Joe Biden gives Israel bear hug - and tough love
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Tel Aviv Despite two days of public friction between the US and Israel over a Jerusalem building project, Vice President Joe Biden today delivered an emotional speech laden with admiration for the Jewish state. Some years ago "I said if I was Jew, I would be a Zionist," Biden said, telling the audience at Tel Aviv University of his affinity for Israel since childhood. "I was reminded by my father you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist."

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Biden's rebuke on new housing comes as Israel seeks to reaffirm U.S. relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Two years ago, Israel announced plans to build new homes in east Jerusalem just as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was preparing to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, prompting Rice's spokesman to characterize the move as "not helpful."

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Biden tells Palestinians U.S. won't be deterred
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Vice President Joe Biden told Palestinians on Wednesday that the United States intends to push ahead with its Mideast peacemaking effort, despite a diplomatic blow-up this week over Israel's plans to build 1,600 housing units in disputed East Jerusalem. Biden met in the West Bank with the Palestinian Authority president and prime minister, emphasizing U.S. determination to act as the intermediary in new talks between Israelis and Palestinians. The vice president reiterated his criticism of Israel's housing announcement, and declared that Palestinians deserve a "viable" state.

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Israel planning 50,000 housing units in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.

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Biden to Israelis: Mideast status quo unsustainable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

United States Vice President Joe Biden warned Israelis in a direct address from Tel Aviv on Thursday that the status quo in the Middle East was not sustainable, and vowed that the United States would do everything in its power to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He also urged both Israelis and the Palestinians look toward direct negotiations to end the long-standing conflict.

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The U.S. will no longer turn a blind eye to Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Even Mahmoud Abbas would have been hard put to dream up a greater victory for Palestinian diplomacy than the one handed to him Tuesday on a silver platter by the Israeli Interior Ministry. The condemnations have been pouring in since the plan to build 1,600 homes in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was announced. Not only from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but from the United Nations, the European Union and world leaders, all of them slamming the decision.

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Construction bids issued in West Bank settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shmulik Grossman - March 11, 2010 - 1:00am

On the backdrop of the US-prompted construction moratorium imposed on West Bank settlements and the recent embarrassment over construction in east Jerusalem during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit, the Elkana Local Council issued a tender on Thursday for the building of new residential neighborhoods in the West Bank settlement. According to the council-issued tenders, proposals are sought by entrepreneurs interested in erecting new residential neighborhoods. The local council will leave arranging all the necessary political and planning permits up to whoever makes the winning bid.

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Israel provokes and damages push for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

During the Middle Ages, intellectuals endlessly debated the question: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? To this we add a contemporary version: How often will Israel kick Washington in the teeth before it says “Enough!” Our question, of course, is occasioned by the visit of the US vice president, Joe Biden, to Jerusalem and Ramallah this week. Mr Biden was dispatched by the White House to assure Israelis of America’s commitment to their security.

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Bibi's snub to Biden may backfire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Simon Tisdall - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

It's not the first time that Israel has stiffed Barack Obama over his attempts to kick-start Middle East peace negotiations. But the sudden, highly inflammatory announcement of plans to build an additional 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem, in the midst of a visit to Israel of US vice-president Joe Biden, was certainly the most brutally contemptuous rebuff so far to American peacemaking.

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Yishai: Sorry for distress over East Jerusalem Plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson, Avi Issacharoff, Anshel Pfeffer, Barak Ravid - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

Interior Minister Eli Yishai apologized on Wednesday for causing domestic and international distress as a result of Israel's recent decision to approve 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem. Yishai was responding to the recent wave of condemnations, particularly on the part of the United States and visiting Vice President Joe Biden, surrounding the recent plan to build 1,600 more housing units in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

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