July 9th

The Summit of Misleading ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Zuheir Kseibati - (Blog) July 9, 2010 - 12:00am One cannot deny Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s success in clearing his page with American President Barack Obama, assuming it was darkened not due to the killing of the Turks on the Freedom Flotilla, but also due to the embarrassment caused to the White House and the besieging of its efforts to revive the Palestinian negotiations track with an endless series of settlement projects. » Read more

Palestinians brace for US pressure after Netanyahu's White House visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - July 9, 2010 - 12:00am It's an axiom of Arab-Israeli peacemaking that the new rapport between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would leave Palestinians in an awkward spot. After the Obama administration pushed Mr. Netanyahu over the past year to rein in West Bank settlements, there are signals in the wake of Netanyahu's White House visit on Tuesday that US pressure could shift to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

What's lurking beneath the smiles at the Obama-Netanyahu lovefest? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) July 9, 2010 - 12:00am It finally had to happen, after several abortive efforts. A high-level US-Israel diplomatic lovefest occurred at the White House between Pres. Obama and PM Netanyahu on Tuesday. As both governments had a strong vested interest in making the event successful, it was all smiles, firm handshakes and affirmations of undying friendship. The word of the day was “excellent,” a term repeated ad nauseum by both leaders. » Read more

ISRAEL: Six years later, UN says barrier is still a big problem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) July 9, 2010 - 12:00am Six years ago, on July 9, 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague gave an advisory opinion on Israel's construction of a part-concrete, part-fence barrier running along its borders with the West Bank. The court stated that in addition to being "contrary to international law," the construction of the barrier does not justify Israel's security objectives. » Read more

The Israel-Turkey Imbroglio ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) July 9, 2010 - 12:00am NEW YORK — Here’s an intriguing nugget, given Turkey’s recent decision to close its airspace to Israeli military planes: When Israel attacked a covert Syrian nuclear reactor on Sept. 6, 2007, its bombers overflew Turkey. A former senior U.S. official who was intimately involved in handling the fallout from the raid told me Turkish officials raised the issue with Israel, were invited to discuss the matter, but in the end let it drop. Those were different times, before Turkish-Israeli ties entered their current poisonous phase. » Read more

Israel Vows to ‘Take Risks’ in Talks With Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Kyle Crichton, Isabel Kershner - July 9, 2010 - 12:00am Declaring that he intended to “confound the critics and the skeptics,” an upbeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told an audience of foreign policy experts in New York on Thursday that he was ready to begin direct peace talks with the Palestinians “next week” or even sooner. “Just get on with it,” he said. » Read more

Palestinians face being walled by Israeli security barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - July 9, 2010 - 12:00am Sixty-three-year-old Ahmed Bargouth sits in the shade of a walnut tree and contemplates the view before him. Across the valley is Jerusalem's zoo, which his grandchildren have never been able to visit, although they have watched animals through binoculars. » Read more

Bil'in leader remains in jail after term ends ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 9, 2010 - 12:00am Bethlehem - Ma'an - Bil'in protest leader Adeeb Abu Rahma is being held in Israeli custody until the prosecution's appeal against him is heard, despite having served his term in full, a statement read Friday. Abu Rahma, a taxi driver and organizer of the weekly anti wall protests in the central West Bank village of Bil'in near Ramallah, was sentenced to 12 months, a further 12 months of suspended sentence, and ordered to pay a fine on Thursday, in the first of a series of trials against Palestinian protest organizers. » Read more

July 8th

Obama: Mideast peace possible, but Israel is right to be skeptical ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz July 8, 2010 - 12:00am U.S. President Barack Obama has said there is hope for peace in the Middle East, but told Israeli media that is not "blindly optimistic". Israel is right to be skeptical about the peace process, he told Israeli television in a yet-to-be-aired interview that was taped on Wednesday. He noted during the interview that many people thought the founding of Israel was impossible, so its very existence should be a "a great source of hope." Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama The interview with the U.S. president took place a day after he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. » Read more

King for a day ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) July 8, 2010 - 12:00am A week ago Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's condition was nearly desperate. The Turkel committee became a committee with teeth liable to bite the prime minister, while State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss' scrutiny of the flotilla affair threatened to wound the prime minister. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman started making threats again and Defense Minister Ehud Barak continued to make trouble. Many observers are predicting that the government will start to disintegrate by September. » Read more