June 10th

Abbas Tries to Fix Palestinian Side Of Peace Puzzle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 10, 2009 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas chairs talks in Jordan on Thursday with factions of Fatah, seeking agreement to hold the first congress in 20 years of the fractured, weakened movement dominating Palestinian politics. Fatah needs to restore unity to overturn its shock 2006 election defeat by Islamist rival Hamas, and to ensure Abbas is firmly in the driver's seat for peace talks with Israel, which U.S. President Barack Obama wants to resume without delay. » Read more

US envoy pushes Middle East agenda ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - June 10, 2009 - 12:00am George Mitchell, the United States’s envoy to the Middle East, met senior Israeli officials yesterday in what appeared to be part of an unusually vigorous US bid to step up pressure on Israel to freeze Jewish settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land. Although Mr Mitchell was understood to have focused on the settlements in his discussions in Israel, his visit may also have proved decisive before what is expected to be a major peace policy speech on Sunday by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. » Read more

Obama's Message Should Be Embraced ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Khalaf Al Habtoor - (Opinion) June 9, 2009 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama's peaceful sentiments towards the Muslim world are viewed with distrust or cynicism by some in this region and, to a point, that's understandable. I'm not given to wishful thinking and I'm definitely not naïve, but if we truly want to move forward we should do so with open hearts and minds while resisting the temptation to tar this American leader with the same brush as his predecessor. » Read more

'U.S. won't abandon legitimate Palestinian aspirations' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - June 10, 2009 - 12:00am The U.S. must create the conditions for the speedy resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Washington's envoy to the region said Wednesday in Ramallah, as he assured Palestinians that America would never abandon their "legitimate aspirations." "The only viable solution for this conflict is for the aspirations of both sides to be met in two states," former U.S. senator Mitchell told journalists after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city. » Read more

June 9th

Americans Remain Skeptical About Middle East Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gallup by Lydia Saad - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am With President Barack Obama seeking to engage the Arab world with his speech in Cairo, Americans' confidence that there will ever be peace in the Middle East is at near-record lows. Only 32% of U.S. adults surveyed by USA Today and Gallup in late May believe "there will come a time when Israel and the Arab nations will be able to settle their differences and live in peace"; 66% disagree. » Read more

Obama and the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books by Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - June 11, 2009 - 12:00am By virtually every measure—name, race, origins, and upbringing—Barack Hussein Obama was a revolutionary presidential candidate. In Mideast policy at least, there is little reason to imagine that he will be a revolutionary president. The radical break with traditional US policy came with the Bush administration, during which the US invaded and then occupied Iraq, shunned Syria, and engaged in an effort, at once ambitious and irresponsible, to reshape the region. » Read more

Palestinian PM seeks aid money ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English June 9, 2009 - 12:00am Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, has said his government is close to hitting a "brick wall" because it is not receiving enough aid to balance the budget. The Palestinian Authority, or PA, has been forced to take loans because of the shortage of aid money, but that is not a sustainable solution, he told a donors' conference in Oslo, Norway, on Monday. Blaming delinquent Arab donors, the International Monetary Fund said last week that the PA faces a serious cash crisis after receiving only half of the aid money it needs to function every month. » Read more

Israel must open Gaza, freeze settlements, says Ban ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 9, 2009 - 12:00am Underscoring the need for a two-State solution and a durable peace in the region, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on Israel to allow fuel and building materials into Gaza, freeze settlements in the West Bank and make fundamental changes in its security practices and policies. In a message to the two-day meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Ban expressed his serious concern over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Mitchell seeks Middle East talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National June 9, 2009 - 12:00am The US envoy George Mitchell met with Israeli leaders today seeking to launch immediate talks on core issues of the Middle East conflict amid deep disagreements between Washington and the Jewish state over settlements and the two-state solution. Mr Mitchell’s visit comes days ahead of a key speech by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the hawkish leader is due to lay out his cabinet’s policies on the stalled peace process the US administration has been trying to restart. » Read more

Barak: Prepare for Deeper Operations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hanan Greenberg - June 9, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited the Shizafon Armor Corps' training base in southern Israel on Tuesday, where they observed an officers' course drill simulating a joint Armor, Infantry Engineering and Artillery corps operation, complete with aerial assistance, meant to take a Syrian village. "Future comprehensive operations will not resemble Operation Cast Lead, but will be designed to go deeper and wider and to take more chances," Barak told the cadets. » Read more