Pre-summit Accord To Cover Only Points Of Clear Agreement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Barak Ravid, Aluf Benn - October 5, 2007 - 4:19pm


The joint statement to be formulated by Israel and the Palestinians ahead of the regional meeting in Annapolis next month may include references to the core issues of the final-status agreement. However, such references would be non-committal, and the statement will deal only with issues that enjoy clear agreement. Israeli sources say the conference has been set for November 26. Sources in Jerusalem said the joint statement will be "significant enough but general enough to avoid a blow-up and a crisis."


Idea Raised Of Two Capitals In Jerusalems
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Barry Schweid - October 5, 2007 - 3:14pm


Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Md.


Ex-us Officals: Divide Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 4, 2007 - 3:02pm


Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington. Hamas, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met US terms


‘in The Interest Of Peace’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Samir Barhoum - (Editorial) October 4, 2007 - 2:53pm


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unfortunately seem to have very different ideas about what the proposed November meeting in the US on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is about. Abbas wants that meeting to lead to the signing of a peace agreement in six months. Olmert, on the other hand, wants yet another process and is keen to emphasise, as he did yesterday, that the Annapolis meeting is “not a peace conference”.


No End To The Invective
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - October 4, 2007 - 2:51pm


It should be stressed, time and again, that the galloping anti-American feeling in the Middle East, if not elsewhere, stems not from the attitude towards the American people or their culture but the short-sighted policies of most US administrations in recent decades towards that region. Furthermore, the actions of a few Americans, whether academicians or media representatives, be they reporters or commentators, that are often mediocre, self-serving or shallow add oil to the fire.


Politics: Mideast Meet Has Ambiguous Agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Khody Akhavi - October 4, 2007 - 2:47pm


As the George W. Bush administration prepares to host its much-publicised Middle East conference, Israeli experts gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday to discuss whether Washington's latest diplomatic attempts would pave the way for a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process. But with less than two months before the November meeting, which is to be held in Annapolis, the sentiment was anything but hopeful.


Mideast Negotiating Teams Get Orders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Bourdreaux - October 4, 2007 - 2:44pm


The Israeli and Palestinian leaders brought their negotiating teams together for the first time Wednesday and instructed them to start work next week on a joint declaration that would pave the way for full-scale peace talks. The two-hour meeting at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's residence did not delve into the core issues of the decades-old conflict. That task was handed to the negotiators, who have just weeks to draft a document to serve as the agenda for a peace conference called by President Bush.


Israelis, Palestinians To Draft Declaration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - October 4, 2007 - 2:36pm


Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Wednesday to begin work on a joint declaration setting out their positions on the core issues of their long conflict before a U.S.-proposed peace conference tentatively scheduled for next month.


Rice's Clock
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - October 3, 2007 - 6:35pm


Four former ambassadors to the Middle East, three of whom also served as under secretary of state, have signed a paper circulated this week under the sponsorship of the Israel Policy Forum, a dovish Washington institute. They were joined by a CIA man, an adviser and a professor - an impressive group. Tell me who your writers are and I'll tell you what's in the paper. In this case, it's advice to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in advance of the "Annapolis meeting," the Israeli-Palestinian peace summit planned for November.


Israel’s Chief Diplomat Meets Arab Counterparts In Backroom Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 3, 2007 - 6:02pm


While the Iranian president was busy stealing the limelight at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, Israel’s foreign minister was quietly carrying out a new strategy of normalizing relations with Muslim countries in a series of backroom meetings. During her weeklong stay in the United States, Tzipi Livni made her case at the U.N. as well as in a series of meetings with representatives from a host of Middle Eastern and North African countries that currently do not maintain formal ties with Israel.



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