EU condemns Israel over e. J'lem intent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 22, 2010 - 12:00am

The European Union on Monday condemned Israel's intent to continue building in east Jerusalem, saying it represents a roadblock to international peace efforts. "The European Union has condemned all the settlement activities," said Spanish Foreign Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose nation holds the EU's rotating presidency. "We ask for a total freeze of settlement activity. We will pursue this policy." EU foreign ministers met in Brussels a day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will not restrict construction in east Jerusalem.

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Clinton to AIPAC: Settlement activity undermines U.S. role in peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 22, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians should be serious and substantive, warning that new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were jeopardizing progress and undermining U.S. mediation. "New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need," Clinton said in a speech to AIPAC, an influential pro-Israel lobby group, at its annual conference in Washington.

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Netanyahu Takes Hard Line on Jerusalem Housing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - March 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, under extraordinary pressure from the Obama administration to curb the construction of Jewish housing in Jerusalem, served notice on Monday that his government would not yield easily to American demands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the gala banquet of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference on Monday night.

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Frankly, Clinton's right
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) March 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Friends tell friends when they're wrong, even when they don't want to hear it. That's what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did Monday when she told the American pro-Israel lobby that perpetuating the status quo with the Palestinians does not serve Israel's long-term security or U.S. strategic interests, and that "unilateral statements and actions" such as announcing new settlement construction undermine prospects for peace. It's not easy for a U.S. administration to stand up to powerful lobbies, so Clinton deserves credit for her frank remarks.

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Last opportunity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
March 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Netanyahu is to travel to Washington where he is expected to meet Clinton and possibly President Barack Obama in their first meeting since the extraordinary flare-up that took Israel and much of the world aback. The eruption was ignited by Israel’s announcement of 1,600 more settler homes in East Jerusalem which coincided not only with a visit by Vice President Joe Biden but also with the eve of the proximity talks America had at last persuaded Mahmoud Abbas to enter with Netanyahu.

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U.S. to send envoy back to Mideast as Israel moves to smooth relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am

In an effort to defuse a bitter spat with the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday night to propose confidence-building measures to get Middle East peace talks back on track, U.S. and Israeli officials said.

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How Obama created the Biden incident
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Charles Krauthammer - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am

And a gaffe it was: the announcement by a bureaucrat in Israel's Interior Ministry of a housing expansion in a Jewish neighborhood in north Jerusalem. The timing could not have been worse: Vice President Biden was visiting, Jerusalem is a touchy subject, and you don't bring up touchy subjects that might embarrass an honored guest. But it was no more than a gaffe. It was certainly not a policy change, let alone a betrayal. The neighborhood is in Jerusalem, and the 2009 Netanyahu-Obama agreement was for a 10-month freeze on West Bank settlements excluding Jerusalem.

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Israeli settlement crisis clouds Mideast talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Middle East mediators from Europe, the United States, Russia and the U.N. met on Friday seeking to defuse the latest crisis in peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. "All of us today hope to arrive at some common conclusions which will help to promote the beginning of a dialogue between the two sides," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the start of talks.

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Israel, U.S. seek to defuse settlement dispute
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel tried to defuse a dispute with the United States on Friday over plans to expand settlements, saying it would offer the Palestinians "confidence-building" steps to encourage a renewal of peace talks. Relations between Israel and the United States, its main backer, have been frayed by Israel unveiling plans to build 1,600 housing units near occupied East Jerusalem during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last week.

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Palestinians clash with Israeli security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Amy Teibel - March 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank lobbed rocks at Israeli security forces, set garbage bins and tires ablaze and torched an Israeli flag in a new outbreak of violence over contested Jerusalem building plans and unsubstantiated rumors about threats to the city's holiest shrine. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and stun grenades, but no serious injuries were reported.

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