Juppe's Visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

There is weak optimism about the results of the visit by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe the day after tomorrow to Israel, where he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Juppe will also visit Ramallah, where he will meet with the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, after meeting tomorrow evening with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Rome. No matter how strong Juppe's personality is, or the widespread respect he enjoys in France and the rest of the world, the problem lies in the obstinate positions of Netanyahu.

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Israel considers options on Palestinian statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Linda Gradstein - June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

While U.S. officials are running a full-court diplomatic press against the Palestinian bid for U.N. recognition of statehood this September and officials at international Jewish organizations are trying to convince foreign leaders to oppose statehood, the Israeli government appears to be taking a different approach: acceptance. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Knesset committee that there is no way to stop the U.N. General Assembly from recognizing Palestinian statehood.

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Time not on our side
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Donniel Hartman - (Opinion) June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The dust has settled on the Obama-Netanyahu summit, speeches, counter-speeches, and instant, predictable analyses. Leaving our politics aside, American and Israeli, we now have an opportunity to go beyond performance analyses and the allocation of blame or praise and reflect on where we stand and where we might go. From the perspective of the majority of Israeli voters, the end result was viewed as a major accomplishment for Prime Minister Netanyahu. An end result was the bringing back of a measure of complexity into the Israeli-Palestinian discussion.

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Making the refugees priority No. 1
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Kenneth Bandler - (Opinion) May 31, 2011 - 12:00am

Abbas has perfected the art of complaining, yet has not presented a vision for solving the refugee dilemma, one that would address legitimate Palestinian needs and Israeli concerns. Two days before President Barack Obama delivered his Middle East policy address, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas revealed on The New York Times op-ed page that his core issue was not Israeli settlements. No, most vital for the Palestinian leader is fulfilling what he asserts is a Palestinian right to return to the homes and lands vacated during the first Arab-Israeli war.

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On victory and arrogance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Nahum Barnea - (Opinion) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

The Congress press gallery is situated above the podium. One cannot see the speaker’s face, only his or her head. Yet the faces of the listeners, that is, members of Congress, can certainly be seen. Their enthusiasm over Netanyahu’s speech was genuine and sweeping.

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The Required Arab Response to Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) May 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The preconditions put forward by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech before the joint session of the Senate and the U.S. House this week, are his and Israel’s onus alone. The most appropriate Arab response to the strategic framework proposed by Netanyahu for the peace process is to ignore it and act on the basis that this affair does not concern the Arabs. Each of the Arab and Israeli sides has its own visions and strategic frameworks, and within each camp, there are disagreements on both essence and implementation.

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Netanyahu's peace stance is running Israel into a wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) May 26, 2011 - 12:00am

When Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister, he had to formulate a peace strategy. He had to decide whether he aspired to reach an interim agreement or a final-status one with the Palestinians. He opted to go for a final-status agreement.

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Netanyahu relegated himself to the footnotes of history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) May 26, 2011 - 12:00am

The "speech of his life" must now quickly become the speech of Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu's political demise. The hour is pressing, there is no time and nothing is going to come of Netanyahu any more.

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Bibi's love-fest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) May 26, 2011 - 12:00am

If you stand on your head, the world around you is bound to look upside down. This is what Israel's leaders have been doing all these years. And this is what Benjamin Netanyahu did in his speeches before a rapturous and almost acquiescent audience at AIPAC conference on Monday and a joint session of US Congress on Tuesday. The thunderous applause that greeted Netanyahu at AIPAC is understandable. But the love-fest in Congress must have come as a rude shock to the rest of the world.

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The speech of panic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq al-Homayed - (Opinion) May 25, 2011 - 12:00am

There can be no doubt that the Arabs and Palestinians will preoccupy themselves with refuting the speech made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of the US Congress, which was full of mistakes and which represents an attempt to frustrate the peace efforts. However the Arabs and Palestinians must pay attention to one important thing in Netanyahu's speech, which is as follows:

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