Editorial: Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) September 4, 2009 - 12:00am It was not just among Americans that Barack Obama raised great expectations when he won last year’s US presidential elections. In this part of the world, people believed that he would solve the Palestinian issue. Repeated signs from him that restarting and solving the Middle East peace process was a foreign policy priority reinforced that view. As a result, Arab and Muslim attitudes toward the US softened. » Read more

Obama can still do more ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am As the stage is being reportedly set for President Barack Obama to spell out his much-awaited ideas for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement at the opening of the UN General Assembly later this month, two issues remain regrettably overlooked or shortsightedly sidetracked. If this neglect persists, they have the potential of derailing a peaceful settlement. » Read more

Bibi should not be overconfident ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) September 4, 2009 - 12:00am On two key issues of Barack Obama's foreign policy - Palestinian statehood and reconciliation with Iran - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, has chosen to fight the American President. He has refused to bend to Obama's will, and is instead seeking to outwit and defeat him. » Read more

Are inaccurate media reports hurting U.S.-Israel relationship? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Eric Fingerhut - September 2, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama told Jewish leaders in a July meeting that Israel needs to “engage in serious self-reflection.” Israel’s new U.S. ambassador was “summoned” to the State Department to be lectured about Israel's building settlements in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called two top aides to Obama “self-hating Jews.” All of these reports appeared in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. And they've all been disputed or denied by the principals involved. » Read more

'Gov't doesn't know where it's going' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Following reports of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's plan to approve hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank before considering a brief settlement freeze, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said on Friday that the government did not know where is was headed and was playing a dangerous game of trying to please everyone. "Israel's leaders, the elected government, in my opinion, still hasn't made a choice between two different outlooks. One, Jewish existence in every part of Israel, and two, the existence of a Jewish democratic state," she said in a speech at an IDF pensioners' event. » Read more

Erekat: Approval of construction unacceptable ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Reports that Israel plans to approve the construction of hundreds of housing units in the West Bank before implementing the settlement freeze that was agreed upon with the United States has angered the Palestinian leadership. Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Friday the planned Israeli move is "unacceptable". Earlier Friday an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The prime minister plans to approve the construction of hundreds of news housing units in Judea and Samaria, before the freeze." » Read more

Embassy source: Doubtful US signed off on Israeli decision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Hours after the angered Palestinian response to Israel's plans to authorize the construction of hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank before implementing a settlement freeze it became apparent that the plans were not necessarily approved by the United States. Kurt Hoyer, spokesman for the US embassy in Tel Aviv, said Friday Washington would be unlikely to accept anything "contrary to the spirit of negotiations they've been undertaking" and added it was "doubtful" the US had signed off on the Israeli decision. » Read more

Hamas said ready to sign Shalit deal this weekend ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshal is planning to finalize a prisoner swap deal for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit during a rare visit to Cairo this weekend, senior Palestinian sources told the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Friday. Hamas spokesman Taher A-Nunu confirmed that Meshal was traveling to Cairo on Saturday for a round of talks with Egyptian officials, attended by the organization's top-brass from Gaza and Damascus. » Read more

Yossi Sarid / Divide Jerusalem, before we lose it forever ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Sarid - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Believers the world over do not believe the ape was their ancestor. They are correct - man is apparently descended from the wolf. A pack of Arab wolves lynched a Jewish man in Tel Aviv and a pack of Jewish wolves preyed on an Arab man in Jerusalem this week. They know no God, so what do we expect of the poor apes? » Read more

Abbas: Netanyahu's West Bank construction plan 'unacceptable' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned approval of the construction of hundreds of new housing units in West Bank settlements is "unacceptable," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday in Paris. "What the Israeli government said [about the planned construction] is not useful," Abbas said after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "It is unacceptable for us. We want a freeze on all settlement construction." » Read more