June 3rd

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.

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Obama unexpectedly joins Barak-Jones meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon, Hilary Leila Krieger - June 2, 2009 - 12:00am

With the public spat between Jerusalem and Washington over construction in the settlements intensifying daily, US President Barack Obama dropped in unannounced on Defense Minister Ehud Barak while he was meeting National Security Adviser James Jones in the White House on Tuesday.

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Obama to tell Israel: Form new peace policy by July
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

United States President Barack Obama intends to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu four to six weeks to provide an "updated position" regarding construction in West Bank settlements and the two-state principle. Obama made a surprise appearance on Tuesday at a meeting Defense Minister Ehud Barak was holding in Washington, shortly before the U.S. leader was set to leave on a five-day trip to the Middle East.

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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:

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Jordan has the jitters over Palestinian state proposal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Suha Philip Ma’ayeh - June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

When Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, described a Right-wing parliamentarian’s proposal that Jordan serve as a Palestinian state as “baseless hallucination”, it did little to quell concern here. The proposal by Arieh Eldad, a member of the Knesset, last week sent a shudder through political circles and sparked calls for Jordan to abrogate its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

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Obama Plays Down Divide With Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper, Alan Cowell - June 2, 2009 - 12:00am

On the eve of a visit to the Middle East and Europe, President Obama on Tuesday played down a dispute with Israel over his demand for a suspension of further Jewish settlement in the West Bank but reiterated his call for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians that Israel’s hawkish leaders have not accepted.

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Obama and the Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

Either Barack Obama is the most intelligent president that has ever entered the White House, or he is trying his luck in his first presidential months by walking into the dangerous minefield, the Middle East. So far, it seems that everything he has done has been successful in a region in which hatred of everything American has become deep rooted since the era of Lyndon Johnson until today.

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Obama should recall Chicago on his tour
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama has an opportunity on his visits to several Arab countries this week to clarify American strategic aims and core policies in the Middle East. However, to do so he will have to make a few key decisions that his government has avoided to date. The most important on the conceptual level is to break free from the psychological chokehold of religion that continues to constrain American thinking vis-a-vis the Arab world and other Muslim-majority societies.

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June 2nd

AFTP Advocacy Director Joins Panel on "After the Visits: What Next for Middle East Peace?"
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - June 2, 2009 - 12:00am

On Monday, June 1, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, AFTP Advocacy Director Ghaith Al-Omari took part in the panel "After the Visits: What Next for Middle East Peace?" along with M.J. Rosenberg, the Director of Policy Analysis at the Israel Policy Forum, and Geoffrey Aronson, Director of Research and Publications at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The panel was co-sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, the Middle East Institute, the Israel Policy Forum, & the American Task Force on Palestine.


The U.S. and Israel remain divided on the issue of a settlement freeze (1) (2) (13), as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak begins meetings with U.S. officials in Washington (4). A clash between Hamas and Palestinian security forces over the weekend leaves six dead in the West Bank (3). Ex-Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters visits a Palestinian refugee camp and urges Israel to remove the West Bank separation barrier (8). Quartet envoy Tony Blair voices his optimism on the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough in the coming weeks (9). American officials oppose Israeli plans to build a new hotel near the Old City in Arab East Jerusalem (12). Israeli settler council accuses U.S. of using “political terror” (14).

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