November 2nd

Abbas dilemmas as US backs Israel on talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Sawafta, Erika Soloman - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's rejection of an Israeli settlement freeze as a condition for peace talks puts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a spot. As Abbas faces an apparent shift in the Obama administration's diplomatic strategy and comes under U.S. pressure to relaunch peace negotiations suspended in December, here are some of the scenarios that could play out: ABBAS TALKS NOW


Did Clinton's Middle East message backfire?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


MARRAKESH, Morocco - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's message on Israel-Palestinian peace talks this weekend was not notably different than what President Barack Obama himself said in New York in September at a meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But the prevailing perception and coverage in the wake of Clinton's meetings in Israel and Abu Dhabi Saturday is that the U.S.


Jordan Valley may be hurdle in peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


The backhoes are busy on housing plots for this new Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley, and young families, under army guard and toting M-16s, have begun cultivating dozens of acres of land with dates, olives and other crops. To the south, a water pipeline from Jerusalem has let veteran farmers double the land irrigated for date trees to 9,000 acres, with a second pipeline and more farmland expansion planned.


Palestinians say new U.S. approach imperils peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


Palestinian officials on Sunday criticized the United States for what one called "backpedaling" on demands that Israel stop settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, saying the Obama administration's change of approach on the issue damaged the likelihood of a peace agreement. "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do the Palestinians have of reaching agreement" on the even more complex set of issues involved in final peace talks, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a written statement.


Clinton Asks Abbas to Return to Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Mark Landler - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


Dealing a blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to restart Middle East peace talks, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton failed Saturday to persuade the Palestinian leader to accept an Israeli proposal that would slow but not stop the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.


Israelis Arrest West Bank Settler in Attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


The Israeli police said Sunday that they had arrested a 37-year-old American immigrant, a West Bank settler, and charged him in an array of killings and terrorist attacks over the last 12 years, including the murders of two Palestinians, the bombing of a leftist Israeli professor’s home and the maiming of a 15-year-old boy who belongs to a community of Jews who believe in Jesus.



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