Obama, Netanyahu meet again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Anne E. Kornblut - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Two months after a tense meeting at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Obama are set to meet on Tuesday with a deceptively simple mission: getting their picture taken together. The public show of unity matters for the delicate Middle East peace process and for domestic political consumption on both sides. Of immediate concern to the Democratic Party is the effect a perceived rift could have on the midterm elections, as Republicans angle to use any perceived rupture with Netanyahu to argue that Obama is insufficiently committed to Israel.

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Israelis, Palestinians, Americans produce 24 hours of "theater": analyst
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The diplomatic activities in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Washington on Monday and Tuesday is nothing more than theater, according to an analyst. The political science professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ira Sharkansky, was highly dismissive of the meeting on Monday in Jerusalem between Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Likewise, Sharkansky expected little more than showmanship when United States President Barack Obama hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday.

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ISRAEL: Are Palestinians and Israelis ready to talk face to face?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Raising hopes that direct peace talks might soon be renewed, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met Monday in Jerusalem with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the first high-level meeting since February. Fayyad said in a statement that they discussed “a number of vital and key issues as well as Israeli violations of the rights of our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including Jerusalem.”

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Clock is ticking on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Robert Danin - (Opinion) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy brokered by the United States is rapidly heading toward a September crisis. President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu need to establish a new understanding quickly when they meet Tuesday at the White House or relations between the two governments will remain stormy and efforts to launch direct negotiations will fail.

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What do Palestinians expect from Obama-Netanyahu meeting?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

On the eve of the scheduled meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, the Middle East peace process and lifting Gaza Strip blockade are the two major issues of deep concerns for the Palestinians. They are seeking an active U.S. intervention in both tracks, while officials and observers see that the White House is standing before a real examination at this moment to achieve a serious progress in the political process and respond to the Palestinian demands.

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Israelis, Palestinians, Americans produce 24 hours of "theater": analyst
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Xinhua - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The diplomatic activities in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Washington on Monday and Tuesday is nothing more than theater, according to an analyst. The political science professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ira Sharkansky, was highly dismissive of the meeting on Monday in Jerusalem between Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Likewise, Sharkansky expected little more than showmanship when United States President Barack Obama hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday.

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Beyond the Occupation: Palestine and the Two-State Solution
Interview with Hussein Ibish - In These Times - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

In the wake of the Israel Defense Force’s violent interdiction of the Free Gaza movement’s “peace flotilla” on May 30, and Israel’s decision to ease the blockade of Gaza as a result, we present a pro-Palestinian viewpoint that favors peaceful co-existence with the Jewish State.

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Netanyahu heads to Washington in effort to mend U.S. ties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - July 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on Monday evening to meet with President Barack Obama for the fifth time since the two leaders took office. A senior source in Jerusalem said that Netanyahu hoped the meeting would enable him to regain Obama's trust after months of tension regarding West Bank settlement construction. Netanyahu was planning to present Obama with a number of proposals for coordinating progress in the Middle East peace process, said the source.

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Palestinian President Reaches Out to Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dina Kraft - July 2, 2010 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV — The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, made a rare effort to reach out directly to the Israeli public, calling on Israel’s leadership to step up peace efforts while suggesting that his people were growing weary waiting for a state. “We want to live in peace. Don’t kill the hope,” Mr. Abbas said in comments published Thursday after a group interview with six correspondents from Israel’s leading newspapers.

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Obama-Netanyahu talks need concessions for an Israeli-Palestinian deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) July 2, 2010 - 12:00am

A year has passed since President Obama vowed the US would not to turn its back on the Palestinians and their “aspiration for ... a state of their own.” On Tuesday he meets with the one man most able to create that new state: Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel. Their talks at the White House will have many purposes, such as lessening the estrangement between the two leaders and bolstering US support of Israel at a time when it is very isolated. But Mr. Obama should not forget his promise to the Palestinians and must extract concessions from Mr. Netanyahu.

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