Some in Congress uneasy with Obama's Mideast policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux, Paul Richter - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Reporting from Washington and Jerusalem -- Key U.S. lawmakers whose support is crucial to the Obama administration's Middle East peace effort are showing signs of unease with the administration's aggressive approach to Israel. Though they strongly support the peace initiative, many say they want the White House to back off its demand that the Israeli government halt all growth in Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory. Some members of Congress are also unhappy that the Obama administration has gone public in its dispute with Israel.

»

Americans Remain Skeptical About Middle East Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gallup
by Lydia Saad - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

With President Barack Obama seeking to engage the Arab world with his speech in Cairo, Americans' confidence that there will ever be peace in the Middle East is at near-record lows. Only 32% of U.S. adults surveyed by USA Today and Gallup in late May believe "there will come a time when Israel and the Arab nations will be able to settle their differences and live in peace"; 66% disagree.

»

Some Israeli, U.S. officials move to keep the volume down
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Stop the shouting, we're trying to get something done over here -- that's the message from some U.S. and Israeli officials after weeks of reports about widening divergences over the settlements. The first example came Tuesday in the form of an e-mail from a senior White House official to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for public policy groups.

»

Analysts See Growing US-Israeli Rift Over Settlements Issue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America
by Meredith Buel - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama is calling on Israel to stop construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In a speech at Cairo University, Mr. Obama says the building of settlements is undermining efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Obama's latest remarks highlight a growing rift between Israel and the United States. President Obama used unusually blunt language in calling on the Israeli government to stop expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

»

Netanyahu Will Comply With US Demands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Analysis) June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will back down. Another week, another month, and he will give into American pressure and will be forced to accept the two-state solution and also agree to some sort of concessions on settlements. So far there has been no real negotiation between Israel and the Obama administration, just an exchange of declarations. There are no personal links between the Prime Minister's Bureau and the White House. Only after Thursday, following the "conciliatory address" of U.S. President Barack Obama to the Arab and Muslim world in Cairo, will the real discussion begin.

»

Tensions in J'lem ahead of Obama's speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

Jerusalem will be listening intently along with the rest of the world to US President Barack Obama's speech Thursday in Cairo, hoping his outreach to the Muslim world does not come at Israel's expense. "Like everyone else we will be following the speech very closely," one senior official said Wednesday. While officials in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office did not see a draft of the speech, nor were they asked for their input, they were briefed on the overall content, the official said.

»

Baker’s Ghost in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Editorial) June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

I hope President Obama has been reading James Baker in preparation for his speech Thursday to the Muslim world. It was in the time of the former secretary of state, two decades ago, that the United States last had a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here’s what Baker told the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee — the pro-Israel lobby — on May 22, 1989: “For Israel, now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel.”

»

Obama on Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Thomas L. Friedman - (Editorial) June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

During a telephone interview Tuesday with President Obama about his speech to Arabs and Muslims in Cairo on Thursday, I got to tell the president my favorite Middle East joke. It gave him a good laugh. It goes like this:

»

Key U.S. Jews wary of Netanyahu's unbending policy on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nathan Guttman - June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

For the first time in America's decades of jousting with Israel over West Bank settlements, an American president seems to have succeeded in isolating the settlements issue and disconnecting it from other elements of support for Israel.

»

Obama plans to teach Netanyahu tough love
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Analysis) June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

Two weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Washington, on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, matters are becoming clearer. Israeli-American relations are entering their most serious tailspin in a decade - the decade since Netanyahu's previous term as prime minister.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017