Israeli, Palestinian leaders anxious
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am


A private session with President Barack Obama is a big diplomatic get — all the more so when it comes as world leaders are descending en masse on New York for the opening week of the United Nations General Assembly. But two foreign leaders seem apprehensive, to say the least, about their meeting with Obama on Tuesday: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.


In Mideast Peace Bid, Obama Pivots in His Demands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - September 22, 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.


Obama to Meet With Mideast Leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - September 20, 2009 - 12:00am


After a frustrating week of shuttle diplomacy here in which the Obama administration failed to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to renew peace talks, leaders of the two sides are heading to the United States to make their cases again that the administration should push the other harder.


Mitchell extends Middle East trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am


U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell has extended his trip to the region to Friday. Negotiations continue between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to see if they can reach an agreement on some sort of settlement freeze. Such an agreement is one key element needed to make way for the announcement of a relaunch of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.


Saudi Arabia: "Peace Built on Confidence-Building Measures Will Not Succeed"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
September 15, 2009 - 12:00am


In a response to a letter from the United States Congress to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud urging the kingdom to make a dramatic gesture towards Israel as a confidence building measure to promote peace, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel A. Al-Jubeir reiterated Saudi Arabia's position that an incremental approach to peace, or one built on confidence-building measures, will not succeed. “It has not succeeded over the past three decades and, we believe, will not succeed today.”


Normalisation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Nermeen Murad - (Opinion) September 14, 2009 - 12:00am


I don’t know exactly when and how the word “normalisation” came to signify visiting occupied Palestinian land or dealing with Palestinians. Ever since I can remember I have heard or read statements from professional associations lambasting one party or another for “normalising”. Of course I have yet to hear these professional associations lead a campaign on anything that has to do with their mandate as unions representing the rights of professionals, but that is another story for another day.


At the expense of peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - September 3, 2009 - 12:00am


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has put the Obama administration in an awkward position by demanding a total halt to Israeli settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He is simply echoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who initially called for a complete suspension of settlement activity, including completing, to accommodate “natural growth”, the 2,500 units under construction, and housing in East Jerusalem.


Peace will help keep Obama popular
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Steven W. Barnes, Nadia Bilbassy - August 31, 2009 - 12:00am


Two international opinion polls released this summer indicate that global views toward the US are improving – in no small part due to the election of Barack Obama as president. The polls, by the Pew Global Attitudes Project and worldpublicopinion.org, both stress that Obama is viewed positively in most of the countries surveyed, but questions remain in the Middle East about the direction of US policies.


Bibi in control until Obama calls settlements illegal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Alan Philps - (Opinion) August 27, 2009 - 12:00am


In June, Barack Obama declared to the consternation of Israel that “the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements”. Since then the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has chipped away at the principle of a total freeze on settlement building with what looks like increasing success.


US takes on Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme in one massive gamble
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ewen Macaskill - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am


The Obama administration's approach to two of the world's most intractable and dangerous problems, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme, is to link them together in the search for a solution to both. The new US strategy aims to use its Iran policy to gain leverage on Binyamin Netanyahu's government.



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