Souvenir photo at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) September 25, 2009 - 12:00am

No concrete results were expected from the September 22 meeting held at the United Nations by US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. This marks the end of phase 1 of Obama’s intriguing foray into Arab-Israeli peacemaking.

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A vision exists for Middle East peace – it's 423 pages long
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Globe and Mail
by Patrick Martin - September 24, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the United Nations this week, refusing to give up on Middle East peace in spite of the failure of his emissary, George Mitchell, to find enough common ground between the two sides to justify a summit with Mr. Obama. If there ever is to be a two-state solution to the 61-year conflict, the final treaty will look a lot like a 423-page blueprint released last week.

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Can Obama make Middle East peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Jeremy Bowen - September 24, 2009 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama is good at making speeches. His best ones create a powerfully seductive political mood that change is coming, not just at home but in the way the United States does business with the rest of the world. His address to the UN General Assembly showed, once again, not just his rhetorical skill but his understanding of the forces that drive international affairs. But his speeches cannot answer the biggest question about Mr Obama's leadership: can he translate fine words into concrete actions?

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Trilateral talks head on path to nowhere
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 24, 2009 - 12:00am

In fall 2001, assigned as a State Department adviser to Middle East envoy Tony Zinni, I asked the general why he wanted to ruin a brilliant career by taking on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Smiling, he replied that he liked hopeless causes. In that case, I said, he’d come to the right place. Tuesday’s three-way meeting in New York among President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas strongly suggests that after six months of hard labor, another great American — George Mitchell — is being ground up in the maw of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Obama has joined the Arabs in falling for Netanyahu’s trap
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Emile Hokayem - (Opinion) September 24, 2009 - 12:00am

The Arab press has few good words for the US president Barack Obama’s recent performance on the Israeli-Palestinian front. Abdel Bari Atwan, the incomparable editor of the pan-Arab daily Al Quds al Arabi, wrote that it amounted to an outright surrender to the conditions of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of a meeting that brought the two men and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas together on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Elsewhere, the tone is less venomous but the bitterness is unmistakable.

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More Than Just a Photo-Op
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Daniel Levy - (Analysis) September 24, 2009 - 12:00am

Headlines are now being prepared following U.S. President Barack Obama's convening of a trilateral Israeli-Palestinian-American peace summit today in New York. Many will seek to belittle the president's efforts thus far. The summit was being dismissed as a photo-op before it even happened.

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Abbas says Israel must keep 2008 word
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Waked - September 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that Israel must honor agreements on borders and Jerusalem which he says its government made in 2008 talks with the Palestinians if stalled peace negotiations are to resume. Speaking after talks with US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Abbas also repeated Palestinian insistence that Israel halt settlement building in the territories, including east Jerusalem.

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White House Pivots in Mideast Peace Bid
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The New York Times - September 23, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama, who has met immovable resistance from Israel over his demand for a full freeze on settlements in the West Bank, is largely setting that issue aside as a first step toward restarting Middle East peace talks.

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A Middle East Handshake
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) September 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The Summit President Obama convened Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fell well short of the administration's hopes. Mr. Obama had wanted to announce agreement on the opening of talks on the creation of a Palestinian state, with a deadline of two years. He wanted to outline agreements on how those negotiations would proceed and some of the principles that would underpin them.

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President Obama enters the Mideast fray
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Los Angeles Times - September 23, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama, exasperated by the disappointing course of Mideast peace efforts, urged Israelis and Palestinians on Tuesday to reapply themselves, even though eight months of intensive American engagement has failed to return the parties to the negotiating table. Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at a New York hotel ahead of a United Nations session, stepping personally into the process and offering an unusually blunt message.

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