Are inaccurate media reports hurting U.S.-Israel relationship?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Eric Fingerhut - September 2, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama told Jewish leaders in a July meeting that Israel needs to “engage in serious self-reflection.” Israel’s new U.S. ambassador was “summoned” to the State Department to be lectured about Israel's building settlements in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called two top aides to Obama “self-hating Jews.” All of these reports appeared in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. And they've all been disputed or denied by the principals involved.

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Mitchell, Israelis to meet Wednesday in New York
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace will meet two Israeli officials in New York late on Wednesday as part of his push to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. officials said. The envoy, George Mitchell, is due to see Yitzhak Molcho and Mike Herzog to follow up on his talks in London last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bringing about a freeze on Israeli building of Jewish settlements.

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President Obama hopes to be Mideast peacemaker at UN session
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Daily News
by Kenneth R. Bazinet - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama hopes to bring the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table at this month's opening session of the UN, a top Israeli official said Monday. "I think they will meet by the end of September," said Israeli President Shimon Peres. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Obama are all scheduled to be in New York for the start of the UN General Assembly during the week of Sept. 20.

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Obama envisions two years until Mideast peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar, Barak Ravid - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington will announce the renewal of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority through a trilateral summit of U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The meeting would take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly late this month; two years would be allotted to completing talks on a peace agreement. On Monday President Shimon Peres confirmed that such a summit was being considered, under facilitation by Obama.

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Freeze in Jerusalem too
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) August 30, 2009 - 12:00am

If there is any truth in the reports that came out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Europe - that the United States agreed Israel can go on building in East Jerusalem - the headlines should have read "Obama has pulled out of the Middle East peace process."

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State Dept.: Policy against new Israeli settlements stands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Charles Keyes - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

The State Department is sticking with a strict no-new-settlements policy toward Israel, its spokesman said Thursday, but he held out the possibility that Israelis and Palestinians might eventually take a different path. "The position that the secretary has stated remains our position," spokesman P.J. Crowley said at his daily briefing. "And we continue to discuss with Israel and with the other parties what they have to do on the settlement issue."

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Running to stand still? The peace test for Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Philip Stephens - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu has what kindly observers might describe as a credibility problem. Travelling in Europe this week, the Israeli prime minister said he was straining every sinew to restart peace talks with the Palestinians. His interlocutors were unconvinced. Mr Netanyahu looks too much like a politician running in the cause of standing still.

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US takes on Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme in one massive gamble
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ewen Macaskill - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Obama administration's approach to two of the world's most intractable and dangerous problems, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear programme, is to link them together in the search for a solution to both. The new US strategy aims to use its Iran policy to gain leverage on Binyamin Netanyahu's government.

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Barack Obama on brink of deal for Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ewen Macaskill - August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Barack Obama is close to brokering an Israeli-Palestinian deal that will allow him to announce a resumption of the long-stalled Middle East peace talks before the end of next month, according to US, Israeli, Palestinian and European officials. Key to bringing Israel on board is a promise by the US to adopt a much tougher line with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme. The US, along with Britain and France, is planning to push the United Nations security council to expand sanctions to include Iran's oil and gas industry, a move that could cripple its economy.

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Peace plans come and go. Obama may have to try a wholly new approach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jonathan Freedland - August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Surely the heart should give a cheer at the hints and signals that suggest Barack Obama will stand before the world next month, either at the UN general assembly or the G20 in Pittsburgh, and launch his own bid for Middle East peace. We have told ourselves for so long that a solution is possible – that everyone knows the contours of an eventual agreement between Israelis and Palestinians – that the urge is almost overwhelming to believe it is within reach.

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