Abbas calls meeting to discuss Obama speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas has called an urgent meeting following US President Barack Obama’s speech on the Middle East on Thursday, a PLO official said. Saeb Erekat said Abbas appreciated Obama's efforts to reach a comprehensive solution to the conflict and his remarks on the right to self-determination and dignity. Erekat said the Palestinians remained committed to all previous agreements with Israel, "hoping that the Israeli government will do the same, to give the peace process the chance it deserves."

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Abbas welcomes Obama call to renew peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Thursday U.S. President Barak Obama's efforts to renew talks with Israel that collapsed last year, a senior Palestinian official said. "President Abbas expresses his appreciation of the continuous efforts exerted by President Obama with the objective of resuming the permanent status talks in the hope of reaching a final status agreement," said the official, Saeb Erekat.

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Hamas says Obama's speech leaning to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday rejected U.S. President Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East, accusing him of leaning towards Israel. "Obama adopted Israel's position to boost himself in preparation for an electoral campaign," said Mahmoud Zahar, a Gaza- based leader of Hamas, which does not recognize Israel. Obama delivered a speech Thursday in which he urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks, stalled over a dispute on settlement activities since last year.

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Palestinian leadership urges U.S. to blame Israel on peace talks' failure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership on Thursday called on the United States to blame Israel on the failure of peace talks in the Middle East. "It is the time for the U.S. administration to announce that the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, thwarted the U. S. efforts to make peace," said Saeb Erekat, a PLO official. Later Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver a speech on the Middle East. Also on Thursday, Netanyahu will arrive in Washington and will meet Obama Friday.

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Missing the boat to Palestine peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

There is no doubt that US President Barack Obama and, certainly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have to date missed the boat launched during the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa with promises of more glorious days for the Arab world. How long will American and Israeli leaders continue to bury their heads in the sand without appreciating the golden opportunities roaring above, now that democracy and freedom are being slowly and hopefully firmly established in some of these Arab countries?

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Obama Sees ’67 Borders as Starting Point for Peace Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Stefanie Marsh, Steven Lee Myers - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

President Obama, seeking to capture a moment of epochal change in the Arab world, began a new effort on Thursday to break the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, setting out a new starting point for negotiations on the region’s most intractable problem.

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Obama Sees ’67 Borders as Starting Point for Peace Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Stefanie Marsh, Steven Lee Myers - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

President Obama, seeking to capture a moment of epochal change in the Arab world, began a new effort on Thursday to break the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, setting out a new starting point for negotiations on the region’s most intractable problem.

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Obama Sees ’67 Borders as Starting Point for Peace Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Stefanie Marsh, Steven Lee Myers - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

President Obama, seeking to capture a moment of epochal change in the Arab world, began a new effort on Thursday to break the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, setting out a new starting point for negotiations on the region’s most intractable problem.

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Obama’s Mideast peace gaffe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

President Obama’s State Department speech Thursday has prompted a fevered debate among Middle East policy wonks about whether he has changed past U.S. policy on the terms for Palestinian statehood — not to mention a wave of inflated and mostly erroneous rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates. The basic question is this: By saying that a division of territory between Israel and Palestine should be “based on” the “1967 lines” between Israel and the West Bank, with agreed “swaps” of land, did Obama move beyond the previous U.S. position on the subject?

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Obama's Arab-Israeli Options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
May 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Introduction The Arab uprisings that have swept the Middle East touched Israel directly for the first time, as an unprecedented wave of Palestinian protesters charged toward Israel's borders from four directions on Sunday. With President Obama set to give a major speech on the Middle East on Thursday and with the departure of George Mitchell, the chief United States envoy to the Israelis and Palestinians, the White House is facing new challenges on both sides in dealing with the impasse in peace talks .

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