Time for a Real National Coalition for Middle East Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) June 6, 2009 - 12:00am For years now, my colleagues and I at the American Task Force on Palestine have been arguing that everyone who believes in a negotiated end-of-conflict agreement in the Middle East that allows for two states, Israel and Palestine, to live side-by-side in peace need to form a real, functioning national coalition to support this goal. » Read more

Davis: Does Israel Need Obama's Tough Love ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Lanny Davis - (Analysis) June 8, 2009 - 12:00am I thought President Obama's speech in Cairo was eloquent and historic and could well be regarded as one of the most important foreign policy speeches ever made by any U.S. president. Some American Jews do not like Mr. Obama in his speech publicly calling out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to support a two-state solution and a freeze on all settlements. My answer is: Why is this? Mr. Netanyahu is breaking not only with the policies of three prior presidents but of three prior Israeli prime ministers. » Read more

The Divisions Among Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) June 6, 2009 - 12:00am As President Obama was arriving in Cairo on Thursday to urge the Middle East toward peace, Hamas militants in the West Bank city of Qalqilya were fighting a gun battle against Palestinian Authority forces in which three men were killed. Israel Radio was reporting that settler extremists had sent letters to an Israeli general threatening him and his children, and comparing the forces that remove settler outposts with the Jewish councils obliged to collaborate with the Nazis. » Read more

Netanyahu to Outline Thinking on Peace, Security ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) June 7, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a "major diplomatic speech" to outline his government's "principles for achieving peace and security." Netanyahu announced the speech, planned for next week, at the beginning of Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting. » Read more

Obama Pins Mideast Hope on Limiting Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) June 5, 2009 - 12:00am Iran seems to be hurtling toward nuclear weapons capacity, Hezbollah could win Sunday’s election in Lebanon and Hamas is smuggling long-range rockets into Gaza again. So why is President Obama focusing such attention on the building of homes by Israeli Jews in the West Bank? » Read more

As U.S. Presses Israel, EU May Join Fray ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - June 5, 2009 - 12:00am A day after President Barack Obama told Israel its key ally would no longer tolerate building settlements in the West Bank, the European Union was considering using its trade clout to bolster U.S. pressure, diplomats said. The EU is the Jewish state's biggest trading partner and one option it may have is to crack down on fruit, vegetables, olive oil and other farm produce grown by Israeli settlers on occupied Palestinian land. Some European governments have long suspected such products are entering the EU at low import tariffs reserved for output labeled as coming from Israel proper. » Read more

Clinton Rejects Israeli Claims of Accord on Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - June 6, 2009 - 12:00am Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton forcefully rejected yesterday Israeli claims that the Bush administration had secretly agreed to expanding Jewish settlements on the West Bank, deepening the impasse between the two countries. "We have the negotiating record, that is the official record, that was turned over to the Obama administration by the outgoing Bush administration," Clinton told reporters after meeting with her Turkish counterpart in Washington. "There is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements." » Read more