June 16th

Netanyahu pushes one right button ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times (Editorial) June 15, 2009 - 12:00am As a speech, it targeted headline writers with perfect accuracy. The words “Netanyahu”, “Palestinian” and “state” duly appeared in the same sentence, without the word “not”. But nothing in Sunday’s speech by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, suggests he believes that freedom for the Palestinians, in their own state, on their own land, is the key to peace and the long-term security of Israelis. » Read more

PM insists life in W. Bank won't freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post June 16, 2009 - 12:00am A day after US President Barack Obama repeated his demand for a cessation of settlements, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reiterated the Israeli settlement policy, which will not expand the territory of Jewish West Bank locales, but at the same time enable the Israelis living there "normal life" until a final agreement is reached, including expanding infrastructures in accordance to natural growth. » Read more

Israel sees deal soon with Obama over settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - June 16, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is negotiating a deal with Washington under which Israeli building in existing Jewish settlements could go forward in certain cases, Israeli and Western officials said on Tuesday. In talks with U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, Netanyahu has asserted that his government does not have the legal authority to stop building in cases in which tenders for new structures have already been awarded or when homes under construction have already been purchased. » Read more

The Ball is in the Air ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq Alhomayed - June 16, 2009 - 12:00am The American and European response to the speech made on Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he gave his opinion on the peace plan and the Palestinian state project was one of cautious optimism. The American and European statements were concise and cautious, Washington said that "the President welcomes this important step forward" and that "there is a long way to go" towards achieving peace. While the Europeans described the speech as "a step in the right direction" but said that it included "a number of other elements which need to be analyzed." » Read more

Scant movement on Gaza blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News June 16, 2009 - 12:00am Two years since Hamas seized control in Gaza, US President Barack Obama has strengthened his calls for an end to the crippling blockade Israel has imposed on the territory. "If the people of Gaza have no hope, if they can't even get clean water… if the border closures are so tight that it is impossible for reconstruction… then that is not going to be a recipe for Israel's long-term security," he said in his recent speech in Cairo. » Read more

U.S. officials skeptical on a demilitarized Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter - June 15, 2009 - 12:00am U.S. officials reacted skeptically Monday to an Israeli proposal that the United States and other world powers guarantee that a new nation of Palestine remain demilitarized as a condition of its statehood. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said for the first time Sunday that Israel would be prepared to live side by side with a Palestinian state, but only if world powers guaranteed that it would be "demilitarized." The proposal came in a major statement of his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that attracted attention worldwide. » Read more

Obama hails Netanyahu move ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Nicholas Kralev - June 16, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama on Monday welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's acceptance of a future Palestinian state, saying it boosted prospects for new peace talks. But U.S. officials distanced the administration from conditions outlined by the Israeli leader in a speech Sunday. Mr. Obama said Mr. Netanyahu had demonstrated the "possibility we can restart serious talks." The president made his remarks after a White House meeting Monday afternoon with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. » Read more

June 15th

Mideast Peace Can Start With a Land Swap ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by David Makovsky - (Opinion) June 15, 2009 - 12:00am The White House publicly welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech yesterday giving qualified support to a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Nonetheless, there remains a gap between Mr. Netanyahu and the Obama administration over the expansion of settlements. Fortunately, there is a way to bridge that gap. » Read more

Olmert’s Lament ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Newsweek by Kevin Peraino - June 13, 2009 - 12:00am As the sun rose over New York City on Thursday, June 4, Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, lay anesthetized on a Manhattan operating table. A cancerous tumor on his prostate had recently grown in size. His doctors had "all kinds of suspicions" about it, Olmert explained when we met at his house outside Jerusalem shortly before the surgery. Olmert, 63, looked terrible. He told me he hadn't been working out lately. He had put on a paunch, his eyes had a glassy quality and he had a persistent cough. I asked whether he was feeling any symptoms. "I sometimes feel tired," he said. » Read more

Report highlights increasing Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Rory McCarthy - June 15, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli bulldozers arrived at the rust-coloured fields of Ras al-Ahmar early in the morning on the day when Barack Obama, a few hundred miles to the south in Cairo, gave his closely watched speech to the Muslim world. Within minutes, the bulldozers had demolished 15 shacks – the homes of Palestinian farmers and their families – as well as 30 animal pens and 18 traditional ovens, implementing eviction orders given by the Israeli military a week earlier. » Read more