Israel approves 227 new homes in West Bank settlement of Ariel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - August 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak okays largest housing project in single settlement since establishment of the Netanyahu government. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved the building of 277 apartments the West Bank settlement of Ariel, defying U.S. criticism of continued settlement construction. Barak authorized the construction in Ariel, the core of the settlement bloc deepest inside the West Bank. One hundred of the apartments will house Israelis evacuated in 2005 from a Gaza Strip settlement.

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Will Obama stand up to Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

There is no doubt that US President Barack Obama's plate is full considering the overpowering financial crisis which has led to the downgrading of the US credit rating and its devastating worldwide ripple effect. But whether he can overcome the shock of another international hurdle, namely the Palestinians' drive for UN membership next month, depends on his calculations.

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Unbridled bias
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Next month Palestine goes to the United Nations in New York to request recognition of its own state. Globally, this is a far from unpopular motion, with most General Assembly members staying true to their own moral standards in agreeing that the Palestinian people have a right to a country they can officially term their own. It is unfortunate that the staunchest opponent to the notion of Palestinian statehood – Israel aside, obviously – is also the most powerful.

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Peres: Israel-Palestinian peace still possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

President Shimon Peres on Wednesday told a delegation of visiting U.S. Democratic congressmen that he believes that it is still possible for Israel to reach peace with the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported. Peres said that both sides understand that they need to overcome differences and renew negotiations before the United Nations General Assembly session in New York next month at which the Palestinians have said they will seek recognition of statehood.

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Fight Over Jerusalem in the Pages of a Passport
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

Why is it, friends of Israel often ask, that the Jewish state is the only country in the world that’s not allowed to name its own capital city? King David chose Jerusalem as capital of the original Jewish state 3,000 years ago. And yet America refuses to place its embassy there, despite repeated acts by Congress requiring it. Neither does any other country in the world. The United States won’t even allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to have their passports show Israel as their birthplace. Their passports simply say “Jerusalem.”

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Intifada of candles not tears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by As'ad Abdul Rahman - (Opinion) August 6, 2011 - 12:00am

It is almost a reality now that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis see any possibility of resuming peace negotiations following recent speeches by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress and the Jewish lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). With a clear voice and determination, Netanyahu annihilated all possibilities of establishing two independent states; Israel and a Palestinian state peacefully co-existing and equally thriving together.

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Tzipi Livni Praises Obama for Pressuring Netanyahu, Suggests U.S. Should Keep Up the Heat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Interview) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Tzipi Livni, the leader of Israel's Kadima Party, the largest opposition party in the Knesset -- and the largest party in the entire Knesset, in fact -- sat down last month with James Bennet, the editor of The Atlantic (and a former Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times) and with Goldblog for an extended conversation about the tense relations between the Obama Administration and the Netanyahu government, and about Israel's sinking image.

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New U.S. envoy in Israel to clear obstacles for Obama’s second term
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Dan Shapiro, the new American ambassador to Israel, submitted his credentials to President Shimon Peres on Wednesday. That same day, he submitted a declaration of support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: In an interview with Channel 2 television, he downplayed the lack of trust between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama and the latter's rage and sense of insult over Netanyahu's appearance before Congress in May, treating their serial disputes as routine disagreements between friends. Shapiro noted that he was present at all the many meetings between Obama and Netanyahu.

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No countries for old men
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Steve White - (Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

After serving nearly six years as the special advisor to the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, I came home convinced of one thing, cognizant of another. The first was that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not only in the vital security interests of Israel and the future state of Palestine, but also the United States. The second, initially noted two years ago by a former IDF Chief of Staff, was that, "The USSC, the IDF and the Palestinian Security Services were buying time, time for the politicians....

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Seeking Balance on the Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nicholas D. Kristof - (Opinion) August 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Congress periodically showcases the warts of democracy, occasionally even the deformities and disfigurements, and it might seem difficult to top the latest debt ceiling horrors. But there’s one area where Congress has been even more obstructionist: the Middle East.

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