Defending Dennis Ross
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Robert Satloff - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Give Stephen M. Walt his due. After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tense visit to Washington last month, a cowardly U.S. government official lobbed an "Israel vs. America" dual loyalty canard at my former colleague, National Security Council advisor Dennis Ross. But while he or she hid behind a cloak of journalistic anonymity shamelessly provided by Politico's Laura Rozen, Walt at least has the gumption to stand up and make his McCarthyite case in his own name.

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Discussions, but no decisions, on an Obama plan for Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Senior Obama administration officials have discussed whether President Obama should propose his own solution to the intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, including in a recent meeting between the president and seven former and current national security advisers, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

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U.S. has considered offering Mideast peace proposal, officials say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama and other U.S. officials have explored whether the administration should offer its own Middle East peace proposal to break the logjam between Palestinians and Israelis, officials said Wednesday. At a time of growing frustration in the White House over the lack of a peace agreement, Obama and aides recently discussed whether the administration may need to turn to such an approach, officials said.

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Genie out of the bottle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The taboo was finally broken and the genie is out of the bottle, despite some attempts to force it back. America's military leaders have had enough and decided to speak out about the liability that a hardline Israel causes to America's national interest. Popular American General David Petraeus finally said the words that many have been saying behind closed doors for decades. The statement of the star-studded general puts American blind support for Israel in direct opposition to the country's most sacred institution, the military.

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Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for Jerusalem is ill conceived
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Jerusalem is ill conceived. This was amply demonstrated by the announcement of the construction of 1,600 new apartments in the occupied eastern segment of the city during what was supposed to be a charm visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, Israel’s best friend in President Barack Obama’s administration. And yet, while Netanyahu might not be a great peacemaker, the Obama administration, by portraying the announcement as a deliberate attempt to frustrate the upcoming indirect talks with the Palestinians, exaggerated the incident for its own purposes.

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Terms of Endearment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - (Blog) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

“Obama to Impose Terms on Israel” is the headline you didn’t read on David Ignatius’s column in the Washington Post today. The story ran under the title “Obama’s Mideast Plan,” which Ignatius describes as “proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict.”

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Jordan King: Israel's long-term future is in jeopardy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Jordanian King Abdullah has warned that Israel's long-term future would remain in jeopardy unless a permanent solution to the Middle East conflict was achieved, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I think the long-term future of Israel is in jeopardy unless we solve our problems," Abdullah told the paper in an interview that appeared online Tuesday. The Jordanian monarch, who is scheduled to arrive to Washington on Saturday to attend President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit, cautioned against "wasting too much time" in resolving the conflict in the region.

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Israel lobby presses Congress to soften Obama's tough stance on Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris McGreal - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

America's main pro-Israel lobby group is mobilising members of Congress to pressure the White House over its bitter public confrontation with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. The move, by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), appears aimed at exploiting differences in the Obama administration as it decides how to use the crisis around settlement building in Jerusalem to press Israel towards concessions to kickstart peace negotiations.

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The Sons of Iran!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

It can’t be a coincidence that Hamas announced on Saturday its clashes with the Israelis in order to “deter Zionist arrogance and confront the occupation forces…and respond to the continued crimes of the ongoing occupation,” according to the Al Qassam Brigades statement, and at the same time Iran called on the Arab Summit in Libya to make tough decisions and “raise the alarm” to protect Jerusalem. The reason we say this can’t be a coincidence is because Hamas avoided responding to Israel for 14 months, so why now?

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A strong Obama is good for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) March 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet a U.S. president Tuesday who is full of vigor and satisfaction. Barack Obama managed, albeit partially, where many other capable people, including his secretary of state, failed completely. The passage of the health reform bill became a true test of the president's strength. It would not be an exaggeration to say that leaders around the world watched the vote in Congress, and while some feared for the future of the president, others hoped that he would stumble and fall.

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