clinton is the favorite U.S. presidential candidate at Itzik Nir's tiny juice stand at the corner of King George St., a veritable neighborhood listening post where opinions pile up as quickly as the signature orange-banana-passion fruit blends are served. Customers giggle trying to pronounce Mike Huckabee's name and see Barack Obama as an unknown. They’d rather stick to Clinton, who they see as a sure thing for Israel, Nir said.

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It's Not About Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Shibley Telhami - January 14, 2008 - 5:28pm

As President Bush travels through the Middle East, the prevailing assumption is that Arab states are primarily focused on the rising Iranian threat and that their attendance at the Annapolis conference with Israel in November was motivated by this threat. This assumption, reflected in the president's speech in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, could be a costly mistake.

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West Bank's Jewish 'outposts' Dig In
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jonathan Finer - January 14, 2008 - 5:25pm

With a pellet gun in his jeans pocket and a hammer in his hand, Dani Landesberg and a crew of teenage Jewish settlers began adding a second story to what has become their new home. They stole occasional glances down the winding access road in case the police came by to evict them, again.

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Still Waiting To Seize The Moment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) January 14, 2008 - 5:24pm

Visiting the Middle East this week, President Bush sounded an unaccustomed note of diplomatic urgency. He insisted that Israel and the Palestinians will conclude a peace agreement before he leaves office in early 2009, and he tried to rhetorically prod the process along.

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Palestinian Police Reclaim West Bank Streets
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - January 14, 2008 - 5:15pm

Palestinian police are slowly starting to exert control over some West Bank towns, long the domain of hooded gunmen and their automatic rifles, with the aid of Western-backed funding and training.   The security drive, demanded by many Palestinians and which Israel says is a prerequisite for peace, has seen green-bereted security officers bent on enforcing law and order emerge from the chaos of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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Gaza Tunnel Smugglers Stay Busy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Dan Murphy - January 14, 2008 - 5:14pm

A visitor to the Palestinian border with Egypt completely ignorant of the problems of this part of the world might imagine for a moment that the Gaza Strip is home to a species of giant and unusually industrious ant. In dozens of spots along the narrow swath of land between the Palestinian town of Rafah and the metal fence that marks the Egyptian border, the region's sandy soil is piled high in crescents that fan out from holes leading underground.

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Reuters looks at the growing success of the slowly redeploying Palestinian police to reestablish law and order in West Bank cities (2.) The Washington Post examines how the issue of illegal Israeli settlement outposts in the West Bank have become the front line in the struggle over withdrawal from occupied land (4.) The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports on where Israelis are leaning concerning the U.S. presidential election (6.) Americans For Peace Now presents its weekly excerpts from the Israeli press (7.) A Guardian (UK) editorial parses statements made by President Bush during his Israel-Palestine trip to find little substance (9.) The Times (UK) examines how the U.S. drive for Mideast democracy has faltered since it was declared a central theme of American foreign policy three years ago (11.) A Daily Star (Lebanon) opinion by Rami Khouri argues that the combination of citizen disenfranchisement and lack of state sovereignty in the Middle East has contributed to the rise in power of Islamists (12.) Asharq Alawsat (pan Arab) reviews official Palestinian reaction across the political spectrum to President Bush's statements about the Palestinian refugee issue during his Israel-Palestine visit (14.) In Haaretz (Israel) Akiva Eldar urges the Israeli government to consider whether any of its military or political actions regarding the Palestinians serve to strengthen or undermine President Abbas before conducting them (15.) Also in Haaretz, an opinion by Uzi Benziman takes the Israeli public to task for not pushing their leadership to adopt a peace agreement with the Palestinians the parameters of which are known to all (17.)

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