Lieberman to Mitchell: Past Mideast peace efforts failed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar, Amos Harel - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday told special U.S. envoy George Mitchell that a different approach was needed to solve the Middle East conflict, because that of past Israeli governments had failed. "New ideas" must be found, because the path taken by previous governments did not lead to "good places, to say the least," Lieberman told Mitchell, who arrived in Israel Wednesday night. This was Mitchell's third round of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah since his appointment, and the first during the tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Advertisement

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Obama envoy Mitchell to ask PM to clarify position on peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar, Amos Harel - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell arrived last night in Israel for the third round of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah since his appointment, and the first during the tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitchell is expected to ask the prime minister during their meeting today to clarify Israel's position regarding the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians and Syria.

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Beyond a two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New Statesman
by Edward Platt - (Opinion) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

When Binyamin Netanyahu finally announced the make-up of his coalition government on 30 March, two of the most important posts went to figures from opposing ends of the political spectrum – the Labour leader Ehud Barak retained his job as minister of defence, and the leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu (“Israeli Home”) party, Avigdor Lieberman, became foreign minister. Such a broad coalition, born of Israel’s system of proportional representation, will generate a stalemate in the domestic arena, and it is hard to see it making much progress in foreign affairs.

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Borderline outcast?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck, Roula Khalaf - (Analysis) April 13, 2009 - 12:00am

It has been a tough few months for Israel's diplomatic corps. At the start of the year, diplomats were fending off accusations that Israel was using excessive force in its offensive against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. After that conflict they faced a torrent of allegations that their actions had amounted to war crimes, claims that they deny.

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Washington Watch: Might Lieberman be the Arab world's best friend?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) April 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Even those who expected friction between the Obama and Netanyahu governments over pursuing Israeli-Arab peace were surprised that it came so quickly. About 20 minutes, by one count. Tzhat's how long it took Israel's new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to scrap the US-led Annapolis peace talks on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, take the Golan Heights off the negotiating table with Syria, and reject the long-standing concept of land for peace, threatening a US-Israel rift if his government turns that rhetoric into policy.

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With ‘Annapolis,’ a Warning to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper - April 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Watchers of Middle East politics were quick to take note of a line in President Obama’s address before the Turkish Parliament on Monday in Ankara, in which he mentioned “Annapolis.” By bringing up the word, Mr. Obama was sending a warning to the government of new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that reneging on the goals outlined during the Annapolis Middle East peace conference in 2007 would put Mr. Netanyahu on the wrong foot with the Obama administration.

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No Peace between Israel and the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli press has announced that US President Barack Obama will visit Israel in June. In Strasbourg, French President Nicholas Sarkozy raised with Obama the necessity of pushing peace forward in the Middle East and not being deterred by Benjamin Netanyahu's becoming prime minister of Israel. Sarkozy told Obama that he should deal with the reality of Netanyahu's election and push the peace process forward under all conditions, quickly and immediately.

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A Harsh Reality for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ahmad Tibi - (Opinion) April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The right-wing coalition of the new Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, does not bode well for Palestinians in Israel. With the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister, the extremists are going after the indigenous population and threatening us with loyalty tests and the possibility of “transfer” into an area nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

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Clinton's caution in Israel has some Palestinians grumbling
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

On her first visit as secretary of state to the de facto Palestinian capital, Hillary Clinton publicly chided Israel on Wednesday for demolishing dozens of Arab homes in East Jerusalem, a move that's undermining anemic peace talks with the Palestinians.

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Talking much gibberish about Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Michael Young - (Opinion) March 5, 2009 - 1:00am

You can say many disparaging things about the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but he did manage, until his dying breath, to preserve what was known as the independence of the Palestinian decision. Under Arafat's guidance, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was able for decades to avoid falling under the sway of an Arab state, particularly Syria, which tried as of the late 1960s to bring the PLO to heel.

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