April 12th

To achieve Mideast peace, Obama must make a bold Mideast trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Stephen Solarz - (Opinion) April 11, 2010 - 12:00am More than three decades ago, Israeli statesman Moshe Dayan, speaking about an Egyptian town that controlled Israel's only outlet to the Red Sea, declared that he would rather have Sharm el-Sheikh without peace than peace without Sharm el-Sheikh. Had his views prevailed, Israel and Egypt would still be in a state of war. Today, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with his pronouncements about the eternal and undivided capital of Israel, is conveying an updated version of Dayan's credo -- that he would rather have all of Jerusalem without peace than peace without all of Jerusalem. » Read more

Jews support Obama despite tensions with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - April 12, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON – Despite recent friction with Israel, a majority of America's Jews still support their president. The Jewish community continues to be a strong support base for President Obama. Some 57% of US Jews support Obama versus 38% who are opposed to his policies. However, these figures reflect the downward trend in overall American support for the president. In the past presidential elections, some 80% of American Jews voted for Obama. » Read more

Human Rights Groups Warn of New Powers for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - April 11, 2010 - 12:00am A recently amended military order that allows Israel to remove people from the West Bank if it does not recognize their legal status could lead to the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians, Israeli human rights groups warned Sunday. The amendment — to a 1969 order on dealings with those judged to be infiltrators of the West Bank — was signed by military officials last October and is due to take effect on Tuesday. » Read more

Salam Fayyad's big gamble ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Opinion) April 12, 2010 - 12:00am I met Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, two weeks ago, and was again impressed by the calm and modesty he radiates. Generally, I meet him at demonstrations, such as those at the Bil'in fence. This time, too, there was no opportunity for more than a perfunctory handshake and a few polite words. » Read more

April 9th

Defending Dennis Ross ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Robert Satloff - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am Give Stephen M. Walt his due. After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tense visit to Washington last month, a cowardly U.S. government official lobbed an "Israel vs. America" dual loyalty canard at my former colleague, National Security Council advisor Dennis Ross. But while he or she hid behind a cloak of journalistic anonymity shamelessly provided by Politico's Laura Rozen, Walt at least has the gumption to stand up and make his McCarthyite case in his own name. » Read more

Breaking the Middle East Impasse: How it Might Happen ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Dr. Charles G. Cogan - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am Negotiations in the Middle East are at an impasse. What two former Israeli Prime Ministers have recognized - that there can be no settlement in the Middle East as long as Israel claims all of Jerusalem -- has been rejected by Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightist cohort. Offers by Ehud Barak to Yasir Arafat, and later by Ehud Olmert to Mahmoud Abbas, of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem (both of which were declined), have now been taken off the table by Netanyahu. » Read more

Netanyahu in a pickle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald by Uri Dromi - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed up the first year of his term. Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu boasted that, ``We have made 1,500 decisions.'' The good souls here were quick to remind us that this government was formed in a hurry on March 31, 2009, just minutes away from All Fools Day. Pundits ridiculed the abundance of decisions, saying that it was better to check how many of them actually were implemented. Others said that actually, for every one of 750 decisions made, there was one reversing it and so on. » Read more

PA rebuts terrorist street name critique ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - April 8, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Government Media Center on Thursday rejected the Prime Minister’s Office’s harsh critique of the naming of a Ramallah street after arch terrorist Yehiyeh Ayash. The organization told The Jerusalem Post that “the street was named over twelve years ago and it is nothing new,” adding that “the decisions to name streets are made independently by local authorities and municipalities like any other democratic and open society.” » Read more

President Obama is right ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Adi Mintz - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am One year is sufficient in order to examine the direction our government is heading to. At least this is the view of our prime minister, who recently presented his government’s achievements. However, while Netanyahu boasted of some economic achievements, he could not do the same in respect to the diplomatic front, and hence did not talk much about it. So is the diplomatic approach he adopted this year appropriate, or does he need to change direction at this time? » Read more

With Ashkenzi out of the way, Barak can finally have his way ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am The sky did not fall on Tuesday afternoon. Israel's security situation will apparently survive even the latest petty scrap between the defense minister and the army chief of staff. Indeed, it is not at all certain that Ashkenazi's term needed to be extended by another year. As is quite usual with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the problem was not with the content, but with the style and the timing of his announcement that the chief of staff's term would be over as planned, after four years, in February 2011. » Read more