http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/how-will-the-election-affect-u-s-efforts-for-mideast-peace-1.323023
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) November 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The bottom line of this week's midterm Congressional elections: The House of Representatives is now in the hands of the Republicans, while the Democrats still control the Senate, albeit by a smaller majority. What does this election mean for American efforts to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace? The conventional answer is: Buckle your seat belts - we're in for a bumpy ride. The more serious answer is: It depends mainly on President Obama.

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After the Midterm Elections: A Different Man in the White House!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) November 5, 2010 - 12:00am

New York-Domestic affairs, and especially the economy, will remain the prime concern of US President Barack Obama, who suffered a historic defeat at the midterm elections this week. And US public opinion will remain angry, seeking change and demanding that their government take every measure that would place “America first”.

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US: 'Election results will not affect Mideast policy'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
(Opinion) November 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Regardless of who wins the US legislative elections, American-led peace efforts in the Middle East will continue, US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said Tuesday, as Democrats prepared to face Republican challengers, reported AFP. "Democratic and Republican administrations supported by Congress under Democratic or Republican leadership have all supported our pursuit for comprehensive Middle East peace," Crowley said. "So this is a significant national interest and I would not expect any electoral results to have an impact on that."

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Barak: Negotiations to resume after US elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Attila Somfalvi - (Opinion) November 3, 2010 - 12:00am

The peace talks with the Palestinian Authority will move forward after the midterm elections in the US, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday. "There are elections in the US today, and I suppose that it will take them a few weeks after the elections to settle in," he said during a visit to a high school in Emek Hamaayanot Regional Council in northern Israel. "I hope and believe that we can see real progress in the negotiations in the next few months."

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Mideast sides eye US midterms and impact on talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Amy Teibel - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israelis and Palestinians are closely watching next month's U.S. midterm race amid a sense — rarely discussed openly but very much on people's minds — that the result could affect the U.S.-led peace effort, and President Obama's ability to coax concessions from Israel. Animating the discussion is the startling fact that the United States has failed, despite emphatic public appeals by Obama and weeks of increasingly frustrating diplomacy, to persuade Israel to extend the settlement-building slowdown that expired on Sept. 26.

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Rattling the Cage: Any more doubts about Bibi?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Until this week, the question posed by “neutral observers” about Binyamin Netanyahu was whether he was going to follow the examples of Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, or that of Yitzhak Shamir. Would he transform himself into a peacemaker like Begin and Sharon by uprooting settlements and relinquishing occupied territory, or would he be an immovable object like Shamir, aiming only to keep things “quiet” so he could build more settlements and close the door on Palestinian statehood?

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New Conservative Group Targets Democrats Working With J Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - August 30, 2010 - 12:00am

With two months left before the midterm elections, a hawkish group is targeting several congressional Democrats who last January signed a letter sponsored by J Street, the dovish Israel lobby, pressing the administration to get Israel to loosen its blockade of Gaza. As the newly founded Emergency Committee for Israel airs attack ads against these congressional candidates, J Street is responding with a campaign of its own seeking to discredit the group as extreme and out of sync with the mainstream Jewish community.

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Netanyahu and Obama are at point of no return
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) March 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The strife between Israel and the United States concerns something far bigger than the proximity talks with the Palestinians. As far as President Barack Obama and his senior advisers are concerned, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to blame for nothing less than damaging the standing of the U.S.in the Middle East and the Muslim world.

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Analysis: Another goal pared back: Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Steven R. Hurst - January 27, 2010 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON -- The bleak domestic realities washing over President Barack Obama's White House cloak equally dismal prospects for quickly shepherding Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks. As the politically beleaguered president prepared to deliver his first State of the Union address Wednesday night - the symbolic start of his second year in office - Obama was forced to acknowledge he got ahead of himself when he raised hopes of early success by making Mideast peacemaking a top priority of his new administration.

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Mitchell’s futile diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) January 26, 2010 - 1:00am

The long-awaited tour of American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell consisted of much fanfare but yielded no tangible results to speak of. Both parties to the conflict refused to budge: the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, refuses to join the peace process until Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to freeze settlement activity, and the Israeli government refuses to meet this Palestinian demand, considering it an unacceptable precondition.

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