Biden urges Israel to work for a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - May 6, 2009 - 12:00am

Vice President Joe Biden called on Israeli officials Tuesday to work harder for creation of a Palestinian state and to halt growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Biden, speaking at a conference sponsored by an influential pro-Israel lobby, said the Obama administration was committed to a new direction in Middle East peace efforts because "the status quo of the last decade has not served the interests of the United States, or Israel, very well."

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Blair: New Mideast peace plan unveiled in weeks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
May 6, 2009 - 12:00am

The Obama administration and international negotiators are drafting a new strategy for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and expect to unveil it within six weeks, said international Mideast envoy Tony Blair. The plan is being devised by the Obama administration, with input from others, the former British prime minister told Palestinian reporters.

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'Arabs revising peace plan to win Israel backing for 2 states'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoav Stern - May 6, 2009 - 12:00am

Arab states are revising elements of a 2002 peace plan to encourage Israel to agree to the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state, the London-based paper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday. The countries are making the amendments at United States President Barack Obama's request, the paper said. Some of the changes deal with a controversial "right of return" for Palestinian refugees to Israel or a future state of Palestine.

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AIPAC Confronts A New Reality as Obama’s Agenda Becomes Clear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - May 6, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington — “You’re not going to like my saying this,” Vice President Joe Biden told 6,000 delegates from the podium of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference — a spot that politicians usually vie over vigorously for the privilege of telling the crowd what they want to hear.

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Blair Says Resolving Mideast Conflict Critical to Curbing Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Gwen Ackerman, Jonathan Ferziger - May 6, 2009 - 12:00am

Middle East envoy Tony Blair said resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would remove a toxic barrier between the West and Islamic nations and help deal with the nuclear threat from Iran. Peace in the region would “hugely help in resolving this bigger problem” and remove an “issue which puts such a poison into the relationship between the West, Israel, if you like, and the world of Islam,” the former British prime minister said yesterday in an interview in Jerusalem.

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Palestinians say Netanyahu 'ambiguous'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
May 5, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that the position on the peace process outlined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to an influential US lobby group is "ambiguous." "The statements by the Israeli prime minister to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are ambiguous and insufficient," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said. Netanyahu called Monday for a "fresh" triple-track approach to peace with the Palestinians that includes an immediate resumption of talks without conditions.

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Don't bet much on a US-Israel showdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by George Giacaman - (Opinion) May 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no political rookie. Nor is US President Barack Obama bereft of a battery of advisers with experience on how to deal with Israel. One expects that both will try to avoid a showdown as much as possible even if for different reasons. Netanyahu is due to visit the United States in May and the outlines of his

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Netanyahu: Ready for peace talks now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel is prepared to resume peace negotiations with the Palestinians without any delay and without any preconditions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday night, speaking from Israel via satellite to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference. The prime minister said he believed that "with the help of (US President Barack) Obama and (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas, we can defy the skeptics, we can surprise the world."

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Obama, Peres Discuss Israeli-Palestinian Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - May 5, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama's meeting with Shimon Peres this afternoon marked a first step in the new administration's relationship with Israel. But it comes at a time when the two governments disagree sharply over what constitutes the biggest long-term threat to the Jewish state and how best to achieve peace in the region.

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AIPAC delegates lobby for two-state solution
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Arab News - May 5, 2009 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON: To thunderous applause, former Republican House leader Newt Gingrich attacked President Barack Obama’s policies in the Middle East, promoted military action against Iran, and assailed diplomatic engagement as weakness at the American Israel Political Action Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference in Washington. Just before he went on stage late yesterday, Gingrich told The Jerusalem Post that the president’s policy with Israel and Iran was a “fantasy” and that Obama was “endangering Israel” by trying to work toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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