Israel: one step forward, two steps back
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) June 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu came within a hair’s breadth of endorsing the two-state solution and a sovereign Palestinian state. In a speech on Sunday night, he outlined what he called his “vision for peace”. It came as the Israeli prime minister was under immense pressure from the United States to freeze settlements and accept a two-state solution for Israel-Palestine. Yet Mr Netanyahu refused to do the former and paid only lip service to the latter.

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U.S. could yield on settlement freeze, says government source
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.S. administration is prepared to show flexibility on construction in West Bank settlements, a government source in Jerusalem says. The Americans will apparently not demand a full freeze on construction, but will agree that projects now underway can be completed, Israeli officials say. A week from Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with U.S. special envoy George Mitchell in Paris to discuss the details.

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Poll Shows Dip in American Voters’ Supporting Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
June 16, 2009 - 12:00am

American voters’ support for Israel has dropped 20 percent in the past nine months, a new survey found. Some 49 percent of American voters call themselves supporters of Israel, down from 69 percent last September, according to the poll conducted for The Israel Project. The number of voters who called themselves undecided rose during that same period, and the number of Palestinian supporters remained steady at 7 percent. The number of Israel supporters hit a low of 38 percent immediately following the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, with an equal rise in undecided voters.

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Israeli envoy hopeful for solution on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - June 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's incoming ambassador to the United States said Tuesday he was confident that his government will soon reach an agreement with Washington to allow some construction in West Bank settlements. President Barack Obama, seeking to restart Mideast peace talks, has called on Israel to halt all construction on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says existing settlements must be permitted to expand to accommodate natural growth in the populations.

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ANALYSIS / Netanyahu speech aimed solely for Obama's ears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Verter - (Analysis) June 15, 2009 - 12:00am

It nearly made one feel sorry for Benjamin Netanyahu, watching him progress through his speech, through an ocean of right-wing rhetoric full of national symbols, until he uttered two words: "Palestinian state" (which were followed by a third: "demilitarized"). These two words were uttered like a rotten tooth pulled from its socket without anesthesia. In spite all this, he lived.

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Netanyahu pushes one right button
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
(Editorial) June 15, 2009 - 12:00am

As a speech, it targeted headline writers with perfect accuracy. The words “Netanyahu”, “Palestinian” and “state” duly appeared in the same sentence, without the word “not”. But nothing in Sunday’s speech by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, suggests he believes that freedom for the Palestinians, in their own state, on their own land, is the key to peace and the long-term security of Israelis.

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Obama's resolve on Mideast facing a history of blunt reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - June 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Infuriated by pressure from Washington, Israel's prime minister summoned the American ambassador. "You have no moral right to preach to us," he lectured the envoy. "What kind of talk is this, 'punishing Israel'? Are we a vassal state of yours? Are we a banana republic?" That scolding was 28 years ago, but it echoes as a cautionary tale.

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Why Obama Should Keep the Heat on Israel ...
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) June 12, 2009 - 12:00am

The big question about Barack Obama has always been this: Is he a risk taker? Domestically, he answered it months ago with his massive stimulus package. On foreign policy, we only just learned the answer. By taking on the Israeli government over the issue of settlement growth, Obama is showing that he's a gambler overseas as well. Despite the conventional wisdom that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is impossible anytime soon, he seems hell-bent on pursuing one. And if he breaks china in the process, so be it.

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Obama and the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - June 11, 2009 - 12:00am

By virtually every measure—name, race, origins, and upbringing—Barack Hussein Obama was a revolutionary presidential candidate. In Mideast policy at least, there is little reason to imagine that he will be a revolutionary president. The radical break with traditional US policy came with the Bush administration, during which the US invaded and then occupied Iraq, shunned Syria, and engaged in an effort, at once ambitious and irresponsible, to reshape the region.

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Netanyahu cornered by hawks and Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Steven Gutkin - (Analysis) June 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attempt to narrow a growing divide with the Obama administration when he delivers a major policy speech in the coming days, his aides say — perhaps even endorsing the concept of a Palestinian state at the risk of alienating his hawkish coalition. In one curious twist, Netanyahu's message — and his room to maneuver — could be at least partially linked to the outcome of Friday's election in Iran.

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