Obama-Netanyahu talks see no result
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

The latest attempt by the US president to salvage the Middle East peace talks appears to have come to nothing after his meeting with Israel's prime minister ended with only a brief statement from the White House. Binyamin Netanyahu left the White House on Monday after spending an hour and forty minutes inside with Barack Obama, without making the customary public appearance with his host. A brief White House statement said that the two leaders discussed a number of bilateral issues, including Iran and "how to move forward on Middle East peace".

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Abbas isn't finished just yet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Sami Moubayed - (Opinion) November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

The last thing Mahmoud Abbas needed was a pat on the back from his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres, shortly after announcing that he would not seek another term as president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

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A Chronicle of Gaza, in Kitsch Form
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dan Williams - November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

“I can offer you a discount on the headbands,” said Tareq Abu Dayyeh, souvenir-store owner. “They’re just like the kind used by suicide bombers.” He was making a sales pitch at his Chairman Arafat Shop, one of Gaza’s oddest commercial outlets. A battery-powered, dancing Osama bin Laden doll occupies a shelf above Barack Obama coffee mugs emblazoned with a misspelling of the U.S. president’s middle name: “Abu Hussain Palestine Loves You.” A plastic Virgin Mary and Jordan River holy water share space with plaques depicting the Dome of the Rock, the foremost Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

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Hamas said to ban Arafat death commemorations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

The Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza has banned all public commemoration of Yasser Arafat's death this year, officials with the rival secular Fatah group said on Tuesday. Wednesday will mark five years since Arafat, the revered Palestinian leader and founder of Fatah, died in a Paris military hospital at the age of 75. "The (Hamas) internal security forces have summoned dozens members of the (Fatah) movement in the Gaza Strip to tell them that all commemoration of Abu Ammar's (Arafat's) death has been banned," a senior Fatah official told AFP.

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Abbas may quit Fatah, PLO posts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas is considering resigning from his roles on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee and the Fatah Central Committee, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday. The sources, who spoke on the condition that their names be withheld, also said that Abbas’ announcement last week that he will not seek reelection as president was a serious decision and not a political maneuver as analysts have said. Abbas is also waiting for the appropriate moment to announce his resignation from the PLO and Fatah governing bodies, the sources added.

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Blair: Abbas leaving office due to frustration over stalled peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

The United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Tony Blair, said Tuesday that he believed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' decision not to seek re-election was a reflection of deep frustration regarding the slow pace of peace negotiations. Speaking to Army Radio while on a visit to Jerusalem, Blair called Abbas a man of peace, and said he worried the decision would harm any chance of toppling Hamas' power in the Gaza Strip. "People are impatient to get into the negotiation regarding the Palestinian and Israeli states," Blair told Army Radio.

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How Will the Palestinians Survive without Mahmoud Abbas?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

We must not forget that the Palestinian president – no matter who he might be – is an important figure not just for the West Bank, but for the entire Arab world. This is because the Palestinian President is the guardian of the most important cause – the Palestinian Cause – and therefore possesses exceptional [political] legitimacy in the Middle East's political arena. Therefore the issue that we are facing is one that concerns everybody.

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Palestinian leaders foresee bleak future
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

It must be assumed that the discussion at the somewhat reluctantly and hastily arranged meeting in Washington last night between Barack Obama, the US president, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, would have focused almost exclusively on the future of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

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The partner who had no partner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ephraim Sneh - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

In announcing last week that he would not run for reelection as president of the Palestinian Authority, in effect Mahmoud Abbas is also stepping down from his unofficial position as leader of the dialogue with Israel-"our partner" as we say here.

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Abbas's mixed messages
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The recent announcement by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that he would not seek a second term in office or run in elections has prompted considerable speculation, even confusion, around the world. His decisions contains much ambiguity while conveying different messages to different parties at the same time.

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