Lieberman on Quartet call: You can't make artificial peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded Friday to the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators' call to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, saying that peace is not something which can be created artificially and with unrealistic timetables. "Peace will be established through actions and not by force," Lieberman told Belgium's Jewish community ahead of his scheduled talks with the ministers of several European nations. » Read more

US military moves towards a harder line against Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Alan Philps - (Editorial) March 18, 2010 - 12:00am For many years, American diplomats have had to approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a rigidly pro-Israeli position. On a personal level, that is no doubt the way they had been taught to see the world. But careerism required that they never deviate, whatever they learned on the job. The result was that, during the 1990s, all US proposals were put to the Israeli government in advance for approval. » Read more

PNA to reduce dependence on Western training programs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 18, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) tends to reduce dependence on U.S. and European officers in training its forces in the West Bank, a spokesman said Thursday. Adnan Al-Dumiri, spokesman for the PNA's forces, said Palestinian officers who received training would start shifting their experience to newly-admitted cadets. "The PNA's dependence on the Americans and Europeans is decreasing," he told Xinhua. » Read more

A Confrontation That Was Inevitable ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) March 17, 2010 - 12:00am No, it wasn’t embarrassment that caused a blowup in U.S.-Israel relations when Vice President Joe Biden came to Jerusalem. Nor was it a weakening of America’s bond with Israel. It wasn’t timing, either — at least not the timing of Israel’s announcement of new housing plans in East Jerusalem moments after the vice president arrived. That provided a trigger, but the confrontation was coming anyway. » Read more

Palestinians clash with Israeli security ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Amy Teibel - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank lobbed rocks at Israeli security forces, set garbage bins and tires ablaze and torched an Israeli flag in a new outbreak of violence over contested Jerusalem building plans and unsubstantiated rumors about threats to the city's holiest shrine. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and stun grenades, but no serious injuries were reported. » Read more

ADL: Petraeus testimony 'counterproductive' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - March 18, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Anti-Defamation League said a top U.S. general's analysis of the role of the Israeli-Arab conflict in frustrating the U.S. mission in the Middle East was "dangerous and counterproductive." Gen. David Petraeus, in Senate testimony this week, outlined a number of areas that impeded U.S. interests in the Central Command, the area that he commands and that includes the Middle East. Petraeus first outlined five "major threats," none of them directly related to the Israel-Arab conflict. » Read more

Mitchell to meet Abbas and Netanyahu this weekend ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 18, 2010 - 12:00am Israel and the United States have discussed specific steps to try to improve the outlook for Israeli-Palestinian peace following a bitter U.S.-Israeli row over settlement building, the State Department said on Friday. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell would meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the region this weekend. » Read more

Time to face the truth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Susie Becher - (Opinion) March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Most of the headlines and commentary since the announcement of the Ramat Shlomo building plans during Vice President Biden’s visit have focused on the crisis in relations between Israel and the United States. There is certainly cause for concern that the current Israeli government has finally pushed the Obama administration too far, but the more serious issue for Israel’s citizens should be the unmasking of Israel’s intentions vis-à-vis the Palestinians. » Read more

Israel, U.S. seek to defuse settlement dispute ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Arshad Mohammed - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Israel tried to defuse a dispute with the United States on Friday over plans to expand settlements, saying it would offer the Palestinians "confidence-building" steps to encourage a renewal of peace talks. Relations between Israel and the United States, its main backer, have been frayed by Israel unveiling plans to build 1,600 housing units near occupied East Jerusalem during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last week. » Read more

Israeli settlement crisis clouds Mideast talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Arshad Mohammed - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am Middle East mediators from Europe, the United States, Russia and the U.N. met on Friday seeking to defuse the latest crisis in peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. "All of us today hope to arrive at some common conclusions which will help to promote the beginning of a dialogue between the two sides," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the start of talks. » Read more