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.

»

NU's Katz reminds Emanuel he's Jewish
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Matthew Wagner - April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

National Union chairman Ya'acov "Ketzele" Katz sent a letter to White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel last week admonishing him not to forget his Jewish and Israeli origins. Katz's missive came in response to a reported verbal exchange between Emanuel and an unidentified American Jewish leader. Katz claims that in a private meeting with the unnamed leader, Emanuel said, "In the next four years, there will be a peace agreement with the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it does not matter to us who is the prime minister."

»

Netanyahu backtracks on Jewish state recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is not a pre-condition for holding peace negotiations. A statement issued Monday from the Prime Minister's Office said that without that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, Netanyahu believes "it will not be possible to advance the diplomatic process and reach a peace settlement. However, the prime minister has never set this as a pre-condition for the opening of negotiations and dialogue with the Palestinians."

»

Israel, Iran and Fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) April 19, 2009 - 12:00am

When I lived in Germany in the 1990s, the return of the capital from Bonn to the scene of the crime, Berlin, prompted agonizing over how to memorialize the Holocaust. Germans thirsted for a “Schlussstrich” — closure with Hitler — even as they acknowledged its impossibility. A large Holocaust memorial was built in Berlin, but not before a leading writer, Martin Walser, had prompted outrage by railing against “the permanent presentation of our shame” and use of Auschwitz as “a moral stick.”

»

The American Change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) April 19, 2009 - 12:00am

The US has taken a big step forward in its outlook on the Arab-Israeli conflict and how to resolve it, ending decades of complete adherence to Israel's stance. It has begun to sense the need to look into the demands of Arabs, i.e. into the demands of the other party to the conflict. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the US dealing with the conflict in the region, Presidential Envoy George Mitchell expressed a truth the Arabs have been pointing out for decades: peace in the Middle East is in the US's interest, with the Arab peace initiative constituting one of its bases.

»

Reckoning nears for the US and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - April 18, 2009 - 12:00am

The moment of reckoning in US-Israeli relations is approaching much more quickly than could have been anticipated months ago, due to two related developments: the hard-line position of the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the obvious, but undeclared, linkages between progress in US-Iranian relations and progress in Arab-Israeli peace-making.

»

Reading Obama Wrong
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

It seems to me that none of the key figures in the Israeli leadership (Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, or Minister of Defense Ehud Barak) "get" Barack Obama. This is no surprise. Israel was one of the only countries in the world that preferred Obama's opponents in the primaries and then in the general election. In fact, if Israelis could have chosen our President, they would have given George W. Bush a third term. (On the other hand, 78 percent of Jewish Americans voted for Obama last November).

»

Eminently possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the region with a special brief to kick-start meaningful talks between Palestinians and Israelis, has his work cut out for him.

»

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

»

Mitchell urges two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The US president Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy today told Israel’s ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, that Washington wants to see the creation of a Palestinian state. With Mr Libeerman at his side, George Mitchell told reporters: “I reiterated to the foreign minister that US policy favours, with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution which will have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel. “We look forward also to efforts to achieving comprehensive peace throughout the region.”

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017