January 9th

Mideast Leaders Vow To Refocus On Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Bourdreaux - January 9, 2008 - 6:09pm As President Bush headed to the Middle East to check on their peace talks, Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Tuesday to launch them in earnest, six weeks late. It was that long ago that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stood beside Bush at an international conference in Annapolis, Md., and announced the start of full-scale negotiations with the aim of creating a Palestinian state by the end of 2008. » Read more

Egypt's Tunnels Sustaining Hamas Economy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Erica Silverman - January 9, 2008 - 6:08pm An elaborate network of tunnels from Egypt has become the primary transport route for commercial goods entering the Gaza Strip, enabling the area's Hamas rulers to maintain a rudimentary economy in the face of an Israeli embargo. Food products, machinery parts, raw materials and even antibiotics are delivered to Gaza through the tunnels, subject to fees from private families that own some of the passages and to taxes by Hamas. Other smuggled products range from cigarettes to mobile phones. » Read more

Mr. Bush In The Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post (Editorial) January 9, 2008 - 6:07pm AYEAR AGO, the Bush administration introduced a new policy in the Middle East aimed at aligning "moderate" Arab states against Iran while simultaneously promoting the revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. As President Bush begins a tour of the region today, both ends of that strategy are in danger of unraveling. Never entirely in sync with the administration's concept of isolating Tehran, Arab states have been given further second thoughts by the recently released National Intelligence Estimate, which reported that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb. » Read more

Bush's Trip To Mideast To Test His Credibility ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Usa Today by Charles Levinson - January 9, 2008 - 6:06pm President Bush is due in the Middle East on Wednesday to try to rekindle hope for a lasting peace, but first he'll have to win over skeptics such as Ghazi Bustami. "For seven years, Bush served Israel and made war," says Bustami, 31, the portly, soft-spoken Palestinian owner of a TV repair shop in this West Bank city. "Now with a few months left in his presidency he thinks of the Palestinians. But it's too late." » Read more

Bush Nudges Israel, Palestinians On Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Anne Gearan - January 9, 2008 - 6:04pm President Bush, in the Mideast to push along a peace deal by the end of his presidency, gave orders to both sides on Wednesday. He told Israelis that "illegal" settlement outposts in disputed land must go and told Palestinians that no part of their territories can be "a safe haven for terrorists." » Read more

January 8th

Neither Carrot Nor Stick ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) January 8, 2008 - 6:16pm It is illogical to wait for the day a rocket falls on a kindergarten in Sderot and claims many victims. Every Qassam rocket is a strike on a kindergarten avoided by chance, and every rocket that falls in Israeli territory is a strike against the sovereignty of the state. When the fortification of Sderot against rockets becomes the fortification of Ashkelon against rockets, the lack of logic in the tactic of fortification becomes clear. » Read more

Border Control / But He Loves Me The Most ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) January 8, 2008 - 6:16pm Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's aides are not hiding their mission to get U.S. President George W. Bush to help rescue Olmert from the claws of the Winograd Committee. If it were up to them, Olmert would follow Bush even into the bedroom. In preparatory talks with the U.S. » Read more

Hamas And Fatah Still At Loggerheads ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Manal Lutfi - January 8, 2008 - 6:15pm Officials of the Palestinian opposition factions in Damascus have revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat their plans to hold a Palestinian national conference on 23 January to discuss the issue of the Palestinian refugees and Palestinian national rights. The officials said that most Palestinian factions will attend the conference but that the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine will not attend. They pointed out that it is likely that the Fatah Movement, which has received an invitation, will attend the meeting. » Read more

Action, Please, An Interview With Ali Jarbawi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons (Interview) January 8, 2008 - 6:14pm bitterlemons: Are you optimistic about US President George W. Bush's visit? Jarbawi: Palestinians are not optimistic. We always hear a lot of talk and promises but on the ground we see the opposite. Settlements are expanding, Israeli army incursions continue unabated, there are arrests, and land is confiscated. All these Israeli policies continue and we hear only promises. We need action rather than words. bitterlemons: What exactly do you see Washington's role as being? » Read more

Bush's Middle East Peace Mission Gets Off To A Shaky Start ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by Richard Beeston - January 8, 2008 - 6:13pm President Bush’s peace mission to the Middle East is in trouble even before the US leader sets off for Jerusalem today on his maiden visit to the Holy Land. Violence has broken out between Israel and Islamic militants on two fronts, peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians have faltered and there are real fears that the situation in the region could deteriorate sharply. » Read more