October 5th, 2007

Here We Go Again: Making Much Noise But Very Little Sense ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) October 5, 2007 - 4:10pm The US government announced a few days ago that anyone invited to a planned Middle East peace conference next month will have to abide by a set of conditions (without stating that those rules are largely written by the United States and Israel). A few days later, a Syrian government daily, Tishrin, charged that Washington seeks to destabilize the Middle East and said a US-sponsored conference was unlikely to make any progress toward peace. » Read more

Palestinians Struggle In Dire Straits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News by Martin Asser - October 5, 2007 - 4:07pm Hassan is 53, but the lines on his face suggest a man at least 20 years older; when asked to describe what his life is like he uses a single word: "al-mawt" (death). He is a charcoal-burner in the blackened, smoke-filled valleys around Yabad, in the northern West Bank. It takes two weeks of low-oxygen incineration to make charcoal from the carefully packed mounds of citrus wood covered in cinders. The burners must constantly tend the mounds, applying wet straw to maintain the temperature for producing charcoal. » Read more

Haidar Abdel Shafi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist October 5, 2007 - 4:05pm IN THE spring of 1948, around March as he remembered it, Haidar Abdel Shafi found himself at nightfall, waiting, in a small mud hut by the side of the main road in Deir al-Balah. Around him stretched groves of olive and orange trees. Palestine, in those days, was a community of peasants and landowners; a man was judged by how many trees he had. Haidar's father had had none, preferring—as he told the astonished neighbours—to save money for schooling his six children rather than buy plantations. » Read more

Ok, Here We Go, The Israel Lobby ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Prospectsforpeace.com by Daniel Levy - (Blog) October 5, 2007 - 4:02pm I have not commented thus far on the publication of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer book on the Israel lobby. The reason is simple – I agreed to review the book for Haaretz and so have waited for that to be published. Well the review came out yesterday in the monthly Haartetz book supplement and should be on the website any day (it is being delayed by the Succot holiday). I have though decided to post that review here below. (I will provide the Haaretz link once it’s available.) » Read more

J'accuse, Sort Of ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate by Michael Kinsley - (Opinion) October 5, 2007 - 3:56pm Rep. James P. Moran of Virginia, already a locally famous foot-in-mouther, went national last week by declaring at an anti-war rally that "if it was not for the strong support of the Jewish community," the war against Iraq would not be happening. He said that Jewish "leaders" are "influential enough" to reverse the policy "and I think they should." » Read more

Lobbying Degree Zero ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Daniel Lazare - (Opinion) October 5, 2007 - 3:51pm On March 23, 2006, John Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, published a lengthy article called "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books. Their thesis: a group of pro-Israel activists and propagandists is actively manipulating policy in Washington to benefit the Jewish state at the expense of the United States' national interests. » Read more

Bush Says 'very Optimistic' On Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 5, 2007 - 3:39pm President George W. Bush said in comments aired on Friday he was "very optimistic" a Palestinian state could be set up alongside Israel and that next month's Middle East conference could lead towards peace in the region. The U.S.-sponsored conference is due to take place in the Washington area in mid to late November, although there are doubts over how far it will go towards ending decades of conflict and uncertainty over which Arab states will attend. » Read more

On Stage In Jerusalem, Jewish And Arab Audiences Hear The Other Side Of The Story ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - October 5, 2007 - 3:21pm The characters: six Jerusalemites. The setting: the embattled city claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. The point: to get people listening to narratives they didn't think they wanted to hear. Jerusalem Stories is a series of dramatic monologues that are being performed in Jewish and Arab parts of the city, in Hebrew and in Arabic, with the aim of challenging audiences to empathize with the other side – or the "enemy," as many here would say. » Read more

Idea Raised Of Two Capitals In Jerusalems ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Barry Schweid - October 5, 2007 - 3:14pm Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Md. » Read more

October 4th

Ex-us Officals: Divide Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press October 4, 2007 - 3:02pm Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington. Hamas, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met US terms » Read more