Israel Rejects Easing Of West Bank Curbs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck - December 31, 2007 - 6:39pm Israel said on Sunday it would not ease restrictions on movement and access for Palestinians in the West Bank unless the Palestinian leadership moved more forcefully against armed groups threatening violence against Israelis. » Read more

Challenges 2007-2008: A Prime Minister Hangs On, Just About ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Peter Hirschberg - December 31, 2007 - 6:38pm At the start of 2007, it seemed that war would cost Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert his job. As he completed the year, still in office, the greatest threat to him staying there now seems to be the prospect of peace. » Read more

Jewish Agency Gives Boardroom Clout To Ally Of Evangelicals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Anthony Weiss - December 31, 2007 - 6:37pm About a decade ago, the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel refused to be photographed taking a check from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. This past week, the agency accepted a hefty donation from the evangelical-backed organization and offered Eckstein a seat on two of its most powerful committees. » Read more

Israeli Army, A National Melting Pot, Faces New Challenges In Training Officers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Steven Erlanger - December 31, 2007 - 6:36pm The young officer candidates, in uniforms and old American helmets, their M-16s slung over their shoulders, were blowing up balloons. Lilac, blue and red balloons. Then they attached them to targets. The balloons were “hostages,” they said. The point was to hit the target but not a hostage. Of course, since some of these young men and women were training for office jobs, their skills were not always so acute. They did not kill any hostages, but sometimes they did not hit the target, either, their bullets piercing the desert hills. » Read more

About That Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) December 31, 2007 - 6:35pm It didn’t take long for the glow of the Annapolis peace conference to wear off. Israelis and Palestinians have quickly fallen back into predictable destructive patterns. Arab countries have not done anywhere near enough to support the negotiations. Even the United States is behind on its pledges: because of bureaucratic wrangling and Israeli doubts, it has yet to establish a promised “mechanism” to monitor the two sides’ behavior and pressure them into meeting their commitments. » Read more

Olmert Curbs West Bank Building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - December 31, 2007 - 6:35pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has barred new construction work, building planning and occupancy tenders at West Bank settlements without his approval, documents show. The move is meant to bolster U.S.-backed peace talks, soured by disputes over Jewish settlement construction, ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush early next month. » Read more

Israel, Palestinians Seek Elusive Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Steven Gutkin - December 31, 2007 - 6:34pm In the afterglow of a high-profile peace conference, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will try in the coming year to resolve issues that have defied solutions for decades. For peace to work, Israel will have to give up most of the West Bank, Palestinians must agree to resettle refugees inside their own state and the two sides must share the holy city of Jerusalem. None of that will come easily _ and prospects for peace are hurt by the growing power of extremists and the weakness of leaders on both sides. » Read more

December 28th

2008, When We Need To Start Keeping Our Promises ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Kimche - December 28, 2007 - 4:46pm Ring out the old, ring in the new," wrote the renowned British poet, Lord Tennyson. "Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true... Ring out the thousand wars of old, ring in the thousand years of Peace." » Read more

What's The Hurry? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn And Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 4:45pm The Annapolis summit and the efforts to revive the peace process have exacerbated the tension that already existed between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Olmert's personal charm doesn't work on Rice, and the Prime Minister's Office is anxious about her tendency to push ahead too quickly with political contacts. » Read more

Reconciliation Begins In Prison ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) December 28, 2007 - 4:43pm "I came here today to extend a hand in peace to the Palestinian people and to our neighboring Arab states," the prime minister declared at the start of his speech at Annapolis on November 27. "I have no doubt that the reality created in our region in 1967 will change significantly," Ehud Olmert promised. He knows that "it will be as hard as Hell for some of those among us," but assured his listeners that "we are ready for it." » Read more