January 4th

Yo, Anyone Who Fears Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
January 4, 2008 - 2:35pm


THE smart people are getting out of Jerusalem next week. Traffic mayhem is assured as George Bush and his entourage, about 800 souls, guarded by thousands of Israeli police, are whisked about in a fleet of armoured vehicles, complete with a bespoke helicopter brought in to fly the president to Capernaum, in northern Israel, where Jesus chose his apostles.


Bush Calls On Israel To Dismantle Wildcat Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 4, 2008 - 2:33pm


US President George W. Bush called on Israel to dismantle wildcat settlement outposts on occupied Palestinian land, in an interview published on Friday ahead of his visit to the region next week. "We expect them to honour their commitments," Bush said in the interview with Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.


Pakistan, Palestine, And Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Analysis) January 4, 2008 - 2:32pm


A few hours after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, I happened to catch an interview with a group of Pakistani university students who were part of a stunned mass of grieving people on the streets of Karachi.  They all looked and sounded secular, educated and western.  The reporter asked them about Bhutto's death, prospects for democracy in Pakistan, and what they thought about the United States.


Ahead Of Visit, White House Talks Friendship With Israel — And Pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - January 4, 2008 - 2:30pm


The message from the White House on the eve of President Bush's first presidential visit to Israel is that his staunch support for the Jewish state has set the stage for peace — and given him room to exert some pressure on Jerusalem. Bush launches an eight-day tour of the region next Wednesday, beginning with three days in Israel and the West Bank and continuing to Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.


The Tribal Dynamics Of Old Play Out Again In The Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) January 4, 2008 - 2:29pm


The system of Middle East states as we know it today was largely imposed upon the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire by England and France, the victorious European powers of World War I. Judging by the current state of affairs, they did not do a very good job.


Inside Track: Spoiling To Spoil
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Barbara Slavin - (Opinion) January 4, 2008 - 2:28pm


On his first—and probably last—major trip to the Middle East, President Bush has a final chance to reorient and reinvigorate U.S. diplomacy in the region. If the past is any guide, however, Bush will miss another opportunity to reach out to U.S. adversaries and diminish their motivation to play the spoiler.


What Palestinians Will Do With $7.4 Billion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - January 4, 2008 - 2:27pm


When donors met in Paris last month and awarded $7.4 billion in aid to the Palestinians, a larger-than-expected package to be distributed over the next three years, many in the international community showed a new readiness to support the new Israeli-Palestinian peace push and provide a safety net for it in the form of economic stability.


White House Downplays Bush Mideast Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Jennifer Loven - January 4, 2008 - 2:26pm


President Bush's aides all but ruled out a three-way meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during his upcoming Mideast visit and dampened hopes that the president's high-profile travels would make tangible progress toward peace. "Just his going there is going to advance the prospects," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said Thursday. "We're not looking for headline announcements."


Israel Settlement Growth An "impediment": Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Matt Spetalnick - January 4, 2008 - 2:25pm


U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday called Israeli settlement expansion an "impediment" to revived peace efforts in rare criticism of the Jewish state less than a week before his first presidential visit there. In an interview with Reuters, Bush voiced optimism for securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of 2008, a goal set at November's Annapolis conference that has been viewed with widespread skepticism. He also acknowledged that obstacles remained after decades of Middle East conflict.


Palestinian Pm Assails Israel Over West Bank Raids
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - January 4, 2008 - 2:22pm


Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad criticized Israel on Friday for mounting a major military sweep in the West Bank, saying such intervention was ruining a Western-backed internal Palestinian security plan. Hundreds of Israeli troops flooded Nablus on Wednesday, conducting house-to-house searches, detaining at least 6 Palestinians. The move triggered a confrontation with stone-throwing youths in which, hospital officials said, at least 29 people were injured.



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