Obama leaves settlers with stark choice - apartheid or a bi-national state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - June 9, 2009 - 12:00am


American pressure is penetrating the hearts of mainstream settlers. People like Uri Elitzur - who saw from a government office what many settlers do not see from the West Bank - understand that Barack Obama has changed the rules of the game between the United States and Israel, and that despite the right's victory in the elections, the Palestinians are not planning to go anywhere. What this means is that after 42 years of occupation, the time has come for the settlers to choose between Jewish land and a Jewish state.


Hamas West Bank Terror Plot Exposed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - June 9, 2009 - 12:00am


The Palestinian Authority said it has exposed a plot by Hamas to carry out a string of terror attacks against the Authority's officials and institutions in the West Bank city of Nablus and the surrounding area. PA officials said Monday evening that a Hamas member who was recently detained admitted to receiving 1.5 million euros from the Islamist group's leadership in Gaza in order to establish infrastructure aimed of undermining President Mahmoud Abbas' regime. He said that among the targets were headquarters of the Palestinian security services in Nablus.


Israeli indictments spark outrage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - June 8, 2009 - 12:00am


The decision to prosecute 12 Israeli Arabs over what the local media have described as the “lynching” of an Israeli soldier on a bus shortly after he shot dead four passengers has been greeted with outrage from the country’s Arab minority. The inhabitants of Shefa’amr, one of the largest Arab towns in the Galilee region and the location of the attack, are expected to stage a one-day strike today in protest against the indictments. Seven of the 12 face charges of attempted murder.


Netanyahu convinced Obama seeks clash with Israel to appease Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - June 9, 2009 - 12:00am


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that U.S. President Barack Obama wants a confrontation with Israel, based on Obama's speech in Cairo last week, Netanyahu's confidants say. In Netanyahu's opinion, the Americans believe an open controversy with Israel would serve the Obama administration's main objective of improving U.S. relations with the Arab world, the aides say. In his speech, Obama called for a "new beginning" in relations between America and Islam, and spoke at length about the Israeli-Arab conflict.


Ignore the Theatrics, Bibi Just Wants To Build
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) June 3, 2009 - 12:00am


The show goes on. As I write, a radio newscaster is repeating an item about the evacuation of an illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank: At Nahalat Yosef, near Nablus, the army demolished two makeshift mobile homes and removed a third, thereby erasing the outpost. Settler leaders promised to rebuild it. Judging from past experience, the promise will be kept.


Obama and the Two State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Gwynne Dyer - (Analysis) June 9, 2009 - 12:00am


It was a good speech by any measure, and it will go some way towards lessening the mistrust of the world’s Muslims towards the United States. But when it comes to the core issue that has put Americans and Arabs on different sides of the fence over the past decades, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it will take more than words.


'Obama proposed plan for peace deal within two years'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
June 9, 2009 - 12:00am


United States President Barack Obama has presented to Egypt and Israel a plan for a two-state solution to be finalized within two years, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. A source in Cairo told the newspaper that Obama raised the plan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter's visit to Washington last month. According to the report, the plan envisions a Middle East peace deal by 2011 and would encompass an agreement for a Palestinian state.


Obama and Eisenhower: Some Parallels
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yoav J. Tenembaum - (Editorial) June 8, 2009 - 12:00am


Historical comparisons have to be drawn with caution. No two events are identical. The pitfalls of historical analogy are as numerous as its benefits. However, comparing events in history can clarify and sharpen our understanding of the phenomenon under discussion. In this spirit, it's possible to draw a comparison between President Barack Obama's new policy toward Israel and that pursued by president Dwight Eisenhower and his administration from 1953 until 1957, when it also changed the direction of US policy toward Israel. The similarities are quite striking.


US urges quick return to Mid-East talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
June 9, 2009 - 12:00am


US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has urged a swift return to peace talks on his first day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. "We all share an obligation to create the conditions for the prompt resumption and early conclusion of negotiations," he said in Jerusalem. US relations with Israel are said to be tense since President Barack Obama's speech to Muslims in Cairo last week. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure to back a two-state solution.


On Settlements and Violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) June 8, 2009 - 12:00am


Most observers welcomed President Obama’s speech in Cairo last week, but some pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian commentators have taken issue with the President’s emphasis on ending Israeli settlement activity and Palestinian violence, respectively, as crucial measures in laying the groundwork for a successful peace agreement. These choices were not arbitrary. They reflect the principal commitments and obligations of both parties under Phase One of the Roadmap.



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