Ministers: Netanyahu, Obama have their wires crossed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - July 20, 2009 - 12:00am

"(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama have their wires crossed, and this is detrimental to US-Israel relations," Labor Party ministers told Ynet Sunday night. According to the ministers, the prime minister has no direct channel of communication with the American president, and contact between the two is conducted mainly through Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

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'Limits on settlement freeze being set'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - July 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Jerusalem's decision to leak to the media US displeasure with a plan to build a small housing complex in east Jerusalem was designed to clarify to the Americans that construction in the capital should not be lumped together with any limitations Israel may agree to on building in the settlements, senior diplomatic officials told The Jerusalem Post Sunday. Moskowitz's critics: building in sensitive areas is a strategy to undermine the peace process

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Netanyahu draws red line on settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - July 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Tensions between the United States and Israel over settlement expansion in the West Bank escalated this weekend over a tinderbox issue: Israeli building in East Jerusalem, a predominantly Arab area that Israel claims as part of its "undivided and eternal capital."

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Settlements, and the California connection
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
July 20, 2009 - 12:00am

‘I will not cave in” announced the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “since this is a matter of 20 units only.” Mr Netanyahu’s curt response to the US government’s demand that Israel discontinue plans to build 20 apartments for Jewish settlers in Palestinian East Jerusalem underscores how this dispute has touched a nerve, and is of far greater significance than “20 units only”.

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How to Achieve a Lasting Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ehud Olmert - (Opinion) July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's partnership with the United States is one of its greatest strategic assets. The United States provides Israel with crucial security and economic aid and invaluable political backing in the international arena. Amid the legitimate rapprochement President Obama has initiated with the Arab and Muslim world, it is important not to underestimate the multifaceted nature of U.S. relations with Israel, the only real Middle Eastern democracy whose founding principles are based on the Western values of liberty and freedom for all.

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My Word: Obama team should pressure Israel on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Oakland Tribune
by Cecilie Surasky - (Opinion) July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

FEW AMERICANS HAVE had the opportunity to see firsthand, as I did in early July, the devastating impact of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and why it's critical that we support President Barack Obama's call for a settlement freeze.

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Britain backs call for Israeli settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

A freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank could help restart the peace process in the region, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday. "The deadlock has to be broken in some way," Brown told a committee of MPs. "I feel that if the Israelis were prepared to freeze settlement construction, there would be a response in the Arab world. And I think that is a way that you can see that movement forward could happen."

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Clinton doesn't rule out compromise with Israel on construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - July 15, 2009 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not rule out the possibility of a US-Israeli compromise that will allow the construction of several thousand housing units to be completed in a number of West Bank settlements.

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What About "Evil" Itself?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Hussein Shobokshi - (Opinion) July 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Travel and Leisure magazine, one of the most respected in its field, has dedicated a number of pages promoting tourism in Israel. In this advertising campaign the map of Israel was shown as including the West Bank and Gaza, and of course - the Golan Heights. This was not a misprint or inadvertent; it was deliberate and came amidst talks of pressure being put on Israel and its extremist rightwing government to force it to take part in serious peace negotiations, to which the government is absolutely opposed.

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Akiva Eldar / How to apply PR spin to the settlement issue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) July 15, 2009 - 12:00am

America's best Jewish minds are wracking their brains, trying to find a magic formula that will put the settlements close to the hearts of Israel's supporters, not to mention its critics. A new guide to the perplexed, disseminated by the leadership of the Israel Project, the organization spearheading Israel's public relations efforts in the United States, offers a glimpse into its very own internal confusion.

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