Next Steps
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

All the right words were spoken. Praise was effusive. The handshake made a perfect photo op. The wives had tea. Now that the July 6 summit between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been duly recorded, the true test of its worth will begin. It is clear that, for both political and pragmatic reasons, Obama seriously wants to preside over a peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians. The question is whether Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterparts want it as bad, and are willing to sacrifice for this elusive but necessary goal.

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Cheer, Then Gloom, on Talks for Peace Deal in Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

In the upbeat atmosphere after their recent meeting in Washington, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Obama expressed hopes of an imminent resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and of achieving a peace deal — within a year, according to Mr. Netanyahu, or in Mr. Obama’s case, before the end of his term. There has been vague talk in Washington about a narrowing of gaps in the weeks since the indirect, American-brokered negotiations started in May.

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Only the Palestinians have been serious
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has just finished another trip to the US, this time including an important meeting with US President Barack Obama.

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Living on borrowed time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Alon Pinkas - (Opinion) July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

In romantic terms, the July 6 meeting in the White House between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was a combination of "it's not you, it's me" and "let's hug it out." Both phrases are understated versions of the more lurid and moist descriptions of the encounter in the Israeli media.

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U.S. conservatives form new pro-Israel lobby group
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Washington observers may feel there is no obvious shortage of pro-Israel lobbyists in the city – but a group of leading American conservatives thinks otherwise and has set up a new campaign group to attack President Obama over his "anti-Israel" stance, U.S. website Politico reports.

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'Palestinian-Israeli situation could lead to a holy war if not resolved soon'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Barbara Ferguson - July 12, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama assured Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Friday of his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The call followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's White House meeting with Obama on Tuesday, in which the two leaders discussed a number of issues including Israel's stalled peace talks with the Palestinians. Dr. Ziad Asali, the president and founder of the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine, said it is important to keep focused on the efforts the president is making in outreach to both Palestinians and Israelis.

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'Palestinian-Israeli situation could lead to a holy war if not resolved soon'
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Arab News - July 12, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama assured Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Friday of his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The call followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's White House meeting with Obama on Tuesday, in which the two leaders discussed a number of issues including Israel's stalled peace talks with the Palestinians. Dr. Ziad Asali, the president and founder of the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine, said it is important to keep focused on the efforts the president is making in outreach to both Palestinians and Israelis.

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Presbyterians Press U.S. on Aid to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
July 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Presbyterian leaders want the United States to end aid to Israel unless the country stops settlement expansions in disputed Palestinian territories. Delegates of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted Friday to support the move during the church’s general assembly in Minneapolis. The measure passed with 82 percent of the vote. Jewish groups have long taken issue with various Presbyterian statements on the Middle East. But at least one group offered qualified praise on Friday.

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Israel Vows to ‘Take Risks’ in Talks With Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Kyle Crichton, Isabel Kershner - July 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Declaring that he intended to “confound the critics and the skeptics,” an upbeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told an audience of foreign policy experts in New York on Thursday that he was ready to begin direct peace talks with the Palestinians “next week” or even sooner. “Just get on with it,” he said.

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The Israel-Turkey Imbroglio
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) July 9, 2010 - 12:00am

NEW YORK — Here’s an intriguing nugget, given Turkey’s recent decision to close its airspace to Israeli military planes: When Israel attacked a covert Syrian nuclear reactor on Sept. 6, 2007, its bombers overflew Turkey. A former senior U.S. official who was intimately involved in handling the fallout from the raid told me Turkish officials raised the issue with Israel, were invited to discuss the matter, but in the end let it drop. Those were different times, before Turkish-Israeli ties entered their current poisonous phase.

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