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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US envoy in fresh bid to kickstart peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - April 13, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, returns to the region today for the first time since the new Israeli right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu took power in a bid to push forward the stalled peace process.

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Israel: New govt and old policies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) April 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Lest it not be clear or be forgotten, Palestinians and other Arabs are spelling out what a peace settlement in their view entails: The two-state formula in accordance with the agreed references, particularly the Arab peace initiative. These policy positions, recently expressed by the chief Palestinian negotiator in Palestine, and in neighboring Jordan where Arab foreign ministers met to review of the Middle East peace process, were meant to reiterate the ways of reaching peace.

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Netanyahu pledges Palestinian talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
April 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he will hold peace talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu's comments on the stalled peace process - his first since he took office at the beginning of the month - came in a phone call with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Sunday. Abbas had called Netanyahu to extend holiday greetings for the Jewish Passover ceremony. The two had a "friendly and warm" conversation, according to a statement from Netanyahu's office.

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Hamas Comes Out of Hiding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Paul McGeough - (Opinion) April 12, 2009 - 12:00am

JUST a year and a half ago, visiting Khalid Mishal, the supreme leader of Hamas, was a cloak-and-dagger affair. In September 2007, I climbed into the back of a curtained Mercedes to make the dash from central Damascus to the southern suburbs, where the Palestinian group operated from a high-security enclave reserved for senior officials of the Syrian government.

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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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Top Israeli diplomat: Don't rush us back to peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - April 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman has been Israel's foreign minister for a week, and his blunt, undiplomatic style already is threatening to overshadow the new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Colonial values rule again in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - April 10, 2009 - 12:00am

For years, pro-Israeli zealots and other fanatics in the United States who run out of arguments quickly revert to their fallback position that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East - and thus should be supported against Arab dictators. There is some truth to this argument, but not compelling integrity. Israel is indeed a domestic democracy for its Jewish citizens, and most Arab countries are not convincingly democratic.

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Blair: Netanyahu will back establishment of Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - April 10, 2009 - 12:00am

International Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said he estimates Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will promote the establishment of a Palestinian state.  

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Can the United States put pressure on Israel?: A user's guide
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Stephen Walt - April 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now Barack Obama have all publicly stated that the United States seeks a "two-state" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In other words, the United States supports the creation of a viable Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza. The new Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu opposes this goal, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has already said that he does not think Israel is bound by its recent commitments on this issue.

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