Obama Administration Presses Palestinians To Enter Direct Talks With Israel
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Jewish Daily Forward - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley strove hard to hit the right note August 2 in describing the Obama administration’s recent effort to push the Palestinians into direct peace talks with Israel.

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Obama Administration Presses Palestinians To Enter Direct Talks With Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley strove hard to hit the right note August 2 in describing the Obama administration’s recent effort to push the Palestinians into direct peace talks with Israel.

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Israel approves new east Jerusalem apartments
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli municipal officials have approved the building of 40 apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem's disputed eastern sector. The move could undermine efforts to restart direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It comes as U.S. peace envoy David Hale is visiting the region. Municipality spokesman Stephen Miller confirmed the approval and said on Tuesday that construction would continue for residents of all faiths in Jerusalem.

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Abbas rejects U.S. request to set date for direct talks without reference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday rejected a U.S. request to set a date for moving to the direct peace negotiations with Israel without defining an international peace reference for it, a senior Palestinian official said. Wassel Abu Yousef, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) official, told Xinhua that David Hale, deputy of U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell, asked President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting earlier on Monday in Ramallah about setting a date for launching the direct talks.

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The audacity of not losing hope
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are likely to resume in the near future. Both sides will reluctantly pay a price to enter the room even though neither side is too anxious to actually be there.

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What will Hamas do if direct Mideast peace talks take off?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The impression from the weekend's events was that neither Israel nor Hamas was interested in escalating the situation, and both are looking for ways to lower the flame and restore the unofficial cease-fire on the Gaza Strip border since the end of Operation Cast Lead about a year and a half ago. On Friday a Grad Katyusha rocket fired from Gaza landed in Ashkelon, causing no injuries. It is not clear who was behind the firing. It is reasonable to assume it was not Hamas but one of the rogue organizations in the Gaza Strip identified with World Jihad or Al-Qaida.

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Abbas wants a trilateral meeting between aides before direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

The Obama administration is attempting to win Israel's agreement to a Palestinian effort to hold a trilateral meeting next week to set the terms of reference, agenda and timetable for direct negotiations with the Palestinians. The Palestinians also want to discuss the future of Israel's freeze on settlement construction, which is scheduled to expire on September 26. If Israel agrees to the meeting, it will be the first significant direct talks with the Palestinian Authority since Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister last year.

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Fruitless talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Suddenly the mood music for a resumption of direct talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis has changed key and grown louder. The Arab League Thursday endorsed such negotiations subject to Palestinian judgment on timing. It would seem Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s speculation that direct talks could be under way by the middle of this month, was not merely diplomatic window-dressing.

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Israel makes no obligations to U.S. for start of direct talks with Palestinians: PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet members that he made no obligations to the United States in his recent meeting with President Barack Obama for possible direct talks with the Palestinians, sources told Xinhua on Monday. Addressing his cabinet ministers at a weekly session on Sunday, he estimated that direct talks with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) could begin within two weeks.

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U.S. group launches campaign against West Bank settlement construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - August 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Americans for Peace Now, a sister group to the dovish Israeli group Peace Now, has announced the launching a unique campaign on Monday, meant to sway public opinion against containing settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the construction freeze West Bank settlements, due to expire on September 26, in last November, after months of pressure from the Obama administration, and following a Palestinian refusal to begin talks without one.

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