Israel impasse gives US much to ponder
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Simon Tisdall - (Opinion) April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Soothing words from Washington at the weekend, aimed at placating Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai after last week's public falling out, follow a familiar pattern. The White House was livid with Gordon Brown over last year's release to Libya of the Lockerbie bomber. But things were patched up once tempers cooled.

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A US Middle East peace plan in theory and practice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) April 10, 2010 - 12:00am

A few days ago a David Ignatius column in the Washington Post introduced a new Obama administration concept in the standoff with PM Netanyahu: the idea that the United States might develop and begin promoting its own specified plan for a Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. In effect, this plays on Israel's deep concern about a settlement that is "imposed" by outside powers rather than one that is negotiated with the Palestinians.

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NSA Jones: "No decision" on U.S. peace plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - (Blog) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Obama's National Security Advisor Jim Jones says there's been no decision yet on the U.S. proposing its own Middle East peace plan. "There’s been no decision on that," Jones told reporters aboard Air Force One, regarding recent reports that the Obama administration is being urged to propose its own detailed Middle East peace plan if there is no progress on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by the fall.

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Palestinian FM to meet with IBSA leaders in Brasilia on Middle East Peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Foreign Minister Malik Riak will visit Brasilia next week to meet with leaders and representatives of India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum to seek support for peace negotiations with Israel, a government official said Thursday. The meeting will take place during the IBSA summit, scheduled for next Thursday in the capital city of Brazil, and will take the form of "3+1", Roberto Jaguaribe, secretary general for political affairs of Brazil's Foreign Ministry, told a press conference.

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Netanyahu in a pickle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald
by Uri Dromi - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed up the first year of his term. Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu boasted that, ``We have made 1,500 decisions.'' The good souls here were quick to remind us that this government was formed in a hurry on March 31, 2009, just minutes away from All Fools Day. Pundits ridiculed the abundance of decisions, saying that it was better to check how many of them actually were implemented. Others said that actually, for every one of 750 decisions made, there was one reversing it and so on.

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Terms of Endearment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - (Blog) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

“Obama to Impose Terms on Israel” is the headline you didn’t read on David Ignatius’s column in the Washington Post today. The story ran under the title “Obama’s Mideast Plan,” which Ignatius describes as “proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict.”

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Discussions, but no decisions, on an Obama plan for Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Senior Obama administration officials have discussed whether President Obama should propose his own solution to the intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, including in a recent meeting between the president and seven former and current national security advisers, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

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U.S. has considered offering Mideast peace proposal, officials say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama and other U.S. officials have explored whether the administration should offer its own Middle East peace proposal to break the logjam between Palestinians and Israelis, officials said Wednesday. At a time of growing frustration in the White House over the lack of a peace agreement, Obama and aides recently discussed whether the administration may need to turn to such an approach, officials said.

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Rattling The Cage: Nyetanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Which way will Bibi go? This seems to be the big question – whether Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will bow to American pressure, exchange his right-wing/religious government for a “peace coalition” and start taking down the occupation, or whether he will dig in. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it – he’s going to dig in. This is not the prime minister who’s going to divide the land with the Palestinians.

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Genie out of the bottle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

The taboo was finally broken and the genie is out of the bottle, despite some attempts to force it back. America's military leaders have had enough and decided to speak out about the liability that a hardline Israel causes to America's national interest. Popular American General David Petraeus finally said the words that many have been saying behind closed doors for decades. The statement of the star-studded general puts American blind support for Israel in direct opposition to the country's most sacred institution, the military.

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