Netanyahu and Abbas to Begin Direct Mideast Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper - September 2, 2010 - 12:00am


The Israeli and Palestinian leaders were to open direct peace negotiations Thursday after committing to work to end the conflict that has endured for six decades.


Settlers defy peace talks with new construction across West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
September 2, 2010 - 12:00am


Hours before peace talks were set to begin in Washington, Jewish settlers defiantly announced plans on Thursday to launch new construction in their West Bank enclaves in a test of strength with Palestinian Islamists. Naftali Bennett, director of the settlers' Yesha council, said settlers would begin building homes and public structures in at least 80 settlements, breaking a partial government freeze on building that ends on September 26.


The quest for peace begins again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Matt Bradley, Sharmila Devi, Omar Karmi - September 2, 2010 - 12:00am


Against a backdrop of almost universal pessimism about its chances of success, and threats by settlers to restart construction in the West Bank, the US president Barack Obama yesterday launched Washington’s third effort in a decade to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The formal resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations after a 20-month hiatus will take place today at the US state department in Washington.


Contested Settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Hussein Ibish - (Analysis) September 2, 2010 - 12:00am


Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories has proved to be among the most serious irritants in the U.S.-Israel relationship. It is also one of the most significant obstacles to a negotiated settlement.


Netanyahu and Abbas to Begin Direct Mideast Peace Talks
Media Mention of ATFP In The New York Times - September 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders were to open direct peace negotiations Thursday after committing to work to end the conflict that has endured for six decades.


In the shadow of attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Nahum Barnea - (Opinion) September 1, 2010 - 12:00am


Last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu experienced something that happened to many of his predecessors before, and to him too in his previous term as prime minister: He boarded a plane in a relatively peaceful state, but when he landed, the news of a murderous terror attack landed along with him. He boarded the plane in a certain mood, and disembarked from it in a wholly different mood.


Israeli Peace Effort Rests on Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - September 1, 2010 - 12:00am


David Rubinger, one of Israel’s best-known photojournalists and a man firmly on the political left, cast his ballot last year for Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister, the first time he had ever voted for the right-leaning Likud Party. “The left wants to make peace but cannot, while the right doesn’t want to but, if forced to, can do it,” he said in an interview. “So last year I decided to vote not with my heart but with my head.”


Negotiating With the Israeli Settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Amjad Atallah, Michele Dunne, Yossi Klein Halevi, Rashid Khalidi, Menachem Klein, David Newman - (Opinion) September 1, 2010 - 12:00am


David Newman The killing of four West Bank settlers on Tuesday was the last thing that Prime Minister Netanyahu needed immediately prior to the opening of talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington. Netanyahu is under intense pressure from all sides. The Obama administration, supported by Israel’s left wing opposition, wants him to make real concessions, including a continuation of the settlement freeze which has been in place for the past ten months and which ends on Sept. 26.


Barack Obama seeks peace within a year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Carrie Budoff Brown, Laura Rozen - September 1, 2010 - 12:00am


President Barack Obama opened the first round of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Wednesday in nearly two years by challenging Mideast leaders to put aside decades of antagonism and reach a peace accord within the next year. "Do we have the wisdom and the courage to walk the path of peace?" Obama asked, standing alongside leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians in the East Room of the White House.


As Mideast talks begin, Palestinians find unlikely support from Jewish settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Danielle Cheslow - September 1, 2010 - 12:00am


As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington this week, he carried with him a mix of hopes and fears about what the renewal of Mideast talks would – or should – bring. One of the more unusual proposals came from Rabbi Menachem Froman: In order to move negotiations forward in an amiable atmosphere, why not send a delegation of rabbis to the West Bank to wish Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people long life?



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