Hillary Clinton to Embark upon Uphill Mideast Mission
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Xinhua - October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank this weekend. This will be her second visit to the region since Barack Obama entered office as U.S. president some 10 months ago. Coming at a time when relations between Israel and the Palestinians show no outward sign of improvement, analysts see Hillary's visit to be a tough mission and do not expect it to achieve much. A NEGATIVE BACKDROP

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Israel is unlikely to yield
Media Mention of ATFP In Gulf News - October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Top aides of the Obama administration have this month been quietly stoking the peace process fire, raising expectations that the American president, whose popularity remains relatively high, may now be willing to go beyond gentle rapping Israeli knuckles. The ball started rolling when Barack Obama's National Security Advisor General James L. Jones addressed the Fourth Annual Gala of the American Task Force on Palestine on October 15.

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The New York Times looks at how Palestinian women's soccer teams are fighting for both gender equality and national independence. The Boston Globe calls on Israel to stop provocative excavations in Jerusalem. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the city must serve as a capital for both states and calls for reconstruction in Gaza. Numerous articles examine the significance of the first annual conference of the new pro-peace, pro-Israel organization J Street. Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon says he will avoid visiting Europe for fear of arrest, and Israel's ambassador to the UN says the Goldstone report will remain a problem even if an internal investigation is launched. Seth Freeman argues that greater cooperation between the IDF and extremist settlers shows the growth of religious-nationalist politics in Israel.

Hillary Clinton to embark upon uphill Mideast mission
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank this weekend. This will be her second visit to the region since Barack Obama entered office as U.S. president some 10 months ago. Coming at a time when relations between Israel and the Palestinians show no outward sign of improvement, analysts see Hillary's visit to be a tough mission and do not expect it to achieve much. A NEGATIVE BACKDROP

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Israel is unlikely to yield
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Top aides of the Obama administration have this month been quietly stoking the peace process fire, raising expectations that the American president, whose popularity remains relatively high, may now be willing to go beyond gentle rapping Israeli knuckles. The ball started rolling when Barack Obama's National Security Advisor General James L. Jones addressed the Fourth Annual Gala of the American Task Force on Palestine on October 15.

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The J Street Challenge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

J Street’s coming out party was an exuberant, over-subscribed success. Now come the challenges. And they come from all directions. The scope and depth of attendees at J Street’s first-ever conference — from participants who lined the walls of packed rooms to well-placed speakers from the American and Israeli governments — proved that the new, scrappy liberal lobby is a force to be reckoned with.

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UN envoy: Goldstone won't go away
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Aviad Glickman - October 28, 2009 - 12:00am

The Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead will not go away even if Israel launches an independent inquiry into the campaign, UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said Wednesday. "There are no legal questions here – and we shouldn't be deluding ourselves that the report will disappear if we launch a probe," Shalev said during a discussion held at the Israel Democracy Institute. "We are seeing a murky wave against the State of Israel the likes of which has not been seen in many years."

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J Street, Now a Player, Inches Toward the Center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Three days in October catapulted J Street from the sidelines of the Jewish community to the centerfield of major organizations. After winning, in its first national conference, the stamp of approval from the Obama administration and from many in Congress, J Street is ready to cash in on its initial success. But for J Street, the transformation from being the new kid on the block to becoming a serious player in the pro-Israel advocacy field also entails some growing pains.

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UN chief calls on Israel to back Gaza reconstruction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel Wednesday to back the reconstruction of Gaza, deploring conditions there nearly a year after a devastating Israeli military offensive. “Ten months after hostilities ended in Gaza, we see no progress on reconstruction or the re-opening of borders,” he said at a news conference. Ban said 4.5 billion dollars in reconstruction aid had been pledged at a donors conference in Egypt in March but “little if any of that money has been delivered.”

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Driving up J Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Michelle Goldberg - (Opinion) October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Security guards blocked the doors to several of the panels at J Street's first annual conference this week – because the rooms were so packed it would have been illegal to let any more people in. A discussion entitled "The need for a regional comprehensive approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict" was so popular that the organisers decided to repeat it. (One of the speakers, Jordanian ambassador Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, remarked that it was the first time in decades of panel participation that he'd been asked for an encore.)

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