Israelis, Palestinians holding separate covert talks with Washington
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - June 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli and Palestinian delegates are separately holding covert talks with White House officials in Washington in an effort to reignite peace talks. The U.S. hopes the talks will hamper the Palestinian effort to gain United Nations recognition in a vote in September. The Palestinians plan to unilaterally seek UN recognition of statehood in September -- a step Israel strongly opposes fearing it could end up isolated internationally.

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The battle for Europe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Horovitz - (Opinion) June 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Warmth, supportive laughter and applause – from the first sentence to the last. More than two dozen standing ovations. Smiles and handshakes and embraces before and afterward. A solitary heckler apart, the prime minister won the kind of adulatory reception in Congress 10 days ago that he could not dream of receiving in any sizable political forum in Israel. He wouldn’t feel that kind of love at a big gathering of his own Likud Party, never mind his parliament, where he is lucky if he can get through a few sentences without hostile interruption.

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Obama’s commitment to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Rahm Emanuel - (Opinion) June 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Days into my tenure as mayor of Chicago, with my focus on keeping our city’s streets safe, our schools strong and our finances stabilized, I expected my attention to be in the Midwest, not in the Middle East. But as an American and the son of an Israeli immigrant, I have a deep, abiding commitment to the survival, security and success of the state of Israel.

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Peace process and Arab Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Christopher Hill - (Opinion) June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama’s speech on the ongoing popular uprisings in the Middle East, followed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington, was intended to kick off a renewed effort to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Things are not turning out as planned.

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A Proclaimed State of War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Bilal Hassen - (Opinion) June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

If the popular marches towards the Palestinian border have brought the struggle against Israel to a new historical starting point, then Obama and Netanyahu's speeches in Washington, as well as before the American-Zionist AIPAC organization, have brought the entire region into an atmosphere of war.

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Was Netanyahu right to rebuff Obama?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Avi Perry - (Opinion) June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The humiliation of 1948 and the call to redeem lost honor is more exigent for the Palestinians than the call for a peace offensive. In this context, the PM had no choice but to dispel illusions in his speech to Congress. In his latest speech to the American Congress, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claimed that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state.

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U.S. won’t participate in Durban III, State Dept. says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The United States will not participate in the United Nations-sponsored Durban III conference this September, the State Department said. In a letter to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Joseph Macmanus, acting assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, confirmed that the United States would not attend the conference, which in its previous iterations has been a forum for anti-Semitism and anti-Israel rhetoric. JTA obtained a copy of the letter.

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The Virtues of Folding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

"She crumbled," ace detective Phillip Marlowe observed in one of the greatest lines in Raymond Chandler's classic 1939 novel The Big Sleep, "like a new bride's pie crust." And so, come to think of it, has the Obama administration's approach to Arab-Israeli peacemaking. Thirty months in, a self-styled transformative president with big ideas and ambitions as a peacemaker finds himself with no negotiations, no peace process, no relationship with an Israeli prime minister, no traction with Palestinians, and no strategy to achieve a breakthrough.

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"Other places of critical strategic and national importance"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

In his speech to the United States Congress last week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was addressing three target audiences. The least important for him was the Palestinians.

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No new ideas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech delivered to the US Congress on May 24 held no new ideas or initiatives. Rather, it was a reiteration of the same well-known right-wing positions held by this Israeli government.

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