Will Israeli PM's reference to the 'S' word spell peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) June 15, 2009 - 12:00am

For the first time in his long political career Benjamin Netanyahu managed to say "Palestinian state". That much is a result for Barack Obama, despite the qualifications that came with it. As the US President most eager since Jimmy Carter to make progress in the Middle East from day one of entering office, he found himself, by a painful historical irony, faced with an Israeli Prime Minister who did not, unlike his three predecessors, even accept a theory the notion of a two-state solution. On this Mr Netanyahu has bowed to the inevitable.

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Mideast Peace Can Start With a Land Swap
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by David Makovsky - (Opinion) June 15, 2009 - 12:00am

The White House publicly welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech yesterday giving qualified support to a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Nonetheless, there remains a gap between Mr. Netanyahu and the Obama administration over the expansion of settlements. Fortunately, there is a way to bridge that gap.

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U.S. officials skeptical on a demilitarized Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - June 15, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. officials reacted skeptically Monday to an Israeli proposal that the United States and other world powers guarantee that a new nation of Palestine remain demilitarized as a condition of its statehood. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said for the first time Sunday that Israel would be prepared to live side by side with a Palestinian state, but only if world powers guaranteed that it would be "demilitarized." The proposal came in a major statement of his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that attracted attention worldwide.

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Netanyahu Backs Palestinian State, With Caveats
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - June 14, 2009 - 12:00am

The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday endorsed for the first time the principle of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but on condition that the state was demilitarized and that the Palestinians recognized Israel as the state of the Jewish people. In a much-anticipated speech meant in part as an answer to President Obama’s address in Cairo on June 4, Mr. Netanyahu reversed his longstanding opposition to Palestinian statehood, a move seen as a concession to American pressure.

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PA: Speech dealt deadly blow to peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - June 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Many Palestinian leaders expressed disappointment following a much-anticipated speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday. An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Ynet that speech "dealt a deadly blow to the peace process". "Netanyahu's speech was a right-wing speech that destroyed the basis for negotiations when it talked of a unified Jerusalem, removing the refugee issue from the talks and recognizing a Jewish state. This is a speech that is about setting terms," he said.

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Likud members say PM gave in to US pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
June 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address drew varied remarks from both left and right-wing officials Sunday. Rightists responded warmly to his attitude towards the settlements, but were apprehensive about his support of a Palestinian state. MK Danny Danon said other members of the Likud would work to strike the words "Palestinian state" from the address. "I will attempt to cause this sentence, which was said under American pressure, never to come into being. The speech was brilliant, but Netanyahu has given in to American pressure," he said.

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US calls for more Arab concessions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
June 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Egyptian officials said yesterday that America’s Mideast envoy has urged Arab countries to reopen Israeli diplomatic missions and take other steps to normalize relations immediately as incentives for the Jewish state to revive the peace process with Palestinians.

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Netanyahu turned Palestinian statehood into bargaining chip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amitai Etzioni - (Opinion) June 12, 2009 - 12:00am

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had walked out of the White House on May 18 and announced that he accepted President Barack Obama's demands to freeze all settlement construction, he would merely have forced the president to demand some other significant concession from Israel. Obama was urged not only by Arab leaders, but also by many so-called progressive Jewish ones to show "even-handedness," to stop the U.S. tilt in favor of Israel in order to become a credible broker for peace in the Middle East.

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Obama's resolve on Mideast facing a history of blunt reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - June 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Infuriated by pressure from Washington, Israel's prime minister summoned the American ambassador. "You have no moral right to preach to us," he lectured the envoy. "What kind of talk is this, 'punishing Israel'? Are we a vassal state of yours? Are we a banana republic?" That scolding was 28 years ago, but it echoes as a cautionary tale.

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Mitchell calls for ‘peace’ with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
June 11, 2009 - 12:00am

The US envoy George Mitchell called today for Arab states to take “meaningful steps and important actions” to make peace with Israel, after talks with the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit. Mr Mitchell arrived in Cairo from Israel and the Palestinian territories, reiterating Washington’s position that a Palestinian state was the only viable answer to the Middle East conflict. “We are working hard to achieve our objective, a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel,” Mr Mitchell told reporters.

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