Washington Watch: Evading peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

It was an “Aha! moment” for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. When Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal told half a million followers in Gaza on Sunday that “Palestine is ours from the river to the sea” and “Israel has no right in Jerusalem,” and when Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas failed to denounce the speech, which one of his aides called “very positive,” Netanyahu declared: “I told you so.”

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Why Obama Will Ignore Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) December 10, 2012 - 1:00am

The last week of November 2012 was a big one on the Israeli-Palestinian front. On the 65th anniversary of the partition resolution that created a Jewish state, the United Nations recognized a Palestinian one. Israel retaliated with the West Bank equivalent of sequestration: announcing it would move toward building settlements in an area east of Jerusalem called E1, which many observers believe would kill the two-state solution.

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How Obama Can Get Tough With Bibi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) December 5, 2012 - 1:00am

Recently, the European Union adopted harsh new Iran sanctions, strongly supported by Israel. Shortly thereafter, Israel announced new East Jerusalem settlement construction. The EU’s top official Catherine Ashton, who was about to visit Israel, condemned the announcement in measured terms; Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, publicly told her, in effect, to shove it.

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Senate amendment penalizing Palestinians for U.N. status does not pass
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
December 5, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A U.S. Senate amendment that would have penalized Palestinians for seeking non-member state status at the United Nations was not attached to its intended law.

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Europe mulls new Mideast peace plan: Palestinian official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 4, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- European countries are mulling a new plan to revive the peace talks that have been stalled since 2010 between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), a Palestinian official said Tuesday.

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Israel faces lowest point in Europe relations in decades
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - December 4, 2012 - 1:00am

The unusually strong European rebuke of Israel’s plans to tighten its grip on land sought for a Palestinian state marks at least a 30-year low point in relations, say Israeli foreign policy scholars. While the nature of Europe’s complaint is not new, the tone reflects both heightened urgency about salvaging the two-state solution, and accumulated impatience with a government seen as diplomatically tone deaf.

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Israel’s List of Friends Keeps Getting Shorter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am

When I made an appointment to see Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard last week, I hoped we would spend most of our time discussing her new effort to better integrate her country into Asia.

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'U.S. angered by claim that new building at E-1 aimed at Obama, not Palestinians'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chemi Shalev - December 3, 2012 - 1:00am

The U.S. Administration intensified criticism of Israel’s decision to proceed with construction at the E-1 site near Ma'ale Adumim in response to indications that the move was meant to “retaliate” against U.S. President Barack Obama for his refusal to endorse the 2004 Sharon-Bush letter on settlement blocs.

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U.S. intensifies criticism of Israel on settlement plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Andrew Quinn, Matt Spetalnick - December 3, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday ratcheted up criticism of Israel over plans to expand Jewish settlement building on occupied land, urging it to reconsider despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to back down. The Obama administration's tougher-than-usual words for close ally Israel came after five European governments summoned Israeli ambassadors in their capitals to express concern over the new settlement projects. But Washington stopped short of threatening any concrete measures against the Jewish state.

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Israel’s Addiction to the Status Quo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Noam Sheizaf - (Opinion) December 2, 2012 - 1:00am

A well-known cliché in Israeli political discourse refers to a high rate of support among the Jewish public for a two-state solution. As the claim goes, despite the Second Intifada and the rounds of fighting against Hamas in Gaza, most Jews still prefer this solution to the annexation of the Palestinian territories.

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