Squandering the Moment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Unless something happens soon, Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs may squander the best chance for Middle East peace in nearly a decade. President Obama is committed to serious negotiations and, for now, there is a lull in regional violence. But all of the region’s major players are refusing to do what is needed to keep their own people safe and move the peace process forward. Mr. Obama has called on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to freeze all settlement construction as a way to demonstrate his government’s commitment to trading land for peace.


Mitchell hopes to wring concessions on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Washington's special Mideast envoy launched a last-ditch push Tuesday to wring an Israeli promise to curtail settlement construction and persuade the Palestinians to attend a high-profile U.S. meeting meant as a prelude to peacemaking.


Optimism over Mitchell's Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Irish Times
by Michael Jansen - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


PALESTINIAN CABINET ministers in the West Bank yesterday expressed public optimism about United States envoy George Mitchell’s efforts to start peace talks with Israel, despite yawning differences between the two sides. In separate meetings today with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Mr Mitchell will seek to persuade the two men to meet in New York on the fringes of next week’s UN General Assembly.


Peres met Erekat in Jerusalem over peace talks; PA firm in stance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Israeli President Shimon Peres reportedly met with Chief Negotiator for the PLO Saeb Erekat last week in what Israeli press called an “effort to ease the way toward a tripartite meeting at the UN.”


Mitchell, Netanyahu fail to agree on settlement halt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis, Barak Ravid - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Israel and the United States failed Tuesday to reach a compromise on the contentious issue of West Bank settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for two hours in Jerusalem with U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. The meeting ended with no results. The prime minister's bureau released a statement to the press describing the sit-down as "good." The two men will resume their discussions in Netanyahu's office Thursday morning.


Fatah to Haaretz: No settlement freeze, no talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) will meet Tuesday afternoon with the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. The two will discuss the prospect of renewing talks between the PA and Israel and the possibility of Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Netanyahu was supposed to have met Mitchell Monday, but postponed the meeting to today to take part in the funeral of Capt. Asaf Ramon, son of Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon.


Saudi Arabia: "Peace Built on Confidence-Building Measures Will Not Succeed"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


In a response to a letter from the United States Congress to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud urging the kingdom to make a dramatic gesture towards Israel as a confidence building measure to promote peace, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel A. Al-Jubeir reiterated Saudi Arabia's position that an incremental approach to peace, or one built on confidence-building measures, will not succeed. “It has not succeeded over the past three decades and, we believe, will not succeed today.”


Editorial: It’s time for action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Opinion) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Egypt has been quietly negotiating between Israel and Hamas for the release of Hamas prisoners held by Israel and also for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006. A deal appears imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was also in the Egyptian capital a few days earlier and is expected there again this week. Neither of the two men would have turned up there if there were still a mountain of details to climb.


Artists deny calling for TIFF boycott over Tel Aviv series
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CTV News
by Cassandra Szklarski - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Artists angered by a spotlight on Israeli films at the Toronto International Film Festival insisted Monday they are not calling for a boycott as they continued to draw the ire of a growing list of celebrity critics. Filmmakers including Toronto's John Greyson, Elle Flanders and Palestinian-Israeli director Elia Sulieman held a press conference to refute charges they were blacklisting the festival's "City to City" program and its participants.


US envoy has hopes for settlement deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am


George Mitchell, the top US envoy to the Middle East, said yesterday that he hoped to conclude an agreement with Israel on a possible freeze of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank this week to help spur the renewal of peace talks. Mr Mitchell, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, said after a meeting with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president: “While we have not yet reached agreement on many outstanding issues, we are working hard to do so, and indeed the purpose of my visit here this week is an attempt to do so.”



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