Between a rock and a hard place
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

It is almost impossible to adequately convey the present degree of Palestinian despair but the recent announcement that President Mahmoud Abbas might resign and that the rest of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership may follow – in effect dissolving the PA – should provide some indication.This seems to many to be the only real remaining weapon the Palestinian leadership has, albeit something of a doomsday scenario. Abbas and the others clearly feel all their other options have been systematically foreclosed.

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A Mideast Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

I’ve grown so pessimistic about Israel-Palestine that I find myself agreeing with Israel’s hard-line foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman: “Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict simply doesn’t understand the situation and spreads delusions.” That’s the lesson of early Obama. The president tried to rekindle peace talks by confronting Israel on settlements, coaxing Palestinians to resume negotiations, and reaching out to the Muslim world. The effort has failed.

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Abbas must unilaterally declare Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

It is precisely now that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must not give up hope, and not because of the sweet nothings that Shimon Peres uttered at the rally in the square last Saturday night about people giving up hope in Ramallah. As if at the President's Residence every day is Carnaval, and not only when he's packing his bags for his trip to Brazil.

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Abbas sets out strict peace talk program at Arafat memorial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Ramallah – Ma’an – "I will make decisions as the situation develops," President Mahmoud Abbas told thousands marking the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death on Wednesday, referring to his political future and role in the Palestinian Authority. Speaking from the presidential compound in Ramallah, Abbas laid out for the assembled crowd the parameters of his political program, which seemingly leaves little room for movement unless progress comes from other sides.

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Washington Insider: "Politics always interferes with policy"
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Media Line - November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Dr Ziad J Asali, founder and president of the American Task Force on Palestine, in conversation with Michael Friedson, executive editor of The Media Line News Agency. Dr. Ziad J. Asali is the president and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, an organization that in a few short years has made a strong presence in Washington and Capitol Hill speaking on behalf of the Palestinian people. Dr. Asali was interviewed at The American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem by The Media Line’s Executive Editor Michael Friedson.

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Declaring a state? Palestinian leaders weigh in
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian National Council proclaimed the establishment of a Palestinian state during a meeting in Algiers on 15 November 1988. Like the declaration of a Palestinian state in Gaza in 1948 amidst the war with the nascent Israeli state, the 1988 declaration has little practical meaning today. For whatever reason, recent media speculation has raised the notion that Palestinian leaders could make another such declaration in the current political climate.

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Fayyad plan for Palestinian state is risky
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI)
(Analysis) November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has a plan to establish a de facto Palestinian state in the West Bank by 2011, throwing 16 years of futile peacemaking out the window. This is a risky business because it frightens the Israelis as well as his Palestinian opponents. When Fayyad first unveiled his plans in August, U.S. President Barack Obama's administration gave it the green light and deposited $200 million into the Palestinian Authority's treasury, which Fayyad controls.

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Washington disappointed: Netanyahu didn't present concrete steps
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The White House expressed disappointment in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to Washington, with officials saying that they had hoped that the prime minister would present a concrete plan to scale back Israeli construction in West Bank settlements, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

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Comment / Obama's good intentions lead nowhere
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Avineri - (Opinion) November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

After nine months of gestation, it's not too early to make a preliminary assessment of the Obama administration's foreign policy. The overall feeling is one of disappointment, especially in light of the almost messianic excitement that accompanied his election. It's clear to everyone that U.S. President Barack Obama is not George W. Bush, and the international mood regarding the United States has certainly changed for the better, even in the absence of any real breakthroughs. This is why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Top Obama aide upbeat on Middle East peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Steven Stanek - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

Even as US-backed peace efforts in the Middle East appear to be losing momentum, the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, told American Jewish community leaders yesterday that the peace process has reached a critical juncture and that both sides should move forward immediately with negotiations. “This moment is fragile. History tells us that nothing stands still in the Middle East,” Mr Emanuel, the son of an Israeli Jew, told the annual gathering of the Jewish Federations of North America, an umbrella group of more than 500 Jewish federations and communities.

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