Madam Secretary’s Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

LONDON — I like the look of President Barack Obama’s new Middle East envoy, a person with broad experience, the trust of Israelis, growing support among West Bank Palestinians and a fierce personal conviction that a peace accord is essential not only for the parties but for United States national security. Damon Winter/The New York Times Roger Cohen Go to Columnist Page » Related Times Topic: Hillary Rodham Clinton Readers' Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment » Read All Comments (17) »

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Analysis: U.S. pinning its Mideast hopes on 90-day settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - (Opinion) November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Call it a triumph of hope over experience. When Israel agreed to a 10-month partial settlement freeze last year, U.S. officials said it was exactly what they needed to get talks with the Palestinians started. They whispered that they were sure the freeze would be extended; Israel wouldn't dare curtail the negotiations by ending it.

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Analysis: U.S. pinning its Mideast hopes on 90-day settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - (Analysis) November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Call it a triumph of hope over experience. When Israel agreed to a 10-month partial settlement freeze last year, U.S. officials said it was exactly what they needed to get talks with the Palestinians started. They whispered that they were sure the freeze would be extended; Israel wouldn't dare curtail the negotiations by ending it.

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The Price of Success
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Analysis) November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

After 20 months, Barack Obama's administration may be close to injecting some much-needed stability into the on-again, off-again Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The deal concluded last week in New York between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- if it gets through the Israeli cabinet and the Palestinians -- should allow the negotiations to resume in the wake of a three-month moratorium on settlements. But as I've written before, the administration shouldn't pray for anything it really doesn't want and isn't prepared for.

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Arab League likely to reject partial 90-day freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

CAIRO (DPA) -- A possible 90-day temporary freeze on construction at Israeli West Bank settlements, proposed by the US, may not be enough to prompt Palestinian and Arab support for renewing Middle East peace talks, an Arab League official said Monday. In Israel, meanwhile, ministers jockeyed to take positions for and against the proposal, which reportedly has not yet been finalized and will not be bought before Israeli decision-making bodies until it is.

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U.S. suggests Mideast deadline may be slipping
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. target to resolve all major issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by August 2011 may be slipping, the State Department said on Monday. Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace negotiations in Washington on Sept. 2 only to see these unravel within weeks after Israel's 10-month partial moratorium on Jewish settlement construction expired that month.

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U.S. suggests Mideast deadline may be slipping
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. target to resolve all major issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by August 2011 may be slipping, the State Department said on Monday. Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace negotiations in Washington on Sept. 2 only to see these unravel within weeks after Israel's 10-month partial moratorium on Jewish settlement construction expired that month.

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Clinton calls Netanyahu settlement plan 'promising'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to extend a freeze on West Bank settlements for 90 days in return for diplomatic and security incentives. "This is a very promising development and a serious effort by Prime Minister Netanyahu," Clinton said, declining comment on the details of his plan but stressing that the United States was in close contact with Israeli and Palestinian officials.


The dangers of a unilateral Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ghanem Nuseibeh - (Opinion) November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Many people view the prospect of creating an Arab state in the land of Palestine as nothing short of a political earthquake.

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Fayyad: Security pluralism exhausting us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday that efforts to reconcile with Hamas should focus on security rather than political issues, the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported. "Progress is measured according to political pluralism, which is a source of strength if it managed appropriately. What exhausts us is security pluralism not political pluralism," Fayyad was quoted as saying. Security was the most important issue to achieve the main objective, the creation of a Palestinian state, the prime minister said.

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