George W. Bush

Obama’s Israel Policy Showing No Difference With Clinton-Bush
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Bloomberg - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama clashed so often and so publicly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the first 16 months of his tenure that one Israeli newspaper reported Netanyahu believed Obama wanted a confrontation to improve U.S. ties to the Arab world. Then on May 31 came a moment that former U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk says showed the real nature of Obama’s policy toward Israel: the deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza that unleashed a torrent of international criticism and a move in the United Nations to censure the Jewish state.

ANALYSIS-UN rebukes of Israel permitted in US policy shift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Louis Charbonneau - June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation. The subtle but noticeable shift in the U.S. approach to its Middle East ally comes amid what some analysts describe as one of the most serious crises in U.S.-Israeli relations in years. Under Obama, the United States seeks to reclaim its role as an impartial Middle East peace broker which critics say it lost during the previous administration of George W. Bush.

Resources on the American National Security Interest in Israeli-Palestinian Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ziad Asali - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

My colleagues and I founded the American Task Force on Palestine in 2003 with a clear, focused mission: to advocate that a negotiated end of conflict agreement that allows for two states, Israel and Palestine, to live side-by-side in peace and security is in the American national interest. Over the past seven years, we have been gratified by the development of the understanding that this is a vital national interest for our country into a clear policy focus for our government and a growing consensus within the foreign policy establishment.

The False Religion of Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am

On October 18, 1991, against long odds and in front of an incredulous press corps, U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin announced that Arabs and Israelis were being invited to attend a peace conference in Madrid.

Behind the Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Interest
by Daniel Kurtzer - (Analysis) March 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Ariel Sharon was considered the godfather of the Israeli settlements movement. His ardent support of settlements construction and the legitimacy he lent to the strategic argument for settlements as a means of enhancing Israeli security were vital to the success of the enterprise, particularly in the years after he left the Israeli military for politics. Sharon’s basic argument revolved around security. During my time as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Sharon would often hold forth on the rationale for and his own role in the planning of new settlements.

Obama's second try at Mideast peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) January 14, 2010 - 1:00am

Last year, the Obama administration urged Israel and Arab players in the region to take several interim steps that might create enough confidence to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. For lack of sufficient step-taking by all sides, it didn’t work. Rather than regroup and suggest another series of steps – because that’s how progress in the Middle East tends to move, incrementally – the administration is now looking to take a giant leap forward.

When Obama took his eyes off the [Palestine] ball
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) December 31, 2009 - 1:00am

For a few minutes on Sunday I wondered what would have happened if I was reading rather than listening to US President Barack Obama’s statement from Hawaii. The US president took time off his Christmas vacation to speak about the incident that occurred on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Had I not heard his voice and seen his picture, I would have thought that the speaker was none other than former US president George W. Bush. What has happened to Obama in less than one year?

Why Palin and Huckabee Dig Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Noam Neusner - (Opinion) December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The Republican field for 2012 is beginning to stretch its legs. Not surprisingly, presidential hopefuls have started to define themselves by what they are not: Barack Obama.

Israel & Palestine: Can They Start Over?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - (Analysis) November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

1. The idea of Israeli–Palestinian partition, of a two-state solution, has a singular pedigree. It has been proposed for at least eight decades. Jews first accepted it as Palestinians recoiled; by the time Palestinians warmed to the notion in the late 1980s, Israelis had turned their backs. Still, its proponents manage to portray it as fresh, new, and capable of leading to peace. International consensus on a two-state agreement is, today, stronger than ever. Meanwhile, interest among the two parties most directly concerned wanes and prospects for achieving it diminish.

The Obama Presidency and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brandeis University Crown Center for Middle East Studies
by Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

The first ten months of the Obama administration’s efforts to achieve a breakthrough in Arab-Israeli peacemaking have led to widespread disappointment among Palestinians and to growing anxiety among Israelis. Inevitably, this unsatisfactory interim report card is partly a result of the high expectations created by President Barack Obama himself, during the presidential campaign as well as in his inaugural address and following his inauguration.

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