Mitchell associate: Obama won't rush to press Bibi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 18, 2009 - 12:00am


US President Barack Obama will not rush to press Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their upcoming meeting, a close associate of Special Mideast Envoy George Mitchell said Sunday. "No winning strategy begins with a punch in the nose," the source said, adding that Netanyahu can expect a "business-like meeting, highlighting the common" between the two countries. Meanwhile, former Bush Administration official Elliott Abrams estimated that the first minute or two of Monday's meeting may determine the chemistry between both leaders.


Obama Tells Netanyahu He Has an Iran Timetable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg - May 18, 2009 - 12:00am


President Obama said Monday that he expected to know by the end of the year whether Iran was making “a good-faith effort to resolve differences” in talks aimed at ending its nuclear program, signaling to Israel as well as Iran that his willingness to engage in diplomacy over the issue has its limits. “We’re not going to have talks forever,” Mr. Obama told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel after a two-hour session in the Oval Office. The president added that he did not intend to foreclose “a range of steps” if Iran did not cooperate.


Middle East status quo likely to remain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Mohammad Akef Jamal - (Opinion) May 18, 2009 - 12:00am


On face value, US-Israeli relations appear to be at an all-time low. Strong points of disagreement between the two countries are threatening to rise to the surface. The two new administrations do not seem to agree about which issue needs to be dealt with first in the Middle East - the Palestinian conflict or the Iranian nuclear controversy. The US has urged the new Israeli far-right government to accept a 'two-state' solution and work for the creation of a Palestinian state, which is a continuation of the former Bush administration's agenda that was not put into practice.


US-Israel gap is widening
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Pascal Boniface - (Opinion) May 15, 2009 - 12:00am


The American-Israeli strategic partnership differs from any other one. Usually when a great power grants protection and strategic guarantees - not to mention massive economic help - to a minor partner, the latter is eager to satisfy its protector's demands. During the Cold War it would have been impossible for Germany to reject Washington's requirements on a major issue. Germans were too frightened to see a weakening of the United States' strategic umbrella against the Soviet Union. The same goes for Japan.


U.S. officials: Two states for two peoples is not an empty slogan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - May 15, 2009 - 12:00am


Israel's commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state will be a major focus of the upcoming talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, senior American officials have said in internal discussions over the past few days. The officials stressed that the two-state principle was "not an empty slogan."


It's not up to Israelis to determine the status of Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) May 14, 2009 - 12:00am


As the summit between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches, most of the discussion has focused on whether or not the newly elected Israeli leader will finally say that he backs a two-state solution. This is the wrong approach. Israelis should not determine the status of the Palestinian entity, nor should Palestinians have a say in what Israelis call their own state.


Netanyahu may be in for a surprise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) May 14, 2009 - 12:00am


Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli prime minister, is going to Washington on Monday for talks with President Barack Obama. But he may be in for a surprise. His host is not like any other seen in the White House in the last 50 years. In fact there hasn't been a US president like him since Dwight Eisenhower ordered Israel and its two European allies - Britain and France - to pull out of the Suez Canal, which they had invaded in 1956 after Egypt's popular president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the important waterway.


Ex-diplomats, U.S. Jews urge Obama to push two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - May 14, 2009 - 12:00am


A number of leftist Jewish groups and former diplomats have urged United States President Barack Obama to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Washington. Four former U.S. ambassadors and officials of a left-leaning Jewish organization sent a letter to Obama on Wednesday asserting that there was a broad consensus within the American Jewish community and among policymakers in support of an active U.S. role in assisting the sides to reach such a solution.


Obama to Confront Israeli Settlement Surge in Netanyahu Meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Jonathan Ferziger - May 14, 2009 - 12:00am


On a West Bank plateau overlooking the desert road to Jericho, crews are building cottages and paving streets for a new neighborhood in Maale Adumim, Israel’s biggest settlement. A town of 35,000 with a suburban-style shopping mall, Maale Adumim is one of about two dozen settlements Israel is expanding in the face of demands from U.S. and European leaders to halt construction. The push has helped increase the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, where Palestinians hope to create a state, by 40 percent in the last seven years to almost 300,000.


Netanyahu to Meet Obama as U.S. Priorities Shift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - May 14, 2009 - 12:00am


The last time Benjamin Netanyahu met an American president as Israel’s new leader, in 1996, it did not go well. Mr. Netanyahu lectured President Bill Clinton about Arab-Israeli relations, aides recalled, driving Mr. Clinton into a profane outburst after his guest left. Mr. Netanyahu is likely to avoid a repeat of that when he meets President Obama at the White House on Monday. But the relationship between Israel and the United States has become more unsettled since Mr. Obama took office.



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