April 17th

Netanyahu 'no partner for peace'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Saeb Erekat was speaking after US envoy George Mitchell met Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, a day after talks in Israel. He said Mr Netanyahu's new demand that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state was meant to stall talks. Mr Netanyahu has not endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state. Mr Erekat also urged the administration of US President Barack Obama to act as an "even-handed" broker. Mr Mitchell is on his first visit to the region since Mr Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition took office.

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Palestinian 'knife man' shot dead
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

One Israeli was lightly injured before the man was shot by a resident of the settlement, the military said. Palestinian police confirmed the death and said they were investigating. A 13-year-old boy was killed and a seven-year-old wounded by a Palestinian carrying an axe through the Bat Ayin settlement earlier this month. The military wing of Islamic Jihad and Imad Mughniyeh Group was reported to have claimed responsibility for that attack. No group has claimed responsibility for Friday's incident.

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J Street launches campus effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

J Street is joining with the Union of Progressive Zionists to establish a campus outreach program. The left-wing, pro-Israel lobby group announced the project Wednesday, its one-year anniversary

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Emanuel Says Obama Insists On Implementing Two State Solution, No Ifs, Ands, or Buts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Yedioth Achronoth, the largest circulation daily in Israel, reports today that President Obama intends to see the two-state solution signed, sealed and delivered during his first term. Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."

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New Liberal Jewish Lobby Quickly Makes Its Mark
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

When a group of Jewish liberals formed a lobbying and fundraising group called J Street a year ago, they had modest hopes of raising $50,000 for a handful of congressional candidates. Instead, the group's political arm ended up funneling nearly $600,000 to several dozen Democrats and a handful of Republicans in 2008, making it Washington's leading pro-Israel PAC, according to Federal Election Commission expenditure records. Organizers say 33 of the group's 41 favored House and Senate candidates won their races.

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U.S.-Israel Divide Emerges On Palestinian Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Stark differences between U.S. and Israeli policy toward peace talks with the Palestinians emerged clearly Thursday in the first meetings between President Obama's Middle East envoy and top leaders of the new Israeli government. Former senator George J. Mitchell emphasized that the U.S. administration is aiming for creation of a Palestinian state. But the Israelis avoided mention of Palestinian statehood, and the new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said past Israeli concessions had led to violence, not peace.

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U.S. envoy George Mitchell meets with Israeli foreign minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman, Batsheva Sobelman - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Reporting from Cairo and Jerusalem — U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell met Thursday in Jerusalem with top Israeli officials to push for what at the moment appears unlikely: substantive talks between a divided Palestinian leadership and the new right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Nasrallah: Between the Guide and the Professor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mshari Al-Zaydi - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

There is nothing new about this prolonged war between the Iranian camp and the Arab camp represented by Egypt and Saudi Arabia; it is a complex war that is composed of elements from politics and religion to culture and media. The most recent chapter of this war has revealed that there is a Hezbollah-affiliated cell on Egyptian territory, and Hassan Nasrallah admitted this himself even if he did underplay the significance of the cell leader by describing him as a “porter”.

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April 16th

Special Mideast Envoy George Mitchell meets with the new Israeli leadership (1) (4) (5) (10) (14). In the New Statesman, Edward Platt examines the options for peace (2). The Jewish Daily Forward evaluates Egypt's recent showdown with Iranian-backed groups (3). Al-Hayat discusses the state of the stalled Palestinian national accord talks (7). Palestinian activists plan a massive graffiti protest on the West Bank separation barrier (12). The two Palestinian men detained by Egypt yesterday reportedly confess to planning potential attacks in Israel (13).

Beyond a two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New Statesman
by Edward Platt - (Opinion) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

When Binyamin Netanyahu finally announced the make-up of his coalition government on 30 March, two of the most important posts went to figures from opposing ends of the political spectrum – the Labour leader Ehud Barak retained his job as minister of defence, and the leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu (“Israeli Home”) party, Avigdor Lieberman, became foreign minister. Such a broad coalition, born of Israel’s system of proportional representation, will generate a stalemate in the domestic arena, and it is hard to see it making much progress in foreign affairs.

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