Israel-Palestinian mediators to miss 1st deadline
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News
by Bradley S. Klapper - (Analysis) October 17, 2011 - 12:00am

The U.S. and other Mideast mediators won't be able to revive direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by the end of this weekend, missing the first deadline in a plan to reach a two-state agreement by the end of next year and sidestep a contentious U.N. vote over Palestinian statehood without defined borders, U.S. officials said Monday. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the "quartet" of Mideast mediators will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials next week, but Israel and the Palestinians weren't returning to the same negotiating table.

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Gilad Schalit and the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Newman - (Opinion) October 17, 2011 - 12:00am

In an era when there is little real optimism about the possibility of meaningful conflict resolution between Israel and the Palestinians, the negotiations between Israel and Hamas that led to the Gilad Schalit deal can be instructive for the future of the peace process.

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Jubilation over planned Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap dampens
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Initial jubilation over the impending prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began to dampen Wednesday as people on both sides expressed concerns that their leaders may have given away too much at the negotiating table.

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Palestinian prisoner swap: Rare outbreak of common sense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Editorial) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

It is hard to read the prisoner swap agreement to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held in Gaza for five years, as anything less than a victory for his captors, Hamas. But it is a qualified one. Of the 1,027 prisoners Israel has agreed to release, 479 of the names have been nominated by Hamas (the rest will be chosen by Israel). Of the 479, 315 were serving life sentences for involvement in some of the bloodiest attacks on Israel, and most served over 20 years.

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Reconciliation after prisoner exchange
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel - announced but not yet concluded - could not have come at a more urgent moment. The fate of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has caused friction between Hamas and Fatah since he was kidnapped on Israeli soil in 2006. Removing such a stumbling block to unity can only be a good thing.

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Sometimes a Deal Is Just a Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The five-year saga that will likely lead to the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit -- in one of those bizarrely asymmetrical prisoner exchanges that make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so tragic and intriguing -- has all the hallmarks of a John le Carré thriller.

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US: Mideast Quartet seeks October 23 talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 12, 2011 - 12:00am

The Mideast Quartet seeking a peace settlement in the Middle East has called for Israel and the PLO to resume their talks on October 23 in Jordan, a US official said Tuesday. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said envoys for the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union met on Sunday and called for "a first preliminary meeting of the parties" on that date.

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Israeli-Hamas Agreement to Trade Prisoners May Reshape Politics in Region
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - October 12, 2011 - 12:00am

The prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel that is expected to begin next week could reshape regional relationships, strengthening Egypt, Hamas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel while posing an acute challenge to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. One result might be a more confrontational — and Hamas-imbued — Palestinian movement that could, in the long run, increase Israel’s difficulties, drawing inspiration from and invigorating popular protests across the Middle East. It could also tighten the relationship between Hamas, Egypt and Turkey.

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The Israeli government is fooling you
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 10, 2011 - 12:00am

Did you know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just welcomed a diplomatic plan that posits the borders of June 4, 1967, as a basis for negotiations with the Palestinians, along with mutual and consensual territorial exchanges? Did you hear that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) welcomed the demand to freeze construction beyond the Green Line entirely, including in East Jerusalem? Were you told that Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) welcomes the demand for the immediate dismantling of all the outposts built in the past decade?

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The “Peace Process” is Dead; What’s Next?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Brookings Institution
by Salman Shaikh - October 10, 2011 - 12:00am

Recent events at the United Nations confirmed what has been blindingly obvious for months: the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process” is dead. Furthermore, with elections scheduled in the United States, Palestine, and perhaps Israel in the next twelve months, it is hard to imagine that any meaningful negotiations can overcome the political realities in each country. As a result, the United States will come under increasing pressure to relinquish its decades-old monopoly on peacemaking, particularly at a time when its influence and reputation in the Middle East is deeply threatened.

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