Israel blocks rights groups from advocating for Gazans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - September 24, 2009 - 12:00am


While the Israeli army's crossings into Gaza have gone into near-lockdown mode since Hamas wrested control of the coastal strip more than two years ago, Israeli human rights organizations have regularly stepped in to intervene, with some success. That is, until last week. On Sunday, a group of the most active human rights groups here were informed that the government-run body that controls access to and from Gaza will no longer deal with them.


Think Again: Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Zahi Khouri - (Opinion) September 25, 2009 - 12:00am


"Economic Peace Is Possible." No. Neither sustainable economic development nor peace is possible without political freedom.


Toward peace in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Aaron David Miller - (Analysis) September 25, 2009 - 12:00am


Watching Tuesday's three-way meeting in New York between President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas -- and the administration's effort to spin it into a success -- reminded me that when breakthroughs in Arab-Israeli peacemaking come, they come with unforeseen and unpredictable urgency driven by big men and big events.


Palestinians rule out talks until total settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Harvey Morris - September 25, 2009 - 12:00am


The Palestinian leadership yesterday ruled out a future meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, unless he met demands for a total freeze on Jewish settlements, in a setback for President Barack Obama's troubled efforts to relaunch peace negotiations. Riyad al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority foreign minister, told reporters: "No one is talking about a new meeting" between Mr Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president.


U.S. officials: Middle East talks on track
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen, Ben Smith - September 25, 2009 - 12:00am


Reacting to the tepid response to this week's attempt by President Obama to jumpstart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, two senior U.S. officials made the case Thursday that critics are obsessing over marginal obstacles while the sides move slowly but surely toward the negotiating table.


Palestinians want peace deal but don't reject Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 25, 2009 - 12:00am


Most Palestinians who want a state of their own would like to achieve it through a peace deal with Israel but there is still substantial support for the Islamist Hamas group which favors resistance, according to a new opinion poll. The survey by New York pollsters Charney research for the New York-based International Peace Institute (IPI) was carried out over the summer in Gaza, where Hamas rules, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, under the authority of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement.


IPI Poll: Palestinians Support 2-State Peace Plan, Fatah, Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Peace Institute
September 24, 2009 - 12:00am


The poll reveals major changes in attitudes since 2000, when Palestinians rejected compromises proposed at the Camp David summit with Israel, and the 2006 Palestinian elections, when Fatah was defeated by the Islamist Hamas party.



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