Israeli nuclear scientists denied entry to U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from World Tribune
April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli sources said scientists employed at Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona have been denied visas to the United States. They said the Israelis were not allowed to enter the United States for training in chemistry, nuclear engineering and physics. "This is a new policy decision of the Obama administration, since there never used to be an issue with the reactor's employees to study in the United States, and until recently, they received visas and studied in the United States," the Israeli daily Maariv said.

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Israel impasse gives US much to ponder
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Simon Tisdall - (Opinion) April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Soothing words from Washington at the weekend, aimed at placating Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai after last week's public falling out, follow a familiar pattern. The White House was livid with Gordon Brown over last year's release to Libya of the Lockerbie bomber. But things were patched up once tempers cooled.

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To achieve Mideast peace, Obama must make a bold Mideast trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Stephen Solarz - (Opinion) April 11, 2010 - 12:00am

More than three decades ago, Israeli statesman Moshe Dayan, speaking about an Egyptian town that controlled Israel's only outlet to the Red Sea, declared that he would rather have Sharm el-Sheikh without peace than peace without Sharm el-Sheikh. Had his views prevailed, Israel and Egypt would still be in a state of war. Today, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with his pronouncements about the eternal and undivided capital of Israel, is conveying an updated version of Dayan's credo -- that he would rather have all of Jerusalem without peace than peace without all of Jerusalem.

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A US Middle East peace plan in theory and practice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) April 10, 2010 - 12:00am

A few days ago a David Ignatius column in the Washington Post introduced a new Obama administration concept in the standoff with PM Netanyahu: the idea that the United States might develop and begin promoting its own specified plan for a Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. In effect, this plays on Israel's deep concern about a settlement that is "imposed" by outside powers rather than one that is negotiated with the Palestinians.

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Netanyahu in a pickle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald
by Uri Dromi - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed up the first year of his term. Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu boasted that, ``We have made 1,500 decisions.'' The good souls here were quick to remind us that this government was formed in a hurry on March 31, 2009, just minutes away from All Fools Day. Pundits ridiculed the abundance of decisions, saying that it was better to check how many of them actually were implemented. Others said that actually, for every one of 750 decisions made, there was one reversing it and so on.

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Breaking the Middle East Impasse: How it Might Happen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Dr. Charles G. Cogan - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Negotiations in the Middle East are at an impasse. What two former Israeli Prime Ministers have recognized - that there can be no settlement in the Middle East as long as Israel claims all of Jerusalem -- has been rejected by Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightist cohort. Offers by Ehud Barak to Yasir Arafat, and later by Ehud Olmert to Mahmoud Abbas, of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem (both of which were declined), have now been taken off the table by Netanyahu.

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Netanyahu to skip Obama summit
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has abruptly canceled his plans to attend President Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit next week, creating an embarrassing distraction on the eve of a high-profile meeting the White House has sought to carefully choreograph. An Israeli official confirmed Netanyahu’s decision not to attend, which was revealed by Israeli media outlets Thursday afternoon Washington time.

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Robert Satloff doth protest too much
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Stephen Walt - (Opinion) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

If you would like to read a textbook example of a dust-kicking operation, please look at Robert Satloff's heated response to my recent post explaining the problems that can arise when top-level foreign policy officials have strong attachments to a foreign country. I seem to have struck a nerve. There are only two important issues here, and Satloff ignores both of them. First, do some top U.S. officials -- and here we are obviously talking about Dennis Ross -- have a strong attachment to Israel? Second, might this situation be detrimental to the conduct of U.S. Middle East policy?

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Netanyahu to skip Obama summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Josh Gerstein, Laura Rozen - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has abruptly canceled his plans to attend President Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit next week, creating an embarrassing distraction on the eve of a high-profile meeting the White House has sought to carefully choreograph. An Israeli official confirmed Netanyahu’s decision not to attend, which was revealed by Israeli media outlets Thursday afternoon Washington time.

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NSA Jones: "No decision" on U.S. peace plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - (Blog) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Obama's National Security Advisor Jim Jones says there's been no decision yet on the U.S. proposing its own Middle East peace plan. "There’s been no decision on that," Jones told reporters aboard Air Force One, regarding recent reports that the Obama administration is being urged to propose its own detailed Middle East peace plan if there is no progress on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by the fall.

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