ATFP Senior Fellow Speaks on Gaza Crisis at University of Costa Rica
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 31, 2009 - 1:00am

Washington, DC, Jan. 31 – ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish lectured at the University of Costa Rica Law School on Jan. 30 on the subject, “The Gaza Conflict: Summary and Future Impact.” Dr. Ibish told the audience of law students, faculty and diplomats that the Gaza conflict could be a turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but its effects would more likely be decided by events in the West Bank in the coming 12-24 months as Palestinians and other Arabs would be comparing the results of the competing policies of confrontation and negotiation.


Hamas wants new leadership for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - January 30, 2009 - 1:00am

The Islamist Hamas group is calling for new leadership for Palestinians to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) dominated by its arch-rival President Mahmoud Abbas and the factions loyal to him. Claiming victory in a devastating 22-day war with Israel in which 100 Palestinians were killed for every Israeli who died, the militant group is reasserting control over the enclave and resuming its central political challenge to the moderate Abbas.

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Post-Gaza Sea Change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - January 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel is just over a week away from elections so it is no surprise that its people are not focusing on whether or not the Gaza war was worth the price. Of course, the price was mostly paid by Gazans rather than by Israelis. It is infinitely easier for Israelis to forget about it, and move on, than for Palestinians.

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Analysis: A kinder, gentler sheriff
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - (Analysis) January 29, 2009 - 1:00am

US President Barack Obama spent his first week in office taking steps to signal to the nation and the world that the Bush administration is over. He ordered the Guantanamo military prison to close, the CIA to stop using controversial interrogation practices and environmental agencies to move toward stricter fuel efficiency.

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U.S. peace envoy rolls up his sleeves in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - January 29, 2009 - 1:00am

George J. Mitchell, the new U.S. envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Israel on Wednesday to begin testing his axiom that there's no such thing as a conflict that cannot be ended. Yet even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders offered ideas on how the Obama administration can help bring about peace, the prevailing mood on both sides was that their decades-old fight had become almost hopelessly deadlocked.

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America's election message
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) January 28, 2009 - 1:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama promised after his inauguration to pursue Middle East peace "actively and aggressively." Today, former U.S. senator George Mitchell arrives in Jerusalem for his first visit to the region as Obama's special envoy to the Middle East. His election-eve visit is intended to send Israeli voters and candidates the message that Obama means what he says and that the new administration will be judged by its contribution to bringing peace closer.

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Obama tells Al Arabiya peace talks should resume
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya
(Interview) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am

In his first interview since taking office, President Barack Obama told Arab satellite station Al Arabiya that Americans are not the enemy of the Muslim world and said Israel and the Palestinians should resume peace negotiations. “My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy,” Obama told Al Arabiya’s Hisham Melhem in an interview broadcast Tuesday morning.

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Bibi won't rule out Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - January 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and three quarters of the Likud's candidates declined to sign a loyalty oath ruling out a Palestinian state that was distributed to all the parties on the Right. The oath, distributed by the Matot Arim organization, included a vow not to lend a hand to the formation of a Palestinian state. The National Union, Habayit Hayehudi, Israel Beiteinu and Shas signed the document. Shas chairman Eli Yishai signed the document on behalf of his party. Meir Porush was the only United Torah Judaism MK who made the pledge.

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Abdullah II: The 5-State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am

In February 2002, I traveled to Saudi Arabia and interviewed the then crown prince, now king, Abdullah, at his Riyadh horse farm. I asked him why the next Arab summit wouldn’t just propose to Israel full peace and normalization of relations, by all 22 Arab states, for full withdrawal from all occupied lands and creation of a Palestinian state. Abdullah said that I had read his mind (“Have you broken into my desk?” he asked me) and that he was about to propose just that, which he later did, giving birth to the “Abdullah peace plan.”

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George Mitchell and the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Gerry Adams - (Opinion) January 27, 2009 - 1:00am

In the crowds of Washington's Union Station last week, I bumped into George Mitchell. We were both in the city for Barack Obama's inauguration, but at that point there was only speculation that George might be made US special envoy for the Middle East – it wasn't until I returned to Ireland that the appointment was confirmed.

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