Biden tells Palestinians U.S. won't be deterred
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Vice President Joe Biden told Palestinians on Wednesday that the United States intends to push ahead with its Mideast peacemaking effort, despite a diplomatic blow-up this week over Israel's plans to build 1,600 housing units in disputed East Jerusalem. Biden met in the West Bank with the Palestinian Authority president and prime minister, emphasizing U.S. determination to act as the intermediary in new talks between Israelis and Palestinians. The vice president reiterated his criticism of Israel's housing announcement, and declared that Palestinians deserve a "viable" state.

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Staying true to 'two-state'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

For the better part of two decades, most Israelis and Palestinians and most of their elected leaders have embraced the "two-state solution" to their bloody conflict -- a negotiated separation into side-by-side states of Israel and Palestine. Over time, however, the two sides have moved further from that goal, pulled in opposite directions by extremists. Now, as Vice President Biden and U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell attempt to start "proximity" talks, in which the two sides will negotiate without meeting face to face, we're concerned: Is time running out for a two-state solution?

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Abbas: Arabs must intervene in peace debacle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas called on Arab representative bodies "to act swiftly, and to take steps... commensurate with this deadly work," referring to Israel's announced plans to build 1,600 new settlement homes in Jerusalem. Abbas' remarks were in a Palestinian Authority Information Ministry statement released Wednesday, slamming Israel's announcement, calling the move is part of Israel's "entrenched system of extremism."

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Israel planning 50,000 housing units in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.

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Biden to Israelis: Mideast status quo unsustainable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

United States Vice President Joe Biden warned Israelis in a direct address from Tel Aviv on Thursday that the status quo in the Middle East was not sustainable, and vowed that the United States would do everything in its power to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He also urged both Israelis and the Palestinians look toward direct negotiations to end the long-standing conflict.

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The problem with illegal settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

The embarrassment the US vice president faced this week when, during his visit to Israel, the creation of a new settlement was announced should not have surprised him. The list of Israeli slaps in the face of US officials is endless. The situation has become such that many believe calls for a freeze of settlement activities should stop because they resulted in a frenzy to build even more Jewish settlements.

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The peace movement's new leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Editorial) March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

As a believer in the cause of the two-state solution, which would preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state by ending the occupation, I ask myself: Who is our leader? Until recently, I said: Barack Obama. But he caved in to the Netanyahu government and its supporters in the US. As a Mideast peacemaker, Obama has become a joke, and nobody takes his envoys or these “proximity talks” seriously.

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Israel provokes and damages push for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

During the Middle Ages, intellectuals endlessly debated the question: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? To this we add a contemporary version: How often will Israel kick Washington in the teeth before it says “Enough!” Our question, of course, is occasioned by the visit of the US vice president, Joe Biden, to Jerusalem and Ramallah this week. Mr Biden was dispatched by the White House to assure Israelis of America’s commitment to their security.

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Biden: Palestinians deserve 'viable' state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Vice President Joe Biden's displeasure over an Israeli plan to enlarge an east Jerusalem settlement was on display Wednesday as he warned against actions that "inflame tensions" and reassured his Palestinian hosts that they deserve a sustainable, independent state.

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Diplomacy 102
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. used rare and decidedly undiplomatic language on Tuesday to upbraid Israel after it announced plans to build 1,600 new housing units in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem. “I condemn the decision. ...,” he said in a statement. The Obama administration is understandably furious. Mr. Biden was in Israel working to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The word came after he had spent the day vowing the United States’ “absolute, total and unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security.”

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