January 26th

Obama's Messages to the Arabs: With the Two-State Solution and against the "Jordanian Option" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) January 23, 2009 - 1:00am When change came to the White House last Tuesday, as Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, this unique man took it upon himself to call for taking responsibility and "setting aside childish things", asserting that America during his presidency will not seek isolationism but will take the responsibility of world leadership. He extends his hand but only if the hand that meets it is not a clenched fist. » Read more

Hamas wants shorter truce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times January 26, 2009 - 1:00am Israel has proposed to Egyptian mediators an 18-month ceasefire with Hamas, but the Islamist group that controls Gaza said it wants a one-year ceasefire, a Hamas official said on Sunday. “Hamas listened to the Israeli proposal presented by [Israeli defence ministry official] Amos Gilad, and with it a proposal for a ceasefire for a year-and-a-half, but Hamas presented a counterproposal of one year only,” Ayman Taha told reporters in Cairo after talks with Egyptian intelligence officials. » Read more

EU aid chief in Gaza condemns Israel and Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press January 26, 2009 - 1:00am The EU's foreign aid chief visited Gaza on Monday and condemned its Islamist rulers Hamas for acting like "a terrorist movement", while criticizing Israel's offensive and appealing to the Jewish state to let in more aid. » Read more

Obama envoy expected in Middle East next week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Adam Entous, Arshad Mohammed - January 25, 2009 - 1:00am President Barack Obama plans to dispatch his Middle East envoy to the region next week, in a quick start to the new administration's efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and shore up a shaky Gaza truce. Obama has taken the Middle East by surprise with the speed of his diplomatic activism. Western, Arab and Israeli diplomats said his envoy, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, plans to meet leaders in Egypt, Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jordan, but they ruled out direct contacts with Hamas Islamists who rule the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Middle East envoy George Mitchell no stranger to conflicts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Henry Chu, Paul Richter - January 24, 2009 - 1:00am During a grinding 18-month stretch in the 1990s, U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell crossed the Atlantic more than 100 times in a dogged search for peace between Northern Ireland's Protestants and Catholics. Even though he had a Catholic upbringing, Mitchell convinced Protestant Unionists of his evenhandedness, eventually reaching the Good Friday agreement in 1998 to help settle the 800-year dispute. » Read more

This Is Not a Test ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) January 24, 2009 - 1:00am Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. “Guy walks into a bar ...” No, not that one — this one: “This is the most critical year ever for Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy. It is five minutes to midnight. If we don’t get diplomacy back on track soon, it will be the end of the two-state solution.” I’ve heard that line almost every year for the last 20, and I’ve never bought it. Well, today, I’m buying it. » Read more

Martyrs vs. Traitors myth gains currency in Gaza war's wake ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) January 25, 2009 - 1:00am The conflict in Gaza has the potential of becoming a transformative political event in the Middle East that allows Islamists to capture the Arab political imagination for at least a generation. Along with familiar appeals to religious and cultural "authenticity," and dubious claims regarding good governance and democracy, Islamists are beginning to consolidate an exclusive claim to the most powerful Arab political symbols: Palestine and nationalism. » Read more

The Bullets in My In-Box ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - January 24, 2009 - 1:00am Faisal Husseini, a Palestinian leader who died at the start of this decade, used to tell a story about his first visit to Israel. The 1967 war had just ended, borders were suddenly opened and he took a drive to Tel Aviv, where at some point he found himself detained by an Israeli policeman. Questions and answers ensued. At one point the policeman said to him, “As a proud Zionist, I must tell you ....” At which Mr. Husseini burst out laughing. » Read more

A Flurry of Tunnel Repairs Is Underway in Gaza's South ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jonathan Finer - January 25, 2009 - 1:00am While the neighborhoods of Gaza remain in ruins, and tens of thousands of residents still lack water and power, reconstruction of its more illicit infrastructure was well underway Saturday in this bustling town on the Egyptian border. A Caterpillar backhoe bored into the sandy earth. Generators rumbled under the cover of tattered white tents. And above and below ground, teams of workers set about restoring the warren of smuggling tunnels that the Israeli air assault had sought to destroy. » Read more

January 23rd

At Last, an Honest Broker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by M.J. Rosenberg - January 23, 2009 - 1:00am Hopefully, George Mitchell’s tenure as special envoy to the Middle East will turn out to be a case of what Yogi Berra would call, “deja vu all over again.” Specifically, we could use a repeat of May 9, 2007, which was the highlight of Mitchell’s career thus far. That was the day that the conflict over Northern Ireland, which began in the twelfth century (and in which 3,500 people had been killed since 1966) ended. It was the day when Protestant leader Reverend Ian Paisley joined former senior IRA commander Martin McGuiness in a power-sharing Catholic-Protestant unity government. » Read more