Symbol of Peace Stands at Divide Between Troubled Jerusalem’s East and West ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - October 16, 2008 - 8:00pm One recent autumn evening, under a full moon, a monument to tolerance was unveiled on a ridge high above this revered and contested city, sacred to Muslims, Christians and Jews. A soaring bronze column split down the middle, with a spindly, gilded olive tree reaching up through the chasm, it seemed to encapsulate both the promise and the fragility of peace in a city increasingly on edge. » Read more

Time to resurrect the Arab peace plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ian Black - October 17, 2008 - 8:00pm In late July, when Barack Obama toured the Middle East, he met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, for a private briefing on the state of the world's most intractable conflict - a major priority for the next occupant of the Oval Office. Abbas revealed later that when he told the Democratic candidate about the Arab peace initiative - offering Israel normal relations with all 22 Arab countries in exchange for a Palestinian state - Obama's (clearly private) response was unambiguous: "The Israelis must be crazy not to accept that." » Read more

A Mideast plan for the next president ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by Ephraim Sneh - October 17, 2008 - 8:00pm THE NEXT president of the United States, in addition to dealing with the overwhelming global economic crisis, will have to contend with problems that have arisen recently in the Middle East. They include: # The decline of America's status; # The too-slow progress toward political stability in Iraq and the growing Iranian subversion there; # The rising influence of the "resistance camp" - Iran and its proxies: Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad; # The reluctance of US allies to stand defiantly against the anti-American forces; # The stagnation in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; » Read more