A donkey and peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) September 17, 2010 - 12:00am

It's been a long time since negotiations elicited as many smiles and as positive an atmosphere as the Washington-Sharm-Jerusalem round of talks. The leaders, including two presidents and one king, enter closed sessions and emerge smiling, as though the meetings have turned into joke-telling competitions. Those setting the tone are U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington and his envoy here, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Hamas Isn't the IRA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate
by Michael Weiss - September 17, 2010 - 12:00am

With the resumption of Arab-Israeli direct talks comes the regurgitation of a minority view that these talks are destined to fail because Hamas is excluded. The first salvo in this ongoing campaign came from Palestinian-American blogger Ali Abunimah, an advocate of the one-state solution, who expounded upon the need for recognizing Hamas in the New York Times. Peter Beinart made the same case in a broader Daily Beast column about Obama's failed foreign policy.

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Undermining line of argument
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, were in Sharm El Sheikh to mediate between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators. Unfortunately, and although talks are set to continue in Jerusalem, judging from the public statements made after the meetings, US mediation is spectacularly failing. Settlements, Mitchell told reporters, are a "politically sensitive issue" in Israel, so he urged Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO leader, to "take steps" to "facilitate the process".

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Two states and one Holy Land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by John V. Whitbeck - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

The Declaration of Principles so optimistically signed on the White House lawn in September 1993 proclaimed as its goal a "historic reconciliation" between the two peoples. Today, even optimists seem to hope only for a definitive separation of the two peoples behind high walls and fences.

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Abbas Says Israel Talks Will Continue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

After two days of difficult peace negotiations with Israel over the issue of Jewish settlements, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, sounded a modestly positive note on Thursday, declaring that he saw no alternative but to keep talking. The Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the talks if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not extend a partial moratorium on the construction of settlements, something he has refused to do.

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No sign impasse is resolved as Clinton ends Mideast trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday wrapped up three days of intense Middle East diplomacy that produced good atmospherics but no sign that an impasse over Israeli settlement construction has been resolved. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said before meeting with Clinton in this West Bank city that both sides recognize there is "no alternative" to continuing peace efforts. But he gave little sign that he is willing to keep talks going after a partial moratorium on Israeli construction expires Sept. 30.

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Clinton wraps up Israeli, Palestinian talks - for now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday wrapped up three days of intense Middle East diplomacy that produced good atmospherics but no sign that an impasse over Israeli settlement construction has been resolved. "We all know that there is no alternative to peace other than negotiating peace, so we have no alternative but to continue peace efforts," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said before meeting with the chief U.S. diplomat in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

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Is George Mitchell in the Middle East, or Northern Ireland?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

A dozen years ago, former senator George Mitchell helped to broker a peace accord, the "Good Friday agreement," between warring Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The Irish still appear to be grateful. But I'm not so sure about Israelis and Palestinians -- who appear to be doomed to listen to Mitchell draw parallels between their conflict and that of the Irish at every possible opportunity.

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Mitchell: Obama seeks Mideast normalization
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

US envoy to the Mideast peace process George Mitchell said Wednesday that Palestinian and Israeli leaders were tackling the tough issues up front during talks in Jerusalem. Mitchell spoke with reporters following a trilateral meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mitchell himself.

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Israel-Palestinian talks end without settlement deal: What happens next?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left the Middle East on Thursday with no sign of a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, despite three days of intensive mediation. The key sticking point is an unresolved dispute over Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. Only two weeks remain before Israel's settlement freeze expires. With Palestinians threatening to quit the talks if construction resumes, negotiators have a fast-closing window – one filled with a cluster of Jewish holidays – to come up with an end game.

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