Israeli settlement crisis clouds Mideast talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Arshad Mohammed - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Middle East mediators from Europe, the United States, Russia and the U.N. met on Friday seeking to defuse the latest crisis in peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. "All of us today hope to arrive at some common conclusions which will help to promote the beginning of a dialogue between the two sides," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the start of talks. » Read more

US imposes Gaza sanctions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 19, 2010 - 12:00am The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday against two firms in Gaza - Islamic National Bank and al-Aqsa Television - for their ties to the ruling Hamas movement. The Treasury said the sanctions prohibit Americans from transactions with the entities and seek to freeze any assets they may have under US jurisdiction. The Treasury lists Hamas, which rules Gaza, as a "specially designated global terrorist" organization. » Read more

Foreign Ministry: Israel must throw off mantle of 'apartheid state' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews (Analysis) March 19, 2010 - 12:00am A senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday reinforced the need for Israel to shake off the mantle of "the new apartheid state" and redefine itself to the international community, at a conference held at The College of Management – Academic Studies (COMAS) in Rishon Lezion. » Read more

Israeli settlements threaten world security ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nathan Gardels - (Interview) March 18, 2010 - 12:00am Nathan Gardels: Let’s go back to basics. It is clear that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict stands at the center of what motivates so much terrorism against the United States. In this context, the Netanyahu ( Israeli) government’s insistence on expanding settlements – despite President Obama’s high profile promise to stop them in his Cairo speech – does more than undermine US credibility. Isn’t it, fundamentally, against US strategic interests? » Read more

Shas Journal: Obama is 'a stone-throwing Palestinian' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yair Ettinger - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am The official Shas journal "Day to Day" published Thursday an editorial depicting United States President Barack Obama as "a Palestinian stone throwing youth in East Jerusalem, and not a strategic leader." The journal editorial was published in response to Obama's interview on Fox News Thursday morning, during which he criticized Minister of Interior affairs and Shas chairman Eli Yishai for the administrative decision to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. » Read more

Jerusalem construction is now a national obsession ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Doron Rosenblum - (Opinion) March 19, 2010 - 12:00am It is doubtful that anyone in the present administration in the White House, or anywhere in the world, has the patience or desire to get to the bottom of the motives behind the Netanyahu government. But those who nonetheless want to understand what makes the prime minister tick should look at the photographs of the happy and ostensibly non-political event that fell into the lap of the extended Netanyahu family this week: the victory of Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu's son Avner in the National Bible Quiz. » Read more

How Obama created the Biden incident ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am And a gaffe it was: the announcement by a bureaucrat in Israel's Interior Ministry of a housing expansion in a Jewish neighborhood in north Jerusalem. The timing could not have been worse: Vice President Biden was visiting, Jerusalem is a touchy subject, and you don't bring up touchy subjects that might embarrass an honored guest. But it was no more than a gaffe. It was certainly not a policy change, let alone a betrayal. The neighborhood is in Jerusalem, and the 2009 Netanyahu-Obama agreement was for a 10-month freeze on West Bank settlements excluding Jerusalem. » Read more

U.S. to send envoy back to Mideast as Israel moves to smooth relations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am In an effort to defuse a bitter spat with the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday night to propose confidence-building measures to get Middle East peace talks back on track, U.S. and Israeli officials said. » Read more

Netanyahu thought he could take Obama, and lost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is quite right. As he said in his speech at the Knesset on Monday while greeting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, over the last four decades, every single Israeli government has built Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. No prime minister, from the right, left or center, has ever caved to international pressure and agreed to curtail the development of the capital east of the Green Line. » Read more

Israeli Suggests Steps to Aid Peace Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mark Landler - March 18, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, under intense pressure from the United States to settle a diplomatic dispute over Jewish settlements, called Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton late Thursday to propose what he called a package of “mutual confidence building” steps to be taken by Israelis and Palestinians to help restart peace negotiations. The Obama administration will “review the prime minister’s response and continue our discussions with both sides,” Philip J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement. » Read more