Emanuel Says Obama Insists On Implementing Two State Solution, No Ifs, Ands, or Buts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by M.J. Rosenberg - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am Yedioth Achronoth, the largest circulation daily in Israel, reports today that President Obama intends to see the two-state solution signed, sealed and delivered during his first term. Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister." » Read more

New Liberal Jewish Lobby Quickly Makes Its Mark ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post April 17, 2009 - 12:00am When a group of Jewish liberals formed a lobbying and fundraising group called J Street a year ago, they had modest hopes of raising $50,000 for a handful of congressional candidates. Instead, the group's political arm ended up funneling nearly $600,000 to several dozen Democrats and a handful of Republicans in 2008, making it Washington's leading pro-Israel PAC, according to Federal Election Commission expenditure records. Organizers say 33 of the group's 41 favored House and Senate candidates won their races. » Read more

U.S.-Israel Divide Emerges On Palestinian Peace Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post April 17, 2009 - 12:00am Stark differences between U.S. and Israeli policy toward peace talks with the Palestinians emerged clearly Thursday in the first meetings between President Obama's Middle East envoy and top leaders of the new Israeli government. Former senator George J. Mitchell emphasized that the U.S. administration is aiming for creation of a Palestinian state. But the Israelis avoided mention of Palestinian statehood, and the new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said past Israeli concessions had led to violence, not peace. » Read more

U.S. envoy George Mitchell meets with Israeli foreign minister ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Jeffrey Fleishman, Batsheva Sobelman - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am Reporting from Cairo and Jerusalem — U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell met Thursday in Jerusalem with top Israeli officials to push for what at the moment appears unlikely: substantive talks between a divided Palestinian leadership and the new right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. » Read more

Nasrallah: Between the Guide and the Professor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Mshari Al-Zaydi - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am There is nothing new about this prolonged war between the Iranian camp and the Arab camp represented by Egypt and Saudi Arabia; it is a complex war that is composed of elements from politics and religion to culture and media. The most recent chapter of this war has revealed that there is a Hezbollah-affiliated cell on Egyptian territory, and Hassan Nasrallah admitted this himself even if he did underplay the significance of the cell leader by describing him as a “porter”. » Read more