So who is Israel’s one true friend? Clue: it isn’t the US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) January 16, 2010 - 1:00am

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, an old American slogan says. By that measure the US has hardly been a real friend to Israel over the past decade. It has enabled a pattern of Israeli behaviour so reckless as to endanger Israel’s prospects of ever achieving peaceful coexistence with the states and peoples around it. An aggressive drunk often reserves his most toxic invective for those of his friends who tell him the truth: that his behaviour is intolerable, is dangerous to himself and others, and can’t be allowed to continue.

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Obama must put pressure on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) January 14, 2010 - 1:00am

Barack Obama does not want to resort to using the stick, although this approach has been effective in the past, especially in settling Arab-Israeli disputes. This was pointed out by his special Middle East envoy, George J. Mitchell, when he recalled that recent US presidents have done so with notable success. Obama may yet be forced to change his mind. One reason for this is the arrogance of the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of Occupied Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 armistice lines.

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US security envoy meets Israeli, Palestinian leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 14, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — US President Barack Obama's national security adviser James Jones held talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Thursday aimed at furthering US-led peace efforts. "Jones confirmed Obama's determination to arrive at a comprehensive peace in the Middle East despite the difficulties, and said the key to peace in the region is to resolve the Palestinian issue," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP after Jones met president Mahmud Abbas.

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A U.S. ‘charade’ in peace effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The San Diego Union-Tribune
by Miko Peled - (Opinion) January 14, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian national struggle continues to be largely ignored by the Obama administration. Our new president has failed to bring a new approach. As has been the case for the last 40 years, Palestinian attempts to settle the conflict through diplomacy are ignored or downplayed. When violence erupts, Palestinians are blamed and labeled terrorists. The United States maintains the charade that peace in Israel/Palestine is a priority and every new administration promises to bring the much-promised peace to the region only to fall into the same pattern of inaction and excuse-making.

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Why the Mistrust Between U.S. and Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) January 13, 2010 - 1:00am

Washington — Like a couple that just can’t get along, even when they agree, Washington and Jerusalem have spent early January locked in squabbles. Beneath the media radar, the America-Israel strategic relationship is flourishing after running into problems at the end of President George W. Bush’s tenure, according to Israel’s Washington ambassador, Michael Oren. Yet, relations between Jerusalem and Washington are still marred with problems of miscommunication fed by mutual suspicion.

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Israel shrugs off Mitchell's loan threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - (Analysis) January 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Jerusalem — Israeli officials on Sunday tried to downplay tensions looming with the United States after George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, suggested in a PBS interview that the US could consider withholding support for loan guarantees for Israel.

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US says no plan to cut Israel loan guarantees, but it's been tried before
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Dan Murphy - (Analysis) January 11, 2010 - 1:00am

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell touched off a minor furor in the US and Israel over the weekend, after he told PBS interviewer Charlie Rose that "under American law, the United States can withhold support on loan guarantees to Israel" when asked what tools the US had to prod the country back to peace talks.

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U.S.: Emanuel 'didn't threaten to walk away' from Mideast peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - (Analysis) January 7, 2010 - 1:00am

The White House had rejected claims that Barack Obama's most senior aide blasted Israel and the Palestinians for foot-dragging and warned that the U.S. could walk away from the Middle East peace process. The comments come after reports that Rahm Emanuel recently told an Israeli diplomat that the U.S. is fed up with both sides, and said that Washington would reduce its involvement in peace efforts if no significant progress was made.

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US: East J'lem housing hampers peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger, Tovah Lazaroff - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am

The US accused Israel on Wednesday of damaging the peace process when it approved the construction of four new buildings in a Palestinian area on east Jerusalem's Mount of Olives a day earlier. "We have noted that these types of announcements and activity harm peace efforts," a US State Department official told The Jerusalem Post. Still, the harsh response was more measured than several previous US criticisms of plans to build in east Jerusalem.

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Peacemaking in the Mideast: Obama's Year of Missteps
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Massimo Calabresi - (Opinion) January 1, 2010 - 1:00am

It has taken President Obama just 10 months to achieve something each of his immediate predecessors delivered in their final year in office: failure in the Middle East peace process. Riding a wave of optimism in January, the President on his second day in office named retired Senator George Mitchell as his Middle East special envoy, tasked with kick-starting the dormant negotiations over a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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