Bibi and Obama: Could a Clash Be in the Offing?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - April 22, 2009 - 12:00am


Are they headed for a diplomatic divorce? Or can this relationship be saved? The growing number of differences between the new Obama administration and the newer Netanyahu government is coming into view at a sensitive time. American envoy George Mitchell seemed, during his recent Middle East visit, to draw attention to the apparent disconnect between his vision and Benjamin Netanyahu’s by making a mantra of the very policy that Netanyahu has declined to support — the “two-state solution.”


Connect Gaza and West Bank now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) April 22, 2009 - 12:00am


US presidential envoy George Mitchell is touring the region searching for signs of progress to report back to his boss and to move the peace process forward.


The Emanuel-Netanyahu Smackdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CQ Politics
by Craig Crawford - (Blog) April 20, 2009 - 12:00am


Imagine Rahm Emanuel and Benjamin Netanyahu in Monday Night Raw, WWE's weekly wrestler smackdown. Emanuel is laying down the law for Israel, making it clear that President Barack Obama wants West Bank territory returned to the Palestinians in exchange for U.S. help in dealing with Iran. Israeli tough guy Netanyahu pushed back. The White House responded by announcing that the President will be out of town for the Prime Minister's trip to Washington next month.


Netanyahu backtracks on Jewish state recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
April 20, 2009 - 12:00am


Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is not a pre-condition for holding peace negotiations. A statement issued Monday from the Prime Minister's Office said that without that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, Netanyahu believes "it will not be possible to advance the diplomatic process and reach a peace settlement. However, the prime minister has never set this as a pre-condition for the opening of negotiations and dialogue with the Palestinians."


US rejects Netanyahu’s peace talks condition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - April 20, 2009 - 12:00am


The United States rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people as a condition for renewing peace talks between the two sides, a report said yesterday. The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted the US State Department as saying in a press statement, during special envoy George Mitchell’s visits over the weekend to Ramallah and Cairo, that Netanyahu’s demand is unacceptable to the US and that the Palestinians need not recognize Israel as Jewish state before talks.


Peres to meet Obama before Netanyahu?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - April 20, 2009 - 12:00am


Will President Shimon Peres be the first Israeli leader to meet with US President Barack Obama at the White House? Such an option is being looked into in Washington these days, as Peres may replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and address the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. Netanyahu met with Peres during the Passover holiday, informed him that he would not be able to attend the AIPAC conference in early May, and asked him to represent Israel at the event in his place.


Reckoning nears for the US and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - April 18, 2009 - 12:00am


The moment of reckoning in US-Israeli relations is approaching much more quickly than could have been anticipated months ago, due to two related developments: the hard-line position of the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the obvious, but undeclared, linkages between progress in US-Iranian relations and progress in Arab-Israeli peace-making.


Reading Obama Wrong
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) April 17, 2009 - 12:00am


It seems to me that none of the key figures in the Israeli leadership (Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, or Minister of Defense Ehud Barak) "get" Barack Obama. This is no surprise. Israel was one of the only countries in the world that preferred Obama's opponents in the primaries and then in the general election. In fact, if Israelis could have chosen our President, they would have given George W. Bush a third term. (On the other hand, 78 percent of Jewish Americans voted for Obama last November).


ATFP Senior Fellow speaks at Towson University
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

ATFP senior fellow Hussein Ibish spoke at Towson University on April 16 on the subject of “a third intifada or peace?” Dr. Ibish told the audience that peace was vital to both the Israeli and Palestinian national interests, and that a “third intifada” might be a predictable outcome of the long-term failure of peace talks, but would likely be a disaster for both sides. “In contrast to the largely nonviolent first intifada, the militarized second intifada was a disaster for the Palestinian national movement” he said.


Mitchell Cites '02 Arab Plan For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am


White House envoy George J. Mitchell ended two days of talks here with little visible progress between Israelis and Palestinians, but with apparent assent from both sides to pursue peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.



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