Abbas: We'll keep pursuing peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - April 28, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that the Palestinian Authority intends to pursue peace negotiations with Israel despite of its reconciliation with Hamas. Abbas, who met with top "Israel Initiative" representatives, said that "negotiations have been ongoing since 1993, when Arafat recognized the State of Israel and Rabin said he recognized the PLO as the Palestinians' representative. We will continue these talks for the PLO. The new government and the peace talks are two different things."

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Abbas sticks to demands for resuming peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said he sticks to what he called the requirements of resuming peace talks with Israel. "The resumption of negotiations requires full suspension of all settlement activities and defining a clear reference to the peace process," Abbas was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, as saying. Abbas made his comments when he received the U.S. Consul General, Daniel Rubinstein, at his office in Ramallah.

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A Plea for Peace From a Palestinian Doctor Who Embodies Human Tragedy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
April 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Gazan doctor who lost four members of his family when an Israeli rocket destroyed his house during Operation Cast Lead, used a medical analogy to warn against hating those who cause us great harm. “Hatred is a chronic disease,” Abuelaish told a group of 60 people who had gathered at Central Connecticut State University to hear him speak about the tragedy and his new memoir, “I Shall Not Hate.”

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No peace partner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am

It is hard to avoid the feeling that the current Israeli government is neither interested in nor capable of making peace with the Palestinians, let alone the rest of the Arabs. If anything, all steps taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are designed to sidestep any genuine peace effort.

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What Obama can learn from Israel's peace with Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amir Oren - (Opinion) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am

He was present during the secret talks between Richard Nixon, Golda Meir, Henry Kissinger and Yitzhak Rabin, before and after the Yom Kippur War. He witnessed Israel's plight in October 1973, when it desperately needed military equipment and a cease-fire even at the price of an Egyptian victory. He heard from Kissinger that Jordan's King Hussein was prepared to accept the Allon Plan but only if "the mosques and another street" in Jerusalem were thrown in. In November 2008, immediately after Barack Obama was elected U.S.

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Israel denies report on Netanyahu's proposed peace initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 26, 2011 - 12:00am

An alleged meeting between Israel's chief peace negotiator Yitzhak Molcho and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, in which details of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's diplomatic initiative were reportedly discussed, had never taken place, Netanyahu's bureau clarified in a statement issued Tuesday. "No secret meeting was held and reports regarding its content are clearly baseless," the statement read.

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Encountering Peace: Imposed peace plans will not work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) April 25, 2011 - 12:00am

First came the Caesarea conferences on Israel’s economic policies and plans run by the Israel Democracy Institute where ministers and Bank of Israel officials came to deliver high-profile speeches on the future of our economic welfare. Then came the Herzliya conferences to which prime ministers, foreign ministers, chiefs of staff and others leaders from the security military establishment presented their views and policy plans.

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President Obama and the Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - (Editorial) April 24, 2011 - 12:00am

President Obama began his presidency vowing to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace. He backed off in the face of both sides’ obstinacy and after a series of diplomatic missteps. Since then, the stalemate, and the mistrust, have only deepened, and it is clear that nothing good will happen until the United States fully engages.

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Arab changes to hopefully push forward stalled Mideast peace before September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Talks on new American and Israeli plans and initiatives to push forward the peace process have increased in the past few weeks, while the Palestinians are working in full swing for the establishment of an independent state in September. The Middle East peace process has been stalled, since the Palestinians had suspended the direct peace talks with Israel in October, one month after it was launched in Washington. The talks with Israel were suspended after Israel refused to freeze settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

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Palestinians: Right of return non-negotiable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - April 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian leaders stressed Thursday that they will not waive the right of return in peace negotiations with Israel following reports suggesting the White House is working on an outline for a Middle East peace plan. According to the New York Times, the key principles on which the plan will be based are: A Palestinian state without the right of return, Jerusalem as the capital of both states, and an emphasis on Israel's security needs.

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