As Israel settlement freeze ends, one-year peace plan begins
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Tel Aviv — If negotiators can overcome today’s deadline to resolve a dispute on Israeli settlement expansion and keep peace talks alive, the date of September 2011 will begin to loom as the target for reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

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Painted into a corner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Nahum Barnea - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The following question shall not appear in the next history matriculation exam at Israeli high schools: Three politicians – Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mahmoud Abbas – painted themselves into a corner and didn’t know how to get out of it. Who will go down now? The answer: None of them. Not immediately, The only thing that would crumple is the small chance of advancing an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

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Clinton asks Arab leaders to support Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

As officials in the US administration scramble to find a last-minute solution to the West Bank settlement building freeze, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met in the past few days with senior officials from the Arab states in order to promote peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Israel's West Bank settlement slowdown expires; no Palestinian decision to quit peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's West Bank settlement slowdown expires; no Palestinian decision to quit peace talks.


Survey: Palestinians Believe Peace Talks Are Best Strategy
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Voice of America - September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

A new survey shows a majority of Palestinians believe peace negotiations are the best way to achieve their goals. The survey released Thursday by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center showed 53 percent of those polled said peace talks were the best strategy.  That compares with 26 percent who said violent resistance is the best method, and 16 percent who supported non-violent resistance.

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Israel's Palestinian partner is ready and waiting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Libby Lenkinski Friedlander - (Opinion) September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

For most Israelis, who have had little or no interaction with Palestinians for at least the past decade, the "Palestinian partner" remains an abstract concept. As a result, we spend a lot of time seeking a clear definition of what that ideal partner for ending the occupation would be: Who would be acceptable? What is the ideal profile? As a civil society worker, I have a face for the Palestinian partner that I want to see, in the abstract and in flesh and blood. I have met him.

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Palestinian-Americans reassured by Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas met with Palestinian-Americans from across the 50 states on Thursday, for an hour-long meeting where he reasserted his position on a resumption of settlement construction. "I will say this once in front of you, if they want negotiations, then they will continue with settlement freeze otherwise the negotiations will stop, and we are sorry to waste the opportunity," Abbas told assembled guests.

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Settlement construction to be resumed, limited
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Atilla Somfalvi - September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Only two days are left before the end of a 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank, and the Israelis and Palestinians have yet to reach a compromise which would allow the peace talks to continue. The American administration is leading hectic efforts to come up with a creative solution, as representatives of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continue the talks in Washington. US President Barack Obama on Thursday called on Israel once again to continue the building freeze.

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'Palestine new UN member in 2011 if talks succeed'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jordana Horn - September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

In his address to the UN General Assembly Thursday, US President Barack Obama called for a continuation of the settlement freeze and expressed the hope that by next year, current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will have resulted in “an independent, sovereign state of Palestine. “We believe that the moratorium should be extended. We also believe that talks should press on until completed,” Obama said, adding later that “now is the time for this opportunity to be seized, so that it does not slip away.”

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Obama and his audacity of hope for Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

At the United Nations on Thursday, President Obama took a risk by speaking so optimistically about the fragile Middle East peace talks. He told his international audience that “this time will be different.” The president offered that outcome as a choice, but even so, he went out on a limb by pronouncing that one short year from now, the UN could have a new member: a sovereign Palestine living in peace with Israel. In 2003, President Bush held out that possibility for 2005.

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