White House seeks new ideas about Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

With U.S. Middle East peace efforts at an impasse, the Obama administration has sought new ideas from outside experts on how to advance the peace process. One task force has been convened by Sandy Berger and Stephen Hadley, former national security advisers to Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively, to offer recommendations on the Middle East peace process to the National Security Council.

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Turkish PM: Israel must remove foreign minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Hadeel Al-Shalchi - (Opinion) January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

The prime minister of Turkey, whose ties with Israel have been badly strained over the past year, has called on the Jewish state to remove its hawkish foreign minister who he says poses an obstacle to Middle East peace. Avigdor Lieberman is a polarizing figure in Israel and outside, with his outspoken skepticism about peace with the Palestinians and his questioning of the loyalty of Israel's Arab minority.

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Will Asia, Africa Follow Latin America on Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Thalif Deen - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

"It is a decision to be made by individual countries in their respective capitals," says one U.N. diplomat, who also ruled out any chances of a collective decision by regional or other power blocs such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) or African Union (AU). But still, the Latin American initiative is expected to pick up steam within the region as other countries join the growing list. The move was led by outgoing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva when he made the announcement to formally recognise Palestine back on Dec. 3.

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Lack of lasting solution to Palestinian-Israeli conflict ushers in more regional violence: Jordanian FM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Jordan on Tuesday warned that not resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will lead to more violence and instability in the Middle East. Meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stoere on Tuesday, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh underlined the need for intensified efforts to create a suitable environment for the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli talks. These talks, he said, should lead to the realization of the two- state solution, the international resolutions and the 2002 Arab peace initiative adopted by the Arab leaders in their summit in Beirut.

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IDF commander warns Tel Aviv will be target in next war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Exactly 20 years after Iraqi missiles fell for the first time in central Israel at the start of the first Gulf War in January 1991, the commander of the Dan region in the IDF Home Front Command says that "danger has returned to Tel Aviv. Under any war scenario, it will be hit by a large number of missiles, missiles that are precise and lethal. However, our preparedness to deal with such missiles has also improved."

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US must rejoin international community by recognizing the state of Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

On Jan. 7, Chile extended diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine as a free, independent, and sovereign state. This comes soon after the recent recognitions by Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador. (In each of those cases, the state of Palestine was recognized explicitly within the full pre-1967 borders, encompassing all of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.) Chile’s recognition brought to 109 the number of UN member states recognizing the state of Palestine, whose independence was proclaimed on Nov. 15, 1988.

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Pro-Palestinian Activists Slapped With Subpoenas, Sparking Free Speech Concerns
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

If an American communist website publishes a statement issued by a Palestinian terrorist group, has the communist website committed a crime?

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It’s a Bird, It’s a Shark, It’s a Mossad Spy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Michael Grubb - (Opinion) January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

The “spy” vulture – a raptor Saudis captured and accused of collecting intelligence for Israel – was finally freed on Monday after six days in captivity. Prince Bandar bin Saud Al Saud, the head of Saudi Arabia’s wildlife agency, confirmed the global positioning technology found on the bird was being used by scientists to track its movements.

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Israel's wrong friends
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ian Buruma - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel has been welcoming some rather peculiar visitors of late. The Dutch populist, Geert Wilders, is a frequent caller, telling sympathetic audiences that Israel is on the front line of the Western war against Islam. And, in December, a delegation of European far-right politicians toured Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank, pleasing their hosts by reassuring them that this was “Jewish land”.

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An opportunity for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

As more and more South American countries--Chile is the latest--proclaim their recognition of a Palestinian state, the clamor grows in Jerusalem to declare a major failure of Israeli diplomacy. Didn't Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman travel to Latin America some months ago to stem the tide of recognition? Didn't Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu telephone the president of Chile just last week to persuade him not to join the Palestine bandwagon? And if Latin America goes, won't Europe be next and then, god forbid, the United States?

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