PA: UN still goal for September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 25, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian leadership reaffirmed its goal to take the issue of statehood to the United Nations after a speech by the Israeli premier which failed to offer any new incentive to talk peace. In a 45-minute address to the US Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his vision of peace in a speech which pundits said contained nothing to deter the Palestinians from plans to seek UN recognition for their state later this year or to revive the moribund peace process. » Read more

Obama and Netanyahu: The scorecard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) May 24, 2011 - 12:00am Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu have now spent six days lecturing each other about the “realities” of the Middle East, either face-to-face or with Congress, the State Department or the AIPAC lobbying group as an audience. They have managed to focus the attention of Washington and much of the world on their differences over Palestinian statehood, and their evident animosity toward each other. So it’s worth asking: Did either of them accomplish anything positive? » Read more

Lessons From Tahrir Sq. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) May 24, 2011 - 12:00am Being back in Cairo reminds me that there are two parties in this region that have been untouched by the Arab Spring: the Israelis and the Palestinians. Too bad, because when it comes to ossified, unimaginative, oxygen-deprived governments, the Israelis and Palestinians are right up there with pre-revolutionary Egypt and Tunisia. I mean, is there anything less relevant than the prime minister of Israel going to the U.S. Congress for applause and the leader of the Palestinians going to the U.N. — instead of to each other? » Read more

In speech to Congress, Israel's Netanyahu offers few concessions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter - May 25, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a joint session of Congress he was prepared to make "painful compromises" for peace but he offered few of the concessions that President Obama has sought as a way to revive moribund Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Ending a tumultuous five-day visit to Washington, Netanyahu said Tuesday he was willing to give up "parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland" in negotiations to create a separate Palestinian state. But he set requirements that varied only slightly from his previous views, and he did not address many specific Palestinian demands. » Read more

Goldberg: Why Palestinians Have Time on Their Side ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) May 24, 2011 - 12:00am If I were a Palestinian (and, should there be any confusion on this point, I am not), and if I were the sort of Palestinian who believed that Israel should be wiped off the map, then I would be quite pleased with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s performance before Congress this morning. I would applaud Netanyahu for including no bold initiatives that would have suggested to the world that Israel is alive to the threat posed by its seemingly eternal occupation of the West Bank. » Read more

Lessons From Tahrir Sq. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) May 24, 2011 - 12:00am Being back in Cairo reminds me that there are two parties in this region that have been untouched by the Arab Spring: the Israelis and the Palestinians. Too bad, because when it comes to ossified, unimaginative, oxygen-deprived governments, the Israelis and Palestinians are right up there with pre-revolutionary Egypt and Tunisia. I mean, is there anything less relevant than the prime minister of Israel going to the U.S. Congress for applause and the leader of the Palestinians going to the U.N. — instead of to each other? » Read more

Netanyahu Gives No Ground in Congress Speech ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Helene Cooper - May 24, 2011 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, broadly laying out the Israeli response to President Obama’s peace proposals, called on the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday to accept what Mr. Netanyahu framed as a tenet: that Palestinians will not get a right of return to Israel. In so doing, he made clear that he was giving no ground on the major stumbling blocks to a peace agreement. » Read more