Israeli Seeks Hamas Participation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
October 25, 2007 - 11:32am

An Israeli minister has called on his government to invite "moderate" members from the Palestinian movement Hamas to an upcoming Middle East conference. Minister without portfolio Ami Ayalon said any invitation would be conditional on Hamas members fully recognising Israel right to exist. Mr Ayalon said that Israel should be talking to moderates regardless of their political stripes. The conference is planned for late November in Annapolis in the US.

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A Minimum Strategic Goal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Daoub Kuttab - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 2:45pm

In all previous attempts at negotiations with Israel, Palestinians have never made any real breakthrough. Progress has only been made on procedural or superficial issues, even if expectations were always raised unreasonably high, which in turn created exaggerated hopes for the peace process. This has been the case since the Madrid peace conference and was true of the Oslo process. Throughout, the Palestinian position was in permanent retreat and concessions were offered Israel at no cost.

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Clarity From Experienced Public Servants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 2:44pm

It is very refreshing when law, international responsibility and human courage converge in the remarks or actions of a single person. This occurred earlier this month in New Zealand in a talk by Karen Abuzayd, commissioner general of UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides humanitarian aid and basic social services to Palestinian refugees. She made a few points that are noteworthy precisely because international officials rarely speak with such clarity, moral force and political urgency. I quote her at length for the pertinence of her remarks:

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At Last, Consensus In The Middle East: All Agree These Talks Are Bound To Fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jonathan Freedland - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 2:33pm

It takes a special kind of genius to unite the warring parties of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but George Bush may just have pulled it off. His proposal for what the US administration calls a "meeting", rather than a peace conference, in Annapolis, Maryland, before the end of the year has elicited a unanimity unheard of in the Middle East. From the hardmen of Hamas to the hawks of Likud, there is a rare consensus: Annapolis is doomed to failure.

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U.s. Wants Progress Ahead Of Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - October 24, 2007 - 2:25pm

It's an insistent counterpoint audible beneath the U.S. march toward confrontation with Iran: While pledging to stop the Islamic Republic from going nuclear, the Bush administration is determined to walk Israel toward peace with the Palestinians. A battery of Israeli officials, in Israel and visiting the United States, heard the same message from an array of Bush administration officials: The United States stands with Israel on Iran, but expects some progress on Israel-Palestinian talks.

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Internal Divisions Make It A Bad Time For Israeli-palestinian Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Baltimore Sun
by Suheir Abu Oksa Daoud - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 2:20pm

While Israeli and Palestinian teams seek to iron out conditions for renewed peace talks in Annapolis this fall, deep divisions among the Palestinian and Israeli political leaderships doom any Middle East peace summit to failure.

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The Way To Damascene Conversion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shlomo Ben-ami - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 11:09am

An Arab-Israeli peace requires a comprehensive approach whereby a Madrid-like international peace conference would lay the ground for a resolution of Israel’s conflicts with all its neighbours. Such a regional approach is called for precisely because the problems at stake are so intertwined. Not only are key issues such as Jerusalem and refugees insoluble without an all-Arab consensus, but also any country that is left out of the process is bound to persist in its role as a revolutionary power bent on a strategy of regional destabilization.  

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The Way To Damascene Conversion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Shlomo Ben-ami - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 10:52am

An Arab-Israeli peace requires a comprehensive approach whereby a Madrid-like international peace conference would lay the ground for a resolution of Israel’s conflicts with all its neighbours. Such a regional approach is called for precisely because the problems at stake are so intertwined. Not only are key issues such as Jerusalem and refugees insoluble without an all-Arab consensus, but also any country that is left out of the process is bound to persist in its role as a revolutionary power bent on a strategy of regional destabilization.  

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Peacemaking Truths And Lies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 10:48am

For 60 years Palestinian and Arab leaders have been lying to their people. Creating and sustaining the lie that the Palestinian refugees of 1948 would return to their original homes and lands makes it almost impossible for President Mahmoud Abbas to reach an agreement with Israel on this, the most central issue in the conflict.

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The Us Should Submit A Dop
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Oded Eran - (Opinion) October 24, 2007 - 10:42am

It is too late to question the wisdom of floating the idea of a Middle East "meeting". The challenge now is to manage or minimize the potential liabilities and damages that may result from either holding the meeting in Annapolis without ensuring in advance even a limited success, or postponing it sine dei.

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