May 25th

For Obama, Bibi tensions subside, political problems begin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - (Analysis) May 24, 2011 - 12:00am That Israel problem President Obama had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Old news. That Israel problem Obama has with Congress? And with his party? That's just beginning. In two successive speeches -- one to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday and another to a joint meeting of Congress the following day, Netanyahu had nothing but praise for the U.S. president. » Read more

Don't be fooled by the applause, Binyamin Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Jane Eisner - (Opinion) May 25, 2011 - 12:00am When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, his first audience was the assembly of federal lawmakers and other government dignitaries seated before him. His second audience was President Obama, who was off hobnobbing with the Queen of England, but who, only days earlier, had set out his vision for achieving a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And his third audience was the American Jewish community. People like me. » Read more

Obama to Palestinians: Seeking statehood in UN a 'mistake' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post May 25, 2011 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "more urgent than ever." And while expressing confidence that a two-state solution was achievable, the US president made it clear that seeking Palestinian statehood in the United Nations would be "a mistake." Speaking alongside UK Prime Minister David Cameron at a press conference in London after the two met privately, Obama stated that the Palestinians must understand "they have obligations as well." RELATED: Cameron, Obama claim unity in support of Israeli security » Read more

Settlers: We won't live in Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yair Altman - May 25, 2011 - 12:00am Jewish settlers living beyond the 1967 lines expressed concern Wednesday after hearing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say Israel "will be required to give up parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland" during his speech before Congress. The possibility of Jewish settlements becoming a part of a Palestinian state aroused their anger. "It's mass suicide, they'll just destroy us," a settler claimed. "Such talk of abandonment is very grave." » Read more

Netanyahu wasted his chance to present a vision for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) May 25, 2011 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had an outstanding opportunity yesterday to present a vision of a just and sustainable peace for Israel and the Palestinians. Millions watched his speech at the U.S. Congress with bated breath. They anticipated a momentous address that would break the stalemate in the diplomatic discourse over a final peace agreement and lead to the end of the bloody conflict between the two peoples. Many hoped the new winds blowing in recent months in the Middle East would also sweep the prime minister along a new path. » Read more

By Begin's logic, the Palestinians should have a state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ron Ben-Tovim - (Opinion) May 25, 2011 - 12:00am In "The Revolt," his seminal depiction of the Jewish resistance against British rule in Palestine, Irgun chief and future Prime Minister Menachem Begin often returns to his interrogation at the hands of the Soviets. These references apparently are intended to counter a contemporary communist argument raised during these interrogations, that the Zionist movement was a hoax, a "puppet show," meant to divert attention from the Jews' revolutionary role in Europe and turn them into a tool for British imperialism in the Middle East. » Read more

The facts and fictions of Netanyahu's address to Congress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - May 25, 2011 - 12:00am Here is some of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress on Tuesday - and what he failed to mention: Netanyahu to Congress: "The vast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live beyond the 1967 lines reside in neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem and Greater Tel Aviv." Netanyahu presented a figure to Congress, according to which 650 thousand Israelis live over the Green Line (1967 borders). This is an inflated figure, based on a report published by the Israeli Civil Administration on June 30, 2009, at the height of the settlement freeze. » Read more

Israeli lawmakers react differently to Netanyahu's Congress speech ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 24, 2011 - 12:00am Some members of Israeli Knesset parliament on Tuesday evening praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, while others condemned it as "nothing new." Gidon Sa'ar, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's Likud faction, hailed the address. "There's no statesmen in Israel or the world who could present the case for Israel as strongly as Netanyahu could," he was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying. » Read more

Abbas refuses to offer solutions without peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 25, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he will not "put solutions before restarting peace talks" as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his speech to the U.S. Congress Tuesday, in which the prime minister announced Israel cannot go back to the 1967 borders. Abbas' remarks came before a meeting of the Palestinians leadership to review the recent speeches of U.S. President Barack Obama and Netanyahu. The prime minister announced Israel cannot go back to the 1967 borders. » Read more

US criticism of Palestinian reconciliation pact shadows Middle East peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Omer Othmani, Osama Radi - May 25, 2011 - 12:00am The Egyptian-drafted inter- reconciliation agreement, which was signed in Cairo on May 4 between Fatah and the Islamic Hamas movement, is facing difficulties following U.S. President Barack Obama's criticism of the agreement. Obama, who demanded Hamas to accept the requirements of the International Quartet Committee for peace in the Middle East, said in a speech on Monday that the deal between Abbas and Hamas "is a big obstacle for achieving peace." » Read more