A new beginning for Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Ban Ki-Moon - March 1, 2009 - 1:00am The widespread destruction and suffering that marked the fighting in and around Gaza between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009 affected civilian populations of Gaza and southern Israel the worst. The people of Gaza, who have endured untold hardship for years, were subjected to still greater misery, leaving them to face an already uncertain future with greater anxiety and despair. I personally felt the extent of the indignities facing the people when I visited Gaza two days after the ceasefire had been declared and what I saw and heard left me deeply perturbed. » Read more

Israel Plans to Double Size of Settlements in Palestinian Territory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times by Sana Abdallah - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am One day before Hillary Clinton begins her maiden visit to Israel and the West Bank as the U.S. secretary of state, an Israeli peace group announced more settlement expansion plans on Palestinian territories, posing an even tougher challenge to the new American administration's peace endeavors. In a report released on Monday, Peace Now said the Israeli authorities have plans for 73,302 new housing units in Jewish settlements, which would double the number of settlers in the occupied territory and blow the chances for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. » Read more

Hope for Palestinian state recedes as both sides edge towards other options ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by James Hider - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am Hillary Clinton starts her first tour of the Middle East as Secretary of State today with a mandate to reinvigorate collapsed peace talks. She will find, however, that support for a two-state solution – the central plank in US-led efforts to tackle the crisis for almost two decades – is at a record low. Not only is it waning on the Israeli side, which is under the new leadership of the right-wing hawk Binyamin Netanyahu, but it is also collapsing among Palestinians, who increasingly view the Oslo peace process, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) that was formed under it, as dead. » Read more

Editor's Notes: From the West Bank to Teheran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Horovitz - February 26, 2009 - 1:00am Will the Obama administration urge Israel to halt settlement building, in order to help create a regional climate more conducive to pressuring Iran? It's not clear what had delayed the much-anticipated appointment of former Clinton administration special Middle East coordinator Dennis Ross, finally announced in mid-week, as the State Department's new point man on Iran. Actually, it's still not absolutely clear that Ross is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's point man on Iran, since he has formally been designated her "special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia." » Read more

Leading article: Blair's visit to Gaza opens a door that must not be closed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent March 2, 2009 - 1:00am Tony Blair's first visit to Gaza yesterday as envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, comprising the EU, America, the UN and Russia, could not have been more timely. Weeks after the end of Israel's 22-day military offensive in Gaza, the work of reconstruction is being held up by two separate, albeit related, issues. » Read more

Clinton's Mideast mission ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe March 2, 2009 - 1:00am AS HILLARY CLINTON begins her first diplomatic visit to the Middle East today in Egypt, the obstacles to peace in the region are daunting. But Palestinians and Israelis need a two-state peace agreement more desperately than ever. And America's need to forge such a peace is more acute than ever. If Clinton and the Obama administration's special envoy for the Mideast, George Mitchell, are to succeed at peacemaking, they will have to be patient but tough, aware of complexity but willing to cut through the excuses and sophistry of leaders in both camps. » Read more

Editorial: On the road to reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) March 2, 2009 - 1:00am In the aftermath of the Gaza tragedy, two silver linings, one political, the other economic, have appeared on the Palestinian horizon. Leaders of the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, now appear to be entering a new era of reconciliation after talks in Cairo, while today an international donors conference, also in the Egyptian capital, could come up with close to $3 billion in reconstruction aid badly needed by the Palestinians after Israel nearly totaled Gaza in January’s onslaught. » Read more

The end of innocence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - March 3, 2009 - 1:00am "Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East" is the title of Martin Indyk's book. In the book, Indyk, who served two terms as U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Bill Clinton administration, writes about the failure of the Middle East peace process. Those who interpreted Barack Obama's promises as a return to that type of "innocent" idealism are now discovering they were wrong. The new American administration has made it clear that its foreign policy will be everything but innocent, and it will be based on U.S. interests. » Read more

Peace Now: Israel planning 73,300 new homes in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Sara Miller - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am A report by the Israeli left-wing NGO Peace Now released Monday says that the government is planning to build more than 73,300 new housing units in the West Bank. Peace Now estimates that if all of the units are built, it would mean a 100-percent increase in the total number of Israeli settlers. The report says that some settlements, including the two largest Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim, would double in size. According to the report, approval has already been granted for the construction of 15,000 housing units, and is pending for a further 58,000 units. » Read more

Gaza donor conference: Who is pledging what ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 2, 2009 - 1:00am An international conference to help rebuild the Gaza Strip got underway Monday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Palestinian Authority had hoped to raise $2.78 billion in aid, including $1.33 billion to rebuild the coastal strip after Israel's three-week military offensive in January. Here are some of the pledges announced ahead of the one-day event. # Gulf Arab states plan to pledge $1.65 billion in aid over a period of up to five years. » Read more