US takes on Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme in one massive gamble
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ewen Macaskill - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Obama administration's approach to two of the world's most intractable and dangerous problems, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme, is to link them together in the search for a solution to both. The new US strategy aims to use its Iran policy to gain leverage on Binyamin Netanyahu's government.

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Mubarak’s Visit to the US… and the Cards of the Palestinian Cause
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Mohammad Salah - (Opinion) August 7, 2009 - 12:00am

For about six years, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has not visited the United States for well-known reasons, most prominently of course the deteriorating relations between the two countries during former President George Bush’s second term. And here is the Egyptian President now preparing for his first visit to the US capital next month, in the first year of President Barack Obama’s first term in office.

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Israel targets foreign gov't NGO funds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

Recent revelations about foreign government funding for local NGOs involved in political activity have triggered discussions by senior Israeli officials about the possibility of making such aid illegal, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The senior officials are looking into whether it might be possible to ban donations from foreign governments to political NGOs, just as it is forbidden for foreign residents, let alone governments, to contribute to Israeli political parties.

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Breaking Israel's spell
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

For the most part, London's Jewish community is a shining example of social cohesion and pastoral care. Large charitable donations are raised on a constant basis and distributed to those in need of assistance; sick or lonely individuals are clutched to the communal bosom and provided for by welfare associations and concerned neighbours; and the ethics inculcated into each new generation are built on a bedrock of values dating back to biblical times.

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Egypt's peace role – and its influence – under fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Liam Stack - July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

Since the historic 1979 Camp David Accords with Israel, Egypt has used its regional clout to broker peace in the Middle East – and curry favor with the West. With ties to both Israel and Hamas, Cairo sees a natural role for itself in helping to bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a just solution. But its neutrality, motives, and, more recently, its political influence, have been challenged by other countries, calling into question its effectiveness as a peacemaker.

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The Reason They Won't Help Abu-Mazen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - July 27, 2009 - 12:00am

In the Arab world, you must be annoying or a source of troubles to get care and attention. But if you respected the rules, did not cause clamor, or caused deaths and explosions, then no one would care about you. Therefore it is not surprising when the Somalis seek to host Al-Qaeda organization and hijack ships in their search for attention and support.

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Israeli derision at mufti-Hitler link
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Australian
by John Lyons - July 24, 2009 - 12:00am

ISRAEL'S colourful Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has sparked another controversy with an order to all Israel's overseas missions that they draw attention to a picture taken in Nazi Germany in 1941 showing Adolf Hitler with a Palestinian religious leader of the time. The order has been greeted inside the Israeli Foreign Ministry with derision, with one source telling The Australian it was met with "laughter, scepticism and a sense of misplaced communication that this doesn't help one bit the real argument".

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European hardball
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The call by the European Union’s foreign policy chief for the UN Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state by a certain deadline, even without any Israeli-Palestinian agreement, is intriguing and unimpressive. Javier Solana said on July 11, at a lecture in London, that “after a fixed deadline, a UN Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-state solution.” This, he said, should address border parameters, refugees, control over the city of Jerusalem, and security arrangements.

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Netanyahu mulling UN speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Itamar Eichner - July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering heading an Israeli delegation to the opening of the United Nation's General Assembly session scheduled for September, which world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are scheduled to attend. The session will open on September 23, and the Prime Minister's Office has instructed the Foreign Ministry and Israel's delegation to the UN to prepare for the possibility of Netanyahu's arrival.

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Britain backs call for Israeli settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

A freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank could help restart the peace process in the region, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday. "The deadlock has to be broken in some way," Brown told a committee of MPs. "I feel that if the Israelis were prepared to freeze settlement construction, there would be a response in the Arab world. And I think that is a way that you can see that movement forward could happen."

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