Olmert: I'm Unsure Peace Deal With Pa Possible In 2008
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 26, 2008 - 7:06pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that he is not certain Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be able to reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008, as they committed themselves to doing in the November U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference. "We have a desire to reach an agreement within the year 2008," Olmert told a business conference in Tokyo, where he is making his first visit as prime minister. "I am not sure we will make it, but we are determined to make a giant step forward to end this dispute once and for all."

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Israeli Pm Seeks To Reach Agreement With Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
February 26, 2008 - 7:00pm

Tokyo: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday he would make every effort to reach an agreement with Palestinians that would lead to a two-state solution resolving decades-old conflict. "In these days we are making exceptional efforts to conclude all differences with our neighbours and to resolve outstanding disputes with our Palestinian neighbours," Olmert told a business conference in Tokyo, where he is making his first visit as Prime Minister.

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Un: Israel, Pa, Egypt Must Find New Strategy To End Gaza Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur
February 26, 2008 - 6:54pm

The United Nations urged Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt on Tuesday to develop a new strategy aimed at ending the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip. Quartet members and parties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been told by the UN to actively pursue a "positive strategy" to end rocket firing and suicide attacks against Israel and meet Gazans' humanitarian needs, the UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, told the UN Security Council in a public meeting.

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Israel Sees Progress In Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al Jazeera English
February 25, 2008 - 7:29pm

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed to build teams of government experts in an effort to boost peace talks, according to an Israeli official.   The teams will examine issues including security, trade and water use, Arye Mekel, Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, said on Sunday. bodyVariable350="Htmlphcontrol1_lblError";  

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In Israel, Some See No Option But War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Griff Witte - February 25, 2008 - 7:21pm

Aharon Peretz has spent most of his 51 years in this cactus-fringed, working-class town, and he would like to stay. But his wife and six children feel differently: Daily retreats to the basement during rocket strikes from the nearby Gaza Strip have frayed their nerves, and an attack that cost an uncle both his legs has convinced them it's time to go. Peace will return for his family, Peretz has decided, only if Israel chooses to go to war with his neighbors.

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Israel Extends Closure Of Palestinian Offices In East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
February 22, 2008 - 4:22pm

Israel is keeping Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem shut tight, despite its pledge to reopen them under a recently revived peace blueprint, Palestinian officials said yesterday. This month, the officials said, Israel renewed its order to close the Orient House, the city ‘s Arab Chamber of Commerce and other heavily symbolic buildings that are a rallying point for the Palestinians’ claims to Jerusalem’s eastern sector as capital of a future state.

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Analysis: Threats Of Unilateral Independence Rocks Sleepy Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - February 21, 2008 - 7:28pm

For a minute it seemed that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the media focus surrounding it, were shaken awake. Following three sleepy months since the end of the Annapolis conference, and with nearly no diplomatic headlines, Yasser Abed Rabbo - the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization central committee, and until recently a member of the negotiating team - managed to bring some drama to the process.

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Israel’s Settlement Activities Under Way
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - February 21, 2008 - 7:25pm

The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, Peace Now, yesterday said that 27 new mobile homes are currently under construction at the settlement of Eli, north of West Bank city of Ramallah, even though Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed publicly after the Annapolis peace conference that any such building would cease.

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Israel Extends Closure Of Palestinian Offices In Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
February 21, 2008 - 7:19pm

Israel is keeping Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem shut tight, despite its pledge to reopen them under a recently revived peace blueprint, Palestinian officials said Thursday.

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Construction Continuing In West Bank Settlements Despite Pm's Pledge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amoss Harel - February 20, 2008 - 6:53pm

A new neighborhood comprising 27 trailers is currently under construction at the settlement of Eli, north of Ramallah, even though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed publicly after the Annapolis conference that any such building would cease. Even though some of the trailers are being set up on land privately owned by Palestinians, the authorities are taking no action. Similar unauthorized construction has taken place in the settlement of Maskiot in the northern Jordan Valley.

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