Ahmadinejad, Durban and another fine mess
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Center For Strategic & International Studies
by Antony Lerman - (Opinion) April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

This is hardly the time for levity, but watching delegates at the Durban anti-racism review conference walk out while President Ahmadinejad served up his version of Zionist history, I couldn't help thinking of that immortal phrase from Laurel and Hardy: "Well, that's another fine mess you've gotten me into." The Geneva UN gathering is an event of high seriousness. It coincides with Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day and Hitler's birthday. It has been heading for disaster for months while western states and Jewish groups have been at loggerheads over strategy.

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US rejects Netanyahu’s peace talks condition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

The United States rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people as a condition for renewing peace talks between the two sides, a report said yesterday. The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted the US State Department as saying in a press statement, during special envoy George Mitchell’s visits over the weekend to Ramallah and Cairo, that Netanyahu’s demand is unacceptable to the US and that the Palestinians need not recognize Israel as Jewish state before talks.

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Hamas's Shortsightedness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Jameel Theyabi - (Opinion) April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

While the Palestinian Hamas was accusing the Egyptian authorities of "concocting" the issue of the Lebanese Hezbollah-related cell in the media, the State Security Court in Jordan sentenced three people to prison on charges of spying for the movement, after they "monitored positions, possessed weapons and gathered things and information that must be kept secret."

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Israel, Egypt to discuss new Gaza cease-fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Instituting another cease-fire with Hamas will be at the focus of talks on Wednesday between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and visiting Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman. Suleiman, who holds the Israel file in the Egyptian cabinet, will travel to Israel on Wednesday and will meet with Barak, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, officials said on Monday.

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Chop Shop Economics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Khaleej Times
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The Opinion article ‘Chop Shop Economics and Stealth Zionism,’ (KT, April 14), casts the economic recovery programme in the United States being led by the Obama administration as a ‘premeditated attempt to loot and destroy the US financial system,’ and lays the blame for this conspiracy squarely at the feet of what the author calls a ‘corrupt network’ of Jewish Americans. This seeks to exploit the current financial crisis facing the American and global economies, and links it to traditional themes of anti-Semitism in a transparent effort to promote fear and hatred ?of Jews.

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US envoy meets Israeli officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The US special envoy to the Middle East is meeting senior Israeli officials in an attempt to kickstart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. George Mitchell met Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, on Thursday and will meet Benyamin Netanyahu, the country's prime minister, later in the day. Mitchell is also expected to discuss progress on peace negotiations with Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition Kadima party. Shortly after arriving in the country on Wednesday evening, Mitchell met Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister. Commitment urged

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Obama needs to turn up the heat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) April 15, 2009 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama's maiden venture into foreign policy earlier this month earned him high marks from many, but also ruffled the feathers of icons of the American neoconservative movement, which had its heyday during the just-concluded tenure of George W. Bush. Wherever he went on his first visit overseas, he chose to knock on doors gently and warmly, particularly in Turkey, where he declared that the United States is not at war with the Muslim world.

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So many words, but so little action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Linda Heard - (Opinion) April 14, 2009 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama definitely talks a good talk but when it comes to implementing his stated foreign policy goals, he appears to be dragging his heels. He's certainly been decisive on the economy and has upset many in the process. But three months into his presidency, his Middle East policy is still vague and he has yet to officially approach Iran to hold what he terms mutually respectful talks.

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Why new Palestinian talks will fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by George Giacaman - (Opinion) April 14, 2009 - 12:00am

The second round of Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo have been postponed for several weeks, and even if they resume toward the end of April as announced, it is not likely that they will succeed. At best the parties might agree on the composition of the new Cabinet, but all other issues, even if there is agreement in principle over them, will not be implemented any time soon.

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Egypt's rage at Hezbollah isn't on Israel's behalf
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) April 14, 2009 - 12:00am

It is sometimes hard to believe the remarks coming out of Cairo over the past 48 hours are actually directed at Hezbollah. The Egyptian press has tagged its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, with denigrating epithets like the "monkey sheikh," and remarks from security officials in Cairo to the Israeli press sound reminiscent of how generals speak in times of war.

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