White House says status of Jerusalem to be decided by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 31, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Monday that the status of Jerusalem should be settled through negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Commenting on the recent assertion by Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated: "It's the view of this administration that the capital is something that should be determined in final status negotiations between the parties." » Read more

Who’s a better friend to Israel? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - (Analysis) July 31, 2012 - 12:00am Like a kid at the circus, Israel just can’t get enough of the different acts. First it was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who came to Israel earlier this month and in some of the harshest rhetoric yet by a senior member of the Obama administration, declared that the US would use “all elements of American power” to stop Iran. » Read more

With Romney visit, Israelis worry about becoming a partisan issue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - July 29, 2012 - 12:00am Mitt Romney’s visit to Jerusalem on Sunday prompted an escalation in the competition among candidates to demonstrate who’s a stronger supporter of the Jewish state.   » Read more

Dispossession, a love story ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) July 31, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak has a weakness for real estate images, primarily "premium" real estate. Israel is to him a nice villa, the home of good and law-abiding Israeli citizens surrounded by a teeming jungle of bad and law-breaking Arabs. » Read more

W. House: 'Scratching heads' from Romney on J'lem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 31, 2012 - 12:00am White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Tuesday said that US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's unqualified comments about Jerusalem as solely Israel's capital was causing many to "scratch their heads." Earnest further said that Romney would need to explain himself to the general public. » Read more

Romney the dunce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) July 31, 2012 - 12:00am For many onlookers around the world, it once would have seemed impossible for a U.S. politician to arise that was more ignorant than former President George W. Bush, but Mitt Romney’s recent international tour seems to have killed these hopes. Even before the Republican presidential candidate’s current trip, it appeared the ex-governor of Massachusetts was spending most of his time clarifying comments he or his staff had made the previous day. » Read more

Romney’s Visit Shows Israel as Rising Power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by David Hazony - (Opinion) July 31, 2012 - 12:00am For people used to presidential candidate visits to Israel, Mitt Romney’s was a short, strange trip. Missing were the carefully scripted visits to high-profile places like Yad Vashem and Sederot. And though he did get a photo-op at the Western Wall, it wasn’t planned in advance. Press coverage was strictly controlled and interviews were minimal. Compared with candidate Barack Obama’s visit in 2008, this was a low-key affair. What was going on? » Read more

In Israel, Romney wows crowds but puzzles with grasp of Palestinian relationship ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Scott Wilson - July 30, 2012 - 12:00am Touring U.S. allies this week in his first foreign trip as the likely Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney often appeared to be visiting just another set of swing states, pleasing audiences with parochial promises, puzzling others with off-the-cuff remarks, and raising loads and loads of money. Only the trip was designed to be more than that for a campaign playing catch-up — a chance to show that a former governor light on foreign policy qualifications could represent the United States abroad. On that, the verdict is still out. » Read more

Romney visit reveals falling visibility of Palestinian issue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Sales - (Opinion) July 30, 2012 - 12:00am Mitt Romney’s policy speech in Israel covered plenty of bases: The presumptive Republican presidential candidate spoke about the status of Jerusalem, the threat of a nuclear Iran, the “tumult” of the Arab Spring and the “enduring shared values” that bedrock the U.S.-Israel relationship. But there was one topic that gained little attention: Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. The word “Palestinian” did not appear once in the speech on Sunday evening.  » Read more

‘The Hand Of Providence’ And, Oh, The Occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) July 30, 2012 - 12:00am Dear Governor Romney: Today, in Jerusalem, you compared the Israeli economy to Palestine’s and suggested, by implication, that Palestinians lacked everything from a progressive culture to “the hand of Providence.” You and I were management consultants in Boston. Here are some facts: » Read more