March 25th

Deep chill in U.S.-Israeli relations Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 25, 2010 - 12:00am Bad personal chemistry, public confrontation and mutual silence a full day after a two-hour meeting Tuesday night between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have deepened the impression of a worsening fracture in the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel. » Read more

March 24th

Netanyahu's reluctant gift to Palestine Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Guardian - March 24, 2010 - 12:00am The Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not being honest with his fellow Israelis by insisting that settlement building is compatible with a peaceful future between Israelis and Palestinians, or that the colonisation of occupied East Jerusalem "in no way harms" Palestinians and is not in any sense different from building in Tel Aviv. » Read more

Netanyahu meets Obama as new housing controversy emerges Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 24, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is supposed to meet with President Obama at the White House at 5:30pm. The meeting comes shortly after Israeli media reported that late last week, the Jerusalem municipality gave final approval to a group of settlers to construct 20 apartments at the Shepherd Hotel site in the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. » Read more

March 22nd

Israeli-Palestinian peace hopes rise as US envoy prepares to get talks moving Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Guardian - March 22, 2010 - 12:00am The US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is due to fly to the region on Sunday to try to secure a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks amid optimism about a breakthrough. Mitchell had been due to visit Israel on Tuesday but his trip was cancelled – a victim of US-Israeli tensions. It was reinstated after Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, bowing to US pressure, phoned the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, last night to offer concessions.Mitchell is scheduled to see Netanyahu in Israel and the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah. » Read more

A message for Palestinians in the Israel-U.S. disagreement? Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) - March 22, 2010 - 12:00am Jeffrey Goldberg lamented the other day that the AIPAC policy conference had too many speakers from the center-right and not enough from the left. One exception he did cite was Ghaith al-Omari, advocacy director for the American Task Force on Palestine, who spoke Sunday afternoon on a panel entitled "Prognosticating Peace: Are Direct Israeli-Palestinian Talks in Sight?" And al-Omari had an interesting perspective on the recent flareup in tensions between the U.S. and Israel, believing there was an important message in the episode for Palestinians, as well. » Read more

March 17th

Parsing Mitchell's statement Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell issued a statement from Israel today which on its face seemed a quiet victory wave on achieving agreement for Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks over the weekend. But a former Israeli official reading the statement interprets it differently, to suggest they haven't agreed on what they are going to be talking about indirectly. While an American Palestinian expert says the indirect proximity talks provide a bridging mechanism to potentially get the parties back to direct negotiations. » Read more

US-Israel crisis — this time it's serious Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Arab News - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Tension between the United States and Israel went up a notch on Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said construction in occupied East Jerusalem would continue as usual. "Construction will continue in Jerusalem as has been the case over the past 42 years," Netanyahu told members of his Likud party. » Read more

March 15th

Hillary Rodham Clinton's harsh words stun Israel Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Los Angeles Times - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am Beginning as a spat over a single housing project, a dispute this week between the Obama administration and Israel has ballooned into the biggest U.S.-Israeli clash in 20 years, adding to months of strain between Washington and one of its closest allies. Israel's decision to move ahead with 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, drew criticism from Washington in language rarely directed at even Iran or North Korea. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Israel's announcement "was an insult to the United States." » Read more

March 12th

Joe Biden delivers 'hardest truth' in Israel Media Mention of ATFP In Politico - March 12, 2010 - 1:00am Vice President Joe Biden departed from Israel Thursday leaving behind a raging controversy over the consequences of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists was the unintentional embarrassment of the highest-ranking member of the Obama administration to visit his country. » Read more

Washington is the indespensible partner for a settlement Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Daily Star - March 12, 2010 - 1:00am The situation facing Israel, the Palestinians and all other interested parties, especially the United States, is difficult, but it also presents important new opportunities. Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians may resume soon, although continued disagreements over Israeli settlement building may yet derail this. » Read more