Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for Jerusalem is ill conceived
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Jerusalem is ill conceived. This was amply demonstrated by the announcement of the construction of 1,600 new apartments in the occupied eastern segment of the city during what was supposed to be a charm visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, Israel’s best friend in President Barack Obama’s administration. And yet, while Netanyahu might not be a great peacemaker, the Obama administration, by portraying the announcement as a deliberate attempt to frustrate the upcoming indirect talks with the Palestinians, exaggerated the incident for its own purposes.

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Obama weighs new peace plan for the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Despite recent turbulence in U.S. relations with Israel, President Obama is "seriously considering" proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials.

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Jordan King: Israel's long-term future is in jeopardy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Jordanian King Abdullah has warned that Israel's long-term future would remain in jeopardy unless a permanent solution to the Middle East conflict was achieved, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I think the long-term future of Israel is in jeopardy unless we solve our problems," Abdullah told the paper in an interview that appeared online Tuesday. The Jordanian monarch, who is scheduled to arrive to Washington on Saturday to attend President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit, cautioned against "wasting too much time" in resolving the conflict in the region.

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Textbooks, Grasshoppers, and the Question of Incitement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) April 5, 2010 - 12:00am

There is a great opportunity in the next few months to reach a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This may seem a surprising view just now, but there is a competent and responsible Palestinian government in place which is serious about establishing a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel. And there is strong public support for this objective. The evidence is all around you if you come to see the reality.

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PLO: Israel approves 3,226 houses in Jerusalem in March
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel approved the construction of a total of 3,226 homes for Jews in the disputed East Jerusalem in March, a report by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said on Monday. The biggest projects involved the building of 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo settlement and another 600 homes in a nearby settlement, the report said. Moreover, Jerusalem municipality has drawn up plans and is waiting an approval to build 50,000 houses in the comings months, according to the report.

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Israel says it’s planning new gestures
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz, Hilary Leila Krieger - April 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has formulated a new list of potential gestures towards the Palestinians, Defense Ministry sources said Thursday, as a top Palestinian Authority minister visited Washington for talks with Obama administration officials. The office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Defense Ministry recently compiled new proposals for easing restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Defense officials.

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Palestinian official: Israel to encircle Jerusalem's Old City with settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 1, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official on Thursday warned that Israel is planning to encircle the Old City in disputed East Jerusalem with Jewish settlements. Such a move would increase tensions since the majority of residents there are Arabs and the walled compound in the Old City includes the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. The official, Hatem Abdul-Kader, told Voice of Palestine radio that this plan was "oppressive" as some 310 Palestinian houses in nearby Arab neighborhoods would be demolished. The new project will take the shape of a crescent and would embrace the Old City, Abdul-Kader said.

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Changing course, Fatah officials call for Palestinian protests against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - April 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Senior officials in Fatah, the mainstream faction of the PLO, have for several years taken a backseat approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- leaving negotiations to a few leaders at the top and demonstrations to the grass-roots activists on the street.

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Needed: An Israeli peace plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

While in Washington the U.S. administration is trying to reduce tensions with Israel, in Jerusalem they go out of their way to depict in war paint the demands President Barack Obama put to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Political sources in Jerusalem told Haaretz's Ari Shavit this week that hiding behind the American demands is an intention to impose a permanent settlement on the two sides in less than two years. This is being presented as a troubling change in U.S.

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Sarkozy 'condemns Israeli construction in East Jerusalem'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

French President Nicolas Srakozy on Tuesday said his country stands with the United States in condemning Israeli settlement activity in East Jerusalem. Sarkozy said his own commitment to Israel's security is well known but adds that the settlement activity in an area claimed by the Palestinians "contributes nothing." Speaking at a news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama after their White House meeting, Sarkozy praised Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks.

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