Israel recognizes Obama means business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Asia Times
by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

Against all expectations, it's becoming the forerunner of a peace plan. Indeed, it might in the end even surprise the world as Israelis and Palestinians are forced into peace. Even if, for now, it's shaping up as anything but peaceful. It's a battle royal. "It" is the ongoing and unprecedented crisis in relations between the United States and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist that the divide between his government and the administration of President Barack Obama is still bridgeable.

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When Israel and France Broke Up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Gary J. Bass - (Opinion) March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

IN the face of rising tensions between the United States and Israel over housing construction in East Jerusalem, the Obama administration has rushed to reassert what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently called the “unshakable bond” between the two countries. No doubt, that relationship rests on enduring foundations, including broad American public sympathy for a besieged democracy, a mutual strategic interest in resisting Arab extremism and a sense of moral duty to preserve the Jewish people after the Holocaust.

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Israel silent on Obama's four-month building freeze in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama asked Israel to agree to put a four-month freeze on plans to pursue controversial construction projects in East Jerusalem, in return for enabling direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks to start, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Wednesday. The paper quoted an unnamed official in Jerusalem. Officials at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv were unavailable for comment.

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ATFP Senior Fellow Urges Audience to Support Palestinian State Building
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish joined Ori Nir of Americans for Peace Now in a panel discussion hosted by the South Mountain Peace Action of Maplewood and South Orange, NJ, on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. Ibish focused on the current confrontation between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over settlements and other issues.


The meaning of Exodus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moshe Dann - (Opinion) March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

As if Jews needed a reminder in the form of a modern rendition of "Pharaoh's heart hardened," President Obama provides an example, emphasizing an important lesson: The Egyptian dictator/king was part of the process of liberation and, ultimately, of God's will and the destiny of the Jewish People.

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Time to change the status quo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Alon Ben-meir - (Opinion) March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The last few weeks have looked like a crash course in Middle East diplomacy, replete with the grandeur of talks and lofty speechmaking and the lows that shamed even those most committed to the peace process. As the media frenzy played out, the public watched as Israel and its closest ally celebrated proximity talks, clashed over the untimely announcement of new construction in Jerusalem and worked through their differences during the AIPAC conference in Washington and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s subsequent meeting with President Barack Obama.

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Israel lobby presses Congress to soften Obama's tough stance on Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris McGreal - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

America's main pro-Israel lobby group is mobilising members of Congress to pressure the White House over its bitter public confrontation with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. The move, by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), appears aimed at exploiting differences in the Obama administration as it decides how to use the crisis around settlement building in Jerusalem to press Israel towards concessions to kickstart peace negotiations.

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Rachel Corrie's family takes case to court in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The American parents sit stoically in a sky-lit courtroom, listening to testimony about how an Israeli military bulldozer crushed their daughter to death seven years ago. They hear about the dangerous game of chicken played for several hours that winter afternoon in 2003, between bulldozers and international activists trying to protect Palestinian homes, before Rachel Corrie disappeared under a creeping mound of dirt.

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Arab countries miss opportunity to cash in on strained Israeli-US relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The 22nd Arab League summit that ended on Sunday was, as is common by now, long on rhetorical support for the Palestinians but short on practical measures to implement such support. Arab leaders did agree to draw up a strategy, in the words of Amr Moussa, the league’s secretary general, to stand up to Israel. In this context, however, it was surprising that the apparently strained US-Israeli relations were not more of a topic.

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'Obama must do more to mend ties'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

A top Jewish leader on Monday urged the Obama administration to do more to push back against negative aspersions about the Jewish community and the state of the US-Israel relationship in the wake of recent tensions between the two countries. “The outward appearances have been perceived and described in much of the media in very negative terms and I would hope that’s something theadministration would address,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

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