UN Chief: Mideast conflict worsening amid stalled talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 22, 2010 - 1:00am


United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon on Thursday urged Palestinians and Israelis to resume peace negotiations, declaring that failure to do so could destroy any chances of progress. "In the absence of talks, confidence between the parties has diminished," the UN chief said at a meeting of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in New York.


Erekat: Israel imposing 1-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 22, 2010 - 1:00am


Bethlehem - Ma'an - Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat on Thursday blasted statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would never withdraw from eastern areas of the occupied West Bank. Erekat termed the statements a direct challenge to the international community, casting Israel’s readiness for peace further into doubt, by imposing further conditions on negotiations and announcing Israel's intention to continue its occupation irrespective of the outcome.


Dweik: Hamas doesn't recognize Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 22, 2010 - 1:00am


Bethlehem – Ma'an – Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Aziz Dweik on Thursday denied reports by Israeli news outlets that he said on Wednesday Israel has a right to exist. "The media reports in question were inaccurate," he said in a statement, adding that since his release from an Israeli prison last year, Israeli news outlets have repeatedly misrepresented his views.


Hamas government: Don`t call us `deposed`
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 22, 2010 - 1:00am


Gaza – Ma'an – The Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip issued an appeal to the media on Thursday, asking editors not to describe it as the al-muqalah government, translated as "dismissed" or "deposed." While Ma'an English describes the government in Gaza as the "de facto government," most local and international Arabic news agencies use the "dismissed" or "deposed" to describe the technical position of the Hamas-lead authority.


In Israel, Mitchell presses on with patience honed in N. Ireland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am


US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived here Thursday for a new round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks, amid President Obama’s admission that he had been too optimistic about the prospects for peace. Mr. Mitchell, here for the first time since last November, met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv and was scheduled to hold talks later Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and on Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.


For Israelis, Mixed Feelings on Aid Effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am


JERUSALEM — The editorial cartoon in Thursday’s mass-circulation Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot showed American soldiers digging among the ruins of Haiti. From within the rubble, a voice calls out, “Would you mind checking to see if the Israelis are available?”


US envoy meets Abbas amid pessimism over peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
by Nasser Abu Bakr - January 22, 2010 - 1:00am


RAMALLAH, West Bank — US envoy George Mitchell met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday to push Middle East peace efforts despite President Barack Obama's admission that his drive for a deal may have been overambitious. Mitchell's talks in Ramallah, the political capital of the occupied West Bank, came a day after meetings with the Israeli government and talks in Syria and Lebanon, two countries the envoy said should play a key role in achieving a comprehensive Middle East peace deal.



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