Palestinians hope Obama will push for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - May 18, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is hoping US President Barack Obama will exert pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at their meeting Monday to accept the two-state solution and halt settlement construction in the West Bank, a PA official in Ramallah said on Sunday. The official said that the Palestinians would not return to the negotiating table as long as Netanyahu remained opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

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Israeli leader tells pope of qualms about Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - May 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday that a Palestinian state backed by Iran would jeopardize Israel's security. He urged the Roman Catholic leader, who favors an independent Palestine, to turn his moral authority against Iran and its threats toward the Jewish state. The two leaders met in Nazareth for about 15 minutes, sharing views on the Middle East. "In him I think we found an attentive ear," Netanyahu said later.

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It's not up to Israelis to determine the status of Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) May 14, 2009 - 12:00am

As the summit between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches, most of the discussion has focused on whether or not the newly elected Israeli leader will finally say that he backs a two-state solution. This is the wrong approach. Israelis should not determine the status of the Palestinian entity, nor should Palestinians have a say in what Israelis call their own state.

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Netanyahu may be in for a surprise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) May 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli prime minister, is going to Washington on Monday for talks with President Barack Obama. But he may be in for a surprise. His host is not like any other seen in the White House in the last 50 years. In fact there hasn't been a US president like him since Dwight Eisenhower ordered Israel and its two European allies - Britain and France - to pull out of the Suez Canal, which they had invaded in 1956 after Egypt's popular president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the important waterway.

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Pope preaches against prejudice in Nazareth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
May 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Tens of thousands of Christians, among them many Arabs, attended the service in the north Israeli town of Nazareth, where Jesus is said to have grown up. Benedict later met Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after vocally backing the idea a Palestinian homeland. Mr Netanyahu does not support the idea of an independent Palestinian state. The German-born Pope's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories has sparked criticism from Jewish groups who say he did not condemn Nazi crimes strongly enough.

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visits Jordan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
May 14, 2009 - 12:00am

The previously unannounced trip is the Israeli leader's second this week. He went to Egypt on Monday, his first time on foreign soil since taking office. Mr Netanyahu is due in Washington for what are being seen as crucial talks with President Barack Obama on 18 May. The Jordanian ruler pressed the Israeli premier to endorse a Palestinian state which so far he has decline to do. A two-state solution based on independent is a goal strongly backed by the US and by Jordan and Egypt, Israel's only allies among Arab states.

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Poll: 58% of Israeli Jews Back Two-State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
May 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Some 58% of Israel's Jewish public backs the "two states for two peoples" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Smith Institute poll commissioned by Ynet revealed. The results are based on a representative sample of 500 respondents from the adult Israeli population. According to the poll, which was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled trip to Washington, 37% of Israeli Jews are opposed to the two-state solution, while five percent of those surveyed had no opinion on the matter.

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In Bethlehem, Pope Urges Lifting of Gaza Embargo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Alan Cowell, Rachel Donadio - May 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Pope Benedict XVI traveled Wednesday to this town that Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus, telling Palestinians that after decades of suffering, they had a right to a sovereign homeland “in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders.” Confronting the region’s political tripwires, he evoked “the loss, the hardship and the suffering” of Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, saying he prayed for the lifting of the economic embargo that Israel has imposed there since the militant group Hamas took control in 2007.

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Pope calls for Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
May 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Pope Benedict XVI has offered his support for the Palestinians' right to a homeland, as he continues a Middle East tour in the West Bank. Speaking in Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, the Pope called for a "just and lasting" peace in the region. He urged Palestinians not to resort to violence and terrorism. He then held a Mass in Bethlehem's Manger Square before visiting a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. One of the aims of the pontiff's visit is to preserve a diminishing Christian presence in the Holy Land.

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Benedict backs Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
May 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Standing in the cradle of Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinians on Wednesday he understands their suffering and offered the Vatican’s strongest and most symbolic public backing yet for an independent Palestinian state. To get to Jesus’ traditional birthplace of Bethlehem, Benedict had to cross through towering concrete slabs, part of a separation barrier Israel has erected to wall off the West Bank’s Palestinian areas.

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