Parsing Mitchell's statement
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell issued a statement from Israel today which on its face seemed a quiet victory wave on achieving agreement for Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks over the weekend. But a former Israeli official reading the statement interprets it differently, to suggest they haven't agreed on what they are going to be talking about indirectly. While an American Palestinian expert says the indirect proximity talks provide a bridging mechanism to potentially get the parties back to direct negotiations. |
US-Israel crisis — this time it's serious
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Arab News - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Tension between the United States and Israel went up a notch on Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said construction in occupied East Jerusalem would continue as usual. "Construction will continue in Jerusalem as has been the case over the past 42 years," Netanyahu told members of his Likud party. |
Pentagon eyes impact of Israel-Palestinian tension
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have an "enormous" effect where U.S. military forces operate in the Muslim world and are closely monitored, the U.S. general who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said on Tuesday. The comments by General David Petraeus, who heads U.S. Central Command, put a spotlight on the concerns among senior officers as they are drawing down U.S. forces in Iraq, carrying out a major troop surge in Afghanistan and preparing for a possible showdown with Iran over its nuclear program. |
Fateful choice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) March 17, 2010 - 12:00am In still another sign of the rapidly deteriorating relations between Israel and the US – a function of the Obama administration’s unwarranted and shocking overreaction to the Ramat Shlomo dispute – special Mideast envoy George Mitchell postponed his arrival here, originally slated for Tuesday. |
'Report demonizing Israel risks Presbyterian-Jewish ties'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by E.B. Solomont - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am American Jewish leaders are slamming a report by the Presbyterian Church USA that blames Israel for the “Palestinian resistance” and denounces companies doing business with Israel. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which circulated a memo to its member agencies and board of directors Monday, said the biased report reduced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a caricature, demonizing Israel and delegitimizing its right to exist as a Jewish state. |
Groups petition court for Gaza to W. Bank movement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Dan Izenberg - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Thirteen human rights organizations spearheaded by Hamoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual and Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement petitioned the High Court of Justice on Monday against a new Defense Ministry regulation severely restricting the right of Palestinians living in Gaza to move to the West Bank. |
Netanyahu's brother-in-law: Obama is an anti-Semite
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi on Wednesday called U.S. President Barack Obama an anti-Semite in an interview with Army Radio. "It's not that Obama doesn't like Bibi," he referring to Netanyahu using his nickname. "He doesn't like the nation of Israel." Netanyahu was quick to distance himself from Ben-Artzi's remarks, saying he completely disagrees with his brother-in-law. |
It's time for Netanyahu to say yes to Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) March 17, 2010 - 12:00am The cancellation of the visit by American envoy George Mitchell, who has been delegated to renew the diplomatic negotiations, embodies the slippery slope facing Israel during the past week. Even before completing the first year of his second term in office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to foment crises in two key strategic areas: the peace process with the Palestinians and relations with the United States. |
Israel's Titanic moment: Does Obama want Bibi's head?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) March 16, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas has designated this day, in this place, its Day of Rage. Why, then, the smiles on the faces of Mahmoud Zahar and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Perhaps it's because after more than 22 years of costly trial and error, Hamas has finally come upon the secret of how to bring down the Jewish state: Let the ship sink itself. This month, down here in the engine room of the Titanic, a single coherent order continues to sound from the officers shrouded in fog on the bridge: "More power!" |