'The Freeze' is just another scene in Israel's masquerade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Like every production, be it a flop or a hit, the future of this show will also be decided by the audience. In the meantime, as the first act shifts into high gear, the viewers are yawning. The government and the settlers are proud to introduce "The Freeze," a show in which both sides play - in quite unconvincing fashion - already scripted parts. During the first act, no real, historic edict has been issued. Rather, these decrees are just props. Thus, nobody will evacuate one balcony in the final scene.

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Editorial: Fayyad’s plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Both the Palestinian and Israeli public have taken great interest in the plan by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad proposing the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state within two years, and taking the case to the UN Security Council for recognition of the prospective state. The expected response, by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been to warn against any unilateral steps by the Palestinians.

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Critics of Mr Abbas are rarely a logical or loyal opposition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

It isn’t difficult to grasp why the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, elicits such tepidness. Judged by the dual benchmarks of charisma and political success, he fails on both counts. To many people he seems a man out of touch with his people’s revolutionary situation.

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The mission: Saving Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Alex Fishman - (Opinion) November 26, 2009 - 1:00am

The construction freeze in the settlements is yet another oxygen tank en route to reviving the “diplomatic horizon,” without which we shall see the Palestinian Authority increasingly disintegrating. This is not about getting sentimental with Abbas or a sudden love story between the Israeli government and the diplomatic process. Even the tough “ideologists” within the cabinet realized Wednesday that there is no other choice, and that every effort must be made in order to preserve regional stability, even for a limited time. The Palestinian Authority must not collapse.

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Palestinian Affairs: Abbas's angst
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - November 26, 2009 - 1:00am

Amid reports of significant progress in mediation efforts to achieve a prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Authority convened a conference in Jericho earlier this week to highlight the case of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Obviously, the PA leadership in the West Bank was hoping that the conference would divert attention from reports about an impending deal between Israel and Hamas. To achieve its goal, the PA dispatched Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to address the conference.

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Mahmoud Abbas, the Mideast's big loser
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) November 25, 2009 - 1:00am

There are reports of a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for captured Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit. This is welcome news because the Islamic militant group Hamas has held the 23-year-old soldier as a human pawn, virtually incommunicado, since his capture on the Gaza Strip border in June 2006.

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As the enemy sees us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Hassan Al-Battal - November 24, 2009 - 1:00am

Who is this man, this “dour official leading a revolutionary cultural change?” Salam Fayyad is not always formal, though mostly to be seen wearing a necktie. He did, however, wear shorts and ran in the handicap marathon in Nablus. And what are these “revolutionary cultural changes” as perceived by certain deep Israeli analyses, but dismissed as irrelevant by other Israeli analysts? According to Dr. Einat Wilf of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, Israel would do itself a favor if it took Mr. Fayyad seriously. Why?

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Exclusive Sit-Down with Palestinian P.M.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Fox News
by Michael Tobin - (Blog) November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

The proposals of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salem Fayyad seem simple and obvious from a Western Perspective; build the institutions of a working Palestinian government first, make the move for statehood second. However, coming from a population that has focused for decades on the conflict with Israel, his proposals are radical.

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Obama's Middle East Strategy Stalls
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Voice of America - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

From the beginning of his administration, U.S. President Barack Obama said resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be a top foreign policy priority. After nearly 10 months of diplomacy, however, the peace process appears to be stalled and no negotiations are on the horizon. Some Middle East analysts say the failure to make progress is due, at least in part, to missteps made by the Obama administration. Last January, on his second full day in office, President Obama named a special envoy to the Middle East as part of an effort to rejuvenate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

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Young Seek to End West Bank and Gaza Schism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm

Young Palestinians watching the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the region have no shortage of their own protest-worthy causes. Palestinian youths took to the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank to call for unity between Hamas and Fatah.

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