Mubarak, Abdullah, Abbas Discuss Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - April 3, 2008 - 5:33pm

  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held a meeting on Wednesday in Cairo, in which Jordan's King Abdullah II, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took part. The three discussed a number of issues, including the progress of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the outcomes of the recent Arab summit, which was concluded in Damascus on Sunday. 

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Adrift In The Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) April 3, 2008 - 5:17pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s latest trip to Israel and Jordan came at a time when anger and frustration among ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are building to dangerous levels. This was a moment for American leadership and direction. Unfortunately, the moment was once again allowed to slip away. Surely, Ms. Rice understands that Woody Allen’s “80 percent of success is showing up” does not apply to the deadly serious business of Middle East peacemaking.

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Rice Misses The Obvious In Peace-making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 2, 2008 - 6:37pm

It is hard to tell if US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is being deliberately innocent and juvenile, or, as the highest American foreign policy official, she is genetically incapable of being honest when it comes to Palestinian-Israeli issues. There is now only one real test of progress, or criterion of political seriousness, in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the short term: Can the United States make Israel stop expanding its settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories?

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Tiny Party Shows Large Clout On Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Griff Witte - April 2, 2008 - 6:27pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Israel on Monday having failed to persuade leaders here to halt settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land. But the setback for Rice was a victory for Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Within hours of Rice's departure, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was on the phone with Yossef to tell him that plans for building 800 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit had been approved, according to two Shas officials, just as Shas had requested.

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Remarks at the University of Jordan
Speech by Ziad Asali at University of Jordan - March 30, 2008 - 12:00am

The last few years have witnessed a significant development in US foreign policy regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In addition to the longstanding strategic US commitment to Israel, the creation of a Palestinian state has now become a constant in the definition of US interests in the Middle East. While previous Administrations have embarked on peace making since the early 90’s, it was only recently recognized that a Palestinian state is not only desirable but necessary.

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Drive Slowly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) March 27, 2008 - 6:58pm

U.S. President George Bush is finishing his tenure in office precisely as he began it: still determined not to repeat the mistakes of the previous administration, that of Bill Clinton. In 2000 this determination had one face: stopping over-investment in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Bush saw his predecessor buried under the rubble of Camp David and found no reason to retrace that same path. On February 9, 2001, the Bush administration announced that the Clinton proposals during that failed summit "were no longer United States proposals."

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Turning Words Into Concrete Actions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress
by Brigadier General (ret.) Ilan Paz - (Interview) March 27, 2008 - 12:17pm

Q: What is your current assessment of the Israel-Palestinian track since the Annapolis conference?

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The Peace Process Will Be Weakened
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by David Brodet - (Opinion) March 27, 2008 - 12:15pm

The economic crisis we are currently experiencing appears to be extreme, largely because it really comprises three major simultaneous and interlocking crises. The first is a complex financial crisis in the American capital market. The second is a prolonged macro-economic crisis in the United States that began several years ago and affects global currency exchange rates. And the third is the extreme rise in oil prices.

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Abbas: Talks With Israel Touch On All Core Issues Including J'lem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 27, 2008 - 12:05pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are tackling "all the core issues without exception: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, and security." "We hope to achieve a settlement in 2008, there are many obstacles but we hope they will be removed. We are all pressing to reach a settlement by the target date," Abbas said.

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We Heard You, Mr. Boim
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Kadura Fares - (Opinion) March 27, 2008 - 12:03pm

Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim explained away the construction of 750 new housing units in the settlement of Givat Ze'ev by saying that the permits had been issued in 1999, but that construction had stopped due to, as he put it, the "outbreak of violence." That is, the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising. According to Boim, the contractors went to court, and as a result of their petition, the government ordered the construction's approval. Boim was talking, it seems to me, to Israelis and overseas leaders critical of the renewed construction.

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