US hits back at Lieberman: The goal is two states
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The US State Department hit back at Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's warning on Tuesday to those pressuring Israel on its foreign policy agenda. The Yisrael Beitenu chairman and recent appointment to the top ministerial position also said that the world was willing to listen to his ideas, accusing the Israeli left of attacking his positions to score points abroad. "We have never interfered with other people's affairs and we expect of others not stand with a stopwatch in hand," Lieberman told party members at a conference.

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Obama team readying for confrontation with Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

In an unprecedented move, the Obama administration is readying for a possible confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by briefing Democratic congressmen on the peace process and the positions of the new government in Israel regarding a two-state solution. The Obama administration is expecting a clash with Netanyahu over his refusal to support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

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RPT-ANALYSIS-Obama reassures Arabs, nudges Israel on peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed - (Analysis) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama reassured Arabs with his unambiguous support for a Palestinian state this week and he nudged Israel's conservative government, which has carefully avoided committing itself to that goal. Visiting Turkey, Obama twice in two days said he backed a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shied away from the phrase. [ID:nL7380792]

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No Peace between Israel and the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli press has announced that US President Barack Obama will visit Israel in June. In Strasbourg, French President Nicholas Sarkozy raised with Obama the necessity of pushing peace forward in the Middle East and not being deterred by Benjamin Netanyahu's becoming prime minister of Israel. Sarkozy told Obama that he should deal with the reality of Netanyahu's election and push the peace process forward under all conditions, quickly and immediately.

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Let's cooperate in the interest of Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Editorial) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The recent call by the US government urging Israel to honour the principle of the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict is encouraging. It is difficult, however, to see how the Obama administration can impose this position on Israel's newly-elected right-wing government.

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Israel Cries Wolf
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

“Iran is the center of terrorism, fundamentalism and subversion and is in my view more dangerous than Nazism, because Hitler did not possess a nuclear bomb, whereas the Iranians are trying to perfect a nuclear option.” Benjamin Netanyahu 2009? Try again. These words were in fact uttered by another Israeli prime minister (and now Israeli president), Shimon Peres, in 1996. Four years earlier, in 1992, he’d predicted that Iran would have a nuclear bomb by 1999.

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US envoy to return to region next week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

US special envoy George Mitchell will return to the Middle East next week on his first trip since Israel's new conservative government took office, the State Department said on Monday. Mitchell will travel to the region starting April 13 and meet officials from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, the Gulf and North Africa. The former US senator and veteran negotiator aims "to advance the goal of the two-state solution and comprehensive peace in the region", State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

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Palestinians, Israel hail Obama’s commitment to peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority on Monday welcomed US President Barack Obama's renewed support for the Annapolis agreement and the stalled roadmap plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. At the same time, the Israeli government hailed what it said was Obama's commitment to Israel's security.

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Israel can embrace peace plan 'or risk further conflict'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

BUCHAREST, Romania: Jordan's King Abdullah II said Monday an Arab peace initiative offers a solution for peace in the region, adding that Israel should use the opportunity or risk ongoing conflict in the region. "Israel must decide whether they want to observe this opportunity and become integrated in the region or whether they want to remain a fortress ... and keep the Middle East hostage in conflict," Abdullah said in Bucharest, during an official visit. The king met Romanian President Traian Basescu Monday and discussed bilateral issues and the urgent need for peace in the Middle East.

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Steering Israel to peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

ANY lingering hopes abroad — and there were some — that Avigdor Lieberman, who replaced Tzipi Livni as Israel’s foreign minister last week, was suddenly going to be transformed from nationalist demagogue to peace-seeking statesman were cruelly dispelled when he spoke on Wednesday, brutally rejecting the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process that started at Annapolis well over a year ago.

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