Obama is promoting, not proposing, peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am resident Barack Obama plans to go to the Middle East in two weeks, and the Israeli Left and the Palestinians are praying he’ll be bringing an American peace initiative. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Right are praying he won’t. Even if he wanted to, President Obama knows another US peace push wouldn’t work. All the rhetoric aside – and it really is little more than rhetoric – neither side is interested in, much less ready for, serious peace talks. » Read more

Erdogan Wins Palestinian Hearts and Minds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Adnan Abu Amer - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn't need to declare a connection between Zionism and racism to gain popularity among Palestinians. » Read more

To win the war of opinions, Zionists must be critical friends of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Samuel Lebens - (Opinion) March 5, 2013 - 1:00am The well-known columnist Melanie Philips once argued that there is a basic inconsistency between claiming to be a friend of Israel while engaging in public criticism of its government. She calls it “self-destructive stupidity”. I assume that Philips will agree that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a friend of Israel even when he was a very vocal leader of the opposition, vocally criticizing Israeli government policy. So what did she actually mean? » Read more

AIPAC is an awe-inspiring organization, but the right-wing tilt is in its DNA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am Regardless of one’s political convictions - whether you believe Israel is warmonger or peace seeker, aggressor or defender, victim or victimizer, hero or villain, sinner or saint – the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference is a sight to be seen, a pageant to behold, a formidable spectacle that cannot be ignored. » Read more

Hamas as ‘terrorist’ organization hampers peace process: James Baker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya March 5, 2013 - 1:00am One solution to promote peace between Palestinians and Israelis is to have non-Hamas members from the Gaza Strip negotiating peace, a former U.S. official told Al Arabiya. “Israel and the United States will not work with Hamas because it is seen to be a terrorist organization,” James Baker, who served as the Chief of Staff in the final year of the administration of President George H.W. Bush said. » Read more

The (Very) Quiet Peace Talks Between Israel and Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by Efraim Halevy - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am The recent news out of the Middle East has been grim. But, if there's an atmosphere of pessimism in the international press, that's because the real story hasn't been earning any attention—intentionally so. We can all read about Hamas's daily maligning of Israel, and its promises to put an end to Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land, just as we can read about Israeli officials continuing to demand that Hamas recognize the right of Israel (including Jerusalem) to exist, knowing full well that no devout Muslim has ever done so, or can ever do so. » Read more

Why Barack Obama Must Go to Rabin Square ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Liam Hoare - (Opinion) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am When President Obama’s itinerary for his upcoming Israel trip was leaked to the press, it appeared to be noticeably safe. It is true that Obama will make a number of important gestures during the visit, chief among them laying wreathes in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, as well as on the graves of Theodor Herzl and Yitzhak Rabin. But over the course of his 48-hour stay, Obama will remain mostly in Jerusalem, leaving only to have coffee with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and to visit an Iron Dome battery. » Read more

Sweden upgrades Palestinian diplomatic status ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) March 7, 2013 - 1:00am Sweden on Wednesday became the ninth European country to upgrade the status of a Palestinian representative office to that of an embassy. Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to ratify a June 28 agreement between Sweden and Palestine on upgrading the Palestinian Authority’s mission here. The agreement gives the Palestinian Authority’s representation in Sweden “the same privileges, immunities, exemptions and privileges as embassies and their representatives.” » Read more

Obama will not address Knesset during upcoming visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Lahav Harkov - March 7, 2013 - 1:00am US President Barack Obama will not speak in the Knesset on his visit to Israel later this month, a senior Knesset source said on Wednesday. According to the source, requests for Obama to address the Israeli people in its representative body were rejected, and the Knesset is not preparing for him to give a speech in the plenum. Obama plans to visit Israel on March 20. » Read more

How Bibi Stopped Being King ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) March 6, 2013 - 1:00am In her seminal 1969 treatise On Death and Dying, psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross identified five stages of grief typically experienced by individuals facing tragedy: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. Benjamin Netanyahu lately appears to have reached Stage 3 as he struggles to digest the electoral battering his Likud-Beiteinu bloc suffered January 22 and tries to assemble a new governing coalition from the wreckage. He went through denial and anger. Now he’s bargaining. » Read more