PM feels he can go left, keep coalition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - June 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not believe that any of the parties in his coalition would leave at this stage if his diplomatic policies shifted leftward in Sunday's address at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, sources close to Netanyahu said Thursday. A look at the pressures Netanyahu is facing ahead of his policy speech on Sunday

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Real hope for peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) June 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Whatever one may think of Barack Hussain Obama's speech in Cairo last week, there was no doubt it was historic and unprecedented for an American president. By any measure he was eloquent and charismatic and sounded genuinely eager for a new beginning with the Arab and Muslim world.

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U.S. Envoy Reassures Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
June 10, 2009 - 12:00am

George J. Mitchell, President Obama’s Middle East envoy, assured Palestinians on Wednesday of Washington’s commitment to a state of their own, calling its establishment the only viable solution to their conflict with Israel. Mr. Mitchell, speaking after talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, urged both sides to meet their obligations under a 2003 “road map” that commits Israel to halting settlement expansion and Palestinians to reining in militants. Mr. Abbas, after his talks with Mr. Mitchell, made no comment to reporters.

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US envoy pushes Middle East agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 10, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the United States’s envoy to the Middle East, met senior Israeli officials yesterday in what appeared to be part of an unusually vigorous US bid to step up pressure on Israel to freeze Jewish settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land. Although Mr Mitchell was understood to have focused on the settlements in his discussions in Israel, his visit may also have proved decisive before what is expected to be a major peace policy speech on Sunday by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

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US urges quick return to Mid-East talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
June 9, 2009 - 12:00am

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has urged a swift return to peace talks on his first day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. "We all share an obligation to create the conditions for the prompt resumption and early conclusion of negotiations," he said in Jerusalem. US relations with Israel are said to be tense since President Barack Obama's speech to Muslims in Cairo last week. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure to back a two-state solution.

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'Obama proposed plan for peace deal within two years'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
June 9, 2009 - 12:00am

United States President Barack Obama has presented to Egypt and Israel a plan for a two-state solution to be finalized within two years, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. A source in Cairo told the newspaper that Obama raised the plan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter's visit to Washington last month. According to the report, the plan envisions a Middle East peace deal by 2011 and would encompass an agreement for a Palestinian state.

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Mitchell seeks Middle East talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
June 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The US envoy George Mitchell met with Israeli leaders today seeking to launch immediate talks on core issues of the Middle East conflict amid deep disagreements between Washington and the Jewish state over settlements and the two-state solution. Mr Mitchell’s visit comes days ahead of a key speech by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the hawkish leader is due to lay out his cabinet’s policies on the stalled peace process the US administration has been trying to restart.

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The regional approach might get us there faster
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Avi Dichter - (Editorial) June 9, 2009 - 12:00am

We in Israel take pride in leaving "no stone unturned in the search for peace." However, now it seems, we are leaving unturned not a stone, but a large boulder. The Arab peace initiative, calling for comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world, has been placed on the table. It is backed by the leaders of all Arab nations and has been deemed "very impressive" by US

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Minister Yaalon rejects swift peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - June 9, 2009 - 12:00am

An American plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within two years may lead to the establishment of "Hamastan in the West Bank," Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon said during an event at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in honor of late journalist Ze'ev Schiff. The peace process may take up to five years, Yaalon said, adding that "instant peace" will fail because of realities on the ground.

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US Envoy Calls for 'Immediate' Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - June 7, 2009 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama wants "immediate" talks between the Palestinians and Israel to forge a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, US envoy George Mitchell was quoted by Reuters as saying on Monday. En route to the Middle East, Mitchell said such talks were aimed at reaching "a comprehensive peace and normalization of relations" between Israel and its neighbors, which would also serve "the security interests of the United States."

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