Mitchell to give peace train a fresh push
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) May 4, 2010 - 12:00am

But perhaps the big question today is: Are there still believers in the US-sponsored peace process? We've seen this before in the past. The US special envoy to the Middle East heads to the region amid signs that peace talks, bogged down for what seems like an eternity, are about to resume. The peace process, an American coinage that dates back to the 1970s, is going into its penultimate thrusts. It has become an institution, a diplomatic edifice that thrives and withers depending on geopolitical agendas and regional crises.

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For Obama, room to maneuver on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Christi Parsons, Paul Richter - May 3, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama's altercations with the Israeli government have brought protests from U.S. groups that staunchly support Israel. But the administration retains substantial overall support among American Jewish voters, and that appears to be giving him political running room to ply his approach to the issue. Obama has criticized Israel for continuing to build Jewish housing in disputed territory, which the president says threatens efforts to restart peace talks, contributes to instability in the region and jeopardizes U.S. interests.

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Normalizing Relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Conservative
by Scott McConnell - May 1, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama has probably studied the first President Bush’s standoff with Israel. Then as now, the issue of contention was Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank and Jerusalem. George H.W. Bush was hopeful about moving toward a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

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Sec. Clinton's Remarks At the American Jewish Committee Annual Gala Dinner
Press Release - April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Grand Hyatt Hotel Washington, DC April 29, 2010 SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all. Well, it is wonderful to be back here at the American Jewish Committee and I thank David for that introduction. What he was really trying to say was that it was very dull in Chappaqua before we came to town. (Laughter.) David is an extraordinary leader. He inspires your confidence and your trust and your affection, and I thank him for his decades of service to this important work.


Israeli officials: Obama to call world summit if Mideast peace talks fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama has told several European leaders that if Israeli-Palestinian talks remain stalemated into September or October, he will convene an international summit on achieving Mideast peace, senior Israeli officials told Haaretz on Thursday.

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'Israel must remove 23 outposts'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The US pushed back against indications Israel has abandoned its commitment to take down authorized outposts Thursday, calling on Jerusalem to live up to its obligations. “The Israeli government has pledged to take specific actions,” US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. “They have responsibilities and we would expect them to fulfill those responsibilities.”

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Israel’s fear and loathing of Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Gideon Rachman - April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel’s alarm at the deterioration in its relations with the US is palpable. In Jerusalem recently, even a liberal commentator told me: “Barack Obama is a disaster for Israel. I don’t think the general public realise just how much of a disaster he is.” Government officials are more careful – but only a bit. Danny Ayalon, the deputy Israeli foreign minister, says that it would be a “grave mistake” for America to present its own Middle East peace plan, an idea that the US president’s people are known to be considering.

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Minister Yishai officially invited to White House
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Interior Minister Eli Yishai has been officially invited to visit the White House. The decision is apparently the result of the US Administration's desire to forge closer ties with the minister they perceive to be behind the east Jerusalem construction turmoil during Vice President Joe Biden's visit in Israel. During Biden's visit last month, the Interior Ministry approved the construction of 1,800 housing units in east Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood.

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Wanna buy a bridge, Mr. Mitchell?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

We make a point of judging everybody on their deeds, not their words – everybody but ourselves. When we say every Israeli wants peace, when two out of three Israelis consistently tell pollsters they’d give up settlements for peace, when our Likud prime minister tells the world he now accepts the two-state solution, we say: You hear that? Listen to our words. What further proof does anyone need of our peaceful intentions? But then there’s this little matter of deeds, of what Israel actually does. On the ground. And our deeds tell a somewhat different story than our words.

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Israeli forces demolish settlers' 'Obama's Shack'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Danielle Cheslow - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli security forces demolished a handful of illegal structures in West Bank settlements Tuesday, including a wooden bunker that hard-line Jewish activists had defiantly named after President Barack Obama. Israeli forces also clashed with Palestinian protesters opposed to construction of Israel's West Bank separation barrier. In one incident, paramilitary border police wrestled a teenage boy to the ground, then fired pepper spray directly into his face to subdue him. The youth, screaming in pain, was then arrested.

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