A devious plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

With the Palestinians already threatening to walk away from the Middle East peace talks unless Israel renews its partial ban on West Bank settlements, the unveiling of 238 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem could well kill off the negotiations.

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With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Karin Laub - October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — The Palestinians are ready to end all historic claims against Israel once they establish their state in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday, addressing a long-standing Israeli demand. In an interview with Israel TV, Abbas also said negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain his preferred choice, but that he will consider other options if talks break down over Israel's continued settlement expansion.

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Gaza children deliver dreams, hopes to outside world through mini-boats
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

GAZA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Around 30 mini cork boats floated on the water of Gaza Strip sea heading to the outside world with local children's messages of their dreams and suffering and calling for ending the Israeli blockade.

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Demographics may scuttle Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Joseph Chamie - (Opinion) October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Countless words have been spoken and written, several wars and numerous armed clashes have taken place. Thousands have died, with even more injured and suffering. Yet, after more than 60 years of struggle, numerous diplomatic initiatives, agreements and peace offers, intergovernmental conferences and behind-the-scenes negotiations, comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains disappointingly elusive.

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Abbas: What Israel calls itself is none of our business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that it was none of the Palestinians’ business if Israel wanted to call itself a Jewish state, or anything else. “If the Israelis want to call themselves any name, they should address the international community and the United Nations, because this is none of our business,” Abbas told reporters after meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen in Ramallah. Abbas said that the PLO had recognized Israel when the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

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Dismay, disillusionment prevail in Palestinian camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Crispian Balmer - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The stalemate in direct peace talks with Israel risks undermining the moderate Palestinian leadership and should force world powers to reassess their Middle East strategy, senior Palestinian officials say. The U.S.-brokered negotiations kicked off in Washington last month, but stalled less than 4 weeks later after Israel refused to extend a freeze on settlement building in the occupied West Bank, prompting the Palestinians to refuse to carry on talking.

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Palestinians counter Israeli offer on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM - Responding to an offer by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to extend a freeze on building in West Bank settlements if Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, a top Palestinian official said Wednesday that such recognition could be granted to Israel within its 1967 borders, without the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. In media interviews, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior official of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, countered Netanyahu's offer in another volley of the verbal ping-pong that has taken the place of direct negotiations.

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US backs Palestinian demand to see borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (Ma’an) -- The US on Wednesday supported the PLO's request to see a map of Israel's borders, but said such demands must be made face-to-face, not through the media. PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo on Wednesday called on Israel and the US to provide a map of Israel's borders before "asking anything else." "Israel is an unknown entity in terms of borders [so] how does it suggest to recognize it as a Jewish state? Israel and the US should first set out Israel's borders," he explained.

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Smothered by Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mustafa Barghouthi - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Negotiations between two unequal parties cannot succeed. Success in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations requires a reasonable balance of power, clear terms of reference and abstention of both sides from imposing unilateral facts on the ground. None of that existed in the talks that were re-initiated in September.

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Abbas urges the Quartet to realize Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urged the international Quartet for Middle East peace to find alternative solutions to end the Israeli occupation and give the Palestinians a homeland. Abbas made the comments at a joint press conference in Ramallah with visiting Finnish President Tarja Halonen. "We want a state on the lands occupied in 1967 and to live in peace with our neighbors, including Israel," Abbas said.

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