Savir's Corner: The day after
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Editorial) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am With the historic visit of President Barack Obama to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan at the end of the month, it seems that leaders in our region are thinking along the lines of “life before Obama” and “life after Obama.” One can safely assume that both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas cannot wait for the day the American president returns to Washington. |
Obama in Israel: Can he overcome low expectations?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Yisrael Medad - (Editorial) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Later this month, President Obama will visit Israel, a country intended by an act of international law to be the reconstituted Jewish national home. The visit will be highly charged, but at the same time, many Israelis have low expectations for what could come of it. |
Obama in Israel: The start of a new era?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Israel, I fear, is on a suicidal path: It could cease to be the democratic home of the Jewish people. |
Obama is promoting, not proposing, peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am resident Barack Obama plans to go to the Middle East in two weeks, and the Israeli Left and the Palestinians are praying he’ll be bringing an American peace initiative. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Right are praying he won’t. Even if he wanted to, President Obama knows another US peace push wouldn’t work. All the rhetoric aside – and it really is little more than rhetoric – neither side is interested in, much less ready for, serious peace talks. |
Erdogan Wins Palestinian Hearts and Minds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Adnan Abu Amer - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn't need to declare a connection between Zionism and racism to gain popularity among Palestinians. |
To win the war of opinions, Zionists must be critical friends of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Samuel Lebens - (Opinion) March 5, 2013 - 1:00am The well-known columnist Melanie Philips once argued that there is a basic inconsistency between claiming to be a friend of Israel while engaging in public criticism of its government. She calls it “self-destructive stupidity”. I assume that Philips will agree that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a friend of Israel even when he was a very vocal leader of the opposition, vocally criticizing Israeli government policy. So what did she actually mean? |
AIPAC is an awe-inspiring organization, but the right-wing tilt is in its DNA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am Regardless of one’s political convictions - whether you believe Israel is warmonger or peace seeker, aggressor or defender, victim or victimizer, hero or villain, sinner or saint – the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference is a sight to be seen, a pageant to behold, a formidable spectacle that cannot be ignored. |
Hamas as ‘terrorist’ organization hampers peace process: James Baker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya March 5, 2013 - 1:00am One solution to promote peace between Palestinians and Israelis is to have non-Hamas members from the Gaza Strip negotiating peace, a former U.S. official told Al Arabiya. “Israel and the United States will not work with Hamas because it is seen to be a terrorist organization,” James Baker, who served as the Chief of Staff in the final year of the administration of President George H.W. Bush said. |
The (Very) Quiet Peace Talks Between Israel and Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by Efraim Halevy - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am The recent news out of the Middle East has been grim. But, if there's an atmosphere of pessimism in the international press, that's because the real story hasn't been earning any attention—intentionally so. We can all read about Hamas's daily maligning of Israel, and its promises to put an end to Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land, just as we can read about Israeli officials continuing to demand that Hamas recognize the right of Israel (including Jerusalem) to exist, knowing full well that no devout Muslim has ever done so, or can ever do so. |