Abbas' absence would have a dramatic effect
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas [Abu Mazen] is known as the Palestinian politician most dedicated to a peacefully negotiated end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. His possible absence from the scene could have serious implications for the peace process.

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US view on settlement 'unchanged'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Washington has not changed its stance against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. She has been meeting Arab foreign ministers in Marrakech in Morocco. On Saturday, Mrs Clinton urged the Israelis and Palestinians to restart talks as soon as possible. This appeared to endorse an Israeli position that talks could start before a settlement freeze which the Palestinians are demanding. On Saturday, she met Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a new US drive to restart the peace talks.

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Clinton Asks Abbas to Return to Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Mark Landler - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Dealing a blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to restart Middle East peace talks, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton failed Saturday to persuade the Palestinian leader to accept an Israeli proposal that would slow but not stop the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Palestinians say new U.S. approach imperils peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian officials on Sunday criticized the United States for what one called "backpedaling" on demands that Israel stop settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, saying the Obama administration's change of approach on the issue damaged the likelihood of a peace agreement. "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do the Palestinians have of reaching agreement" on the even more complex set of issues involved in final peace talks, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a written statement.

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Did Clinton's Middle East message backfire?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

MARRAKESH, Morocco - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's message on Israel-Palestinian peace talks this weekend was not notably different than what President Barack Obama himself said in New York in September at a meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But the prevailing perception and coverage in the wake of Clinton's meetings in Israel and Abu Dhabi Saturday is that the U.S.

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Abbas dilemmas as US backs Israel on talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Sawafta, Erika Soloman - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's rejection of an Israeli settlement freeze as a condition for peace talks puts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a spot. As Abbas faces an apparent shift in the Obama administration's diplomatic strategy and comes under U.S. pressure to relaunch peace negotiations suspended in December, here are some of the scenarios that could play out: ABBAS TALKS NOW

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Mitchell to meet with Netanyahu in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Special US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell returned to Jerusalem on Thursday night to attempt a second round of peace talk initiation, the US State Department said. Mitchell's arrival comes two days in advance of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's planned visit; he will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Officials called Mitchell's trip preparatory, and said he met with Israeli army minister Ehud Barak.

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Report: Abbas fears violence without change in Israeli tactics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 30, 2009 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly told Israeli officials that without movement in the peace process, he fears conditions in the region will rapidly deteriorate, the daily newspaper Haaretz reported Friday. Haaretz reported that Abbas feared the “descent into violence,” and noted there was a window of “two to three weeks” in which changes must take place in order to stabilize the area.

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Abbas: Netanyahu hasn't changed since last stint as PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is deeply suspicious of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is losing faith in his intentions to reach a peace agreement, Israeli officials have told Haaretz. "I know Netanyahu is pragmatic and everyone tells me he has changed," Abbas reportedly told the officials recently. "But I don't see it. I fear it's the same Netanyahu of 1996. How much longer can I still give him credit?" Abbas reportedly said he missed former prime minister Ehud Olmert, with whom he had "almost closed [a deal]."

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Netanyahu: Iran nuclear draft a `positive first step`
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
October 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday offered cautious praise of a U.S.-backed, United Nations-drafted deal to curb Iran's contentious nuclear program. Netanyahu called the deal "a positive first step" toward denying Tehran the means to make nuclear weaponry. U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell held talks Friday with Netanyahu in Jerusalem as part of an intense and ongoing bid to revive broken-off peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

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