Jerusalem: “sharing” Not “dividing”
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) October 19, 2007 - 4:34pm

Here is the only thing you need to know about Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s plan to divide Jerusalem: there is no such plan. There never was one and it is safe to say that there will never be one. Nor is there a plan by any other Israeli leader to divide Jerusalem. Additionally, neither Mahmoud Abbas nor the Palestinian Authority he heads favors the division of Jerusalem. From Olmert to Ramon to Beilin to Abbas and Fayyad, there is not a single proposal to divide the city. So what is all the yelling about?

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Peace And Archaeology In The Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Prospect
(Special Report) October 19, 2007 - 4:20pm

The sign caught my eye: It held far more than the intended meaning. It hung on a corrugated metal fence in the antiquities park that faces the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, and it said:

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Time To Intervene, Frankly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Opinion) October 18, 2007 - 5:44pm

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is right to say that, “frankly, it’s time for a Palestinian state”. She’s also right to go visit the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. She’s going to need all the help she can get.

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Jerusalem Is Ours, Warns Likud
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - October 17, 2007 - 10:48am

The right wing Israeli opposition party Likud led by Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday warned the government against compromising on the status of Jerusalem in current talks with Palestinian negotiators. Zalman Shoval, head of the foreign affairs department of Likud, said yesterday that the issue of Jerusalem should "not be on the table in any way" at the planned international conference in Annapolis, Maryland later in the yea—the basis of which he sharply criticized.

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Palestinians Launch First Census In A Decade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Rebecca Harrison - October 17, 2007 - 10:39am

Palestinians launched their first census in a decade on Wednesday, visiting thousands of homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the hope of boosting their bid for an independent state. About 1,000 officials spread out across towns in Palestinian territories, drawing blue and red numbers on homes and offices ahead of a head count in December. The colorful markings will be used later to help count communities more easily.

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Rice Draws On 'spiritual Passion' In Push For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Michael Abramowitz, Scott Wilson - (Editorial) October 17, 2007 - 10:37am

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice broke away from her diplomatic meetings here to sit down with the top religious leaders -- Christian, Jewish and Muslim -- of this holy city Monday night. According to people present, she heard about the failure of Israeli authorities to recognize the Greek Orthodox patriarch, a top Muslim cleric's lack of access to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque and other complaints.

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Us 'wants Palestinian State Now'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
October 16, 2007 - 12:48pm

The US secretary of state has said it is time for a Palestinian state to be founded, and that the US will put its full weight behind such efforts. Condoleezza Rice said reaching a two-state solution was a priority for her and US President George Bush. Ms Rice was speaking from the West Bank, where she has been trying to get agreement for a peace summit in the US. Meanwhile the Israeli PM has hinted he may consider giving up Palestinian districts in Jerusalem in a peace deal.

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Rice Hints At Timing Of Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Lee Myers - October 16, 2007 - 12:24pm

It has officially been a secret of American diplomacy, if not a particularly well-kept one: the time and place of the international conference called by President Bush to begin negotiating peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.   Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday lifted the secrecy and, perhaps, nudged the process forward.

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Only Bush Can
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 15, 2007 - 3:41pm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists that the Annapolis declaration will detail the principles of the permanent settlement, so yesterday's newspaper headlines proclaimed. Prior to her arrival in the region, her aides had said that the United States would not issue invitations to the peace conference before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas succeed in drafting a clear and mutually agreed upon document. In practice, this means that the peace summit initiated by President George W. Bush will not convene next month. Nor next year.

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Declarations Of A United Jerusalem Are Just Empty Slogans In A De Facto Divided Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) October 15, 2007 - 3:39pm

Two weeks ago a young journalist, Daniel Ofir, reported a story on "Hot News" that ought to have created quite a storm: The Palestinian Authority is paving a highway inside Israel's sovereign territory in "united" Jerusalem, our eternal capital. The highway begins in the Atarot area and passes through the Kafr Akab neighborhood in Jerusalem along 2.6 kilometers inside the sovereign territory of united Jerusalem, and ends in Ramallah.

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