Ross: Turmoil sharpens Israeli needs for security guarantees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Mohamed Ahbdellah - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The recent Middle East turmoil has sharpened Israeli needs for tangible security guarantees in exchange for concessions to the Palestinians, Dennis Ross said. Ross, President Obama’s top Middle East adviser, told the Anti-Defamation League’s annual leadership conference in Washington on Monday that security guarantees sought by Israel toward a peace deal with the Palestinians were critical, “particularly during a time of change.” The Palestinians, in turn, “need to see that they can have an independent state that is viable and contiguous” as well as “signs the occupation is receding.”

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Gingrich: U.S. run by “anti-Jewish” elite
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 28, 2011 - 12:00am

The United States under President Obama is "dominated by a secular, anti-Christian and anti-Jewish elite," Newt Gingrich said. Gingrich, the onetime speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a likely presidential candidate for 2012, spoke on March 25 at a meeting in Iowa of the American Family Association, Politico reported.

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In Obama’s push for Mideast peace, whose side is he on?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) March 27, 2011 - 12:00am

So far what some are calling the Arab Spring has brought Israel the first terrorist bombing in Jerusalem in seven years and the first significant missile attacks from the Gaza Strip in two years. And that, for the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, is likely to be the easy part. The hard part will be managing Barack Obama.

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Israel’s problem is the settlements, not J Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) March 25, 2011 - 12:00am

The Netanyahu government’s refusal to meet with the leadership of J Street during its visit this week reflects a deep and truly worrying process, in which Israel’s government and the Knesset are progressively locked into a deep bunker with no communication with the outside world. The assumption is that J Street creates a problem for Israel, and that if Israel delegitimizes J Street, the problem will go away.

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Israel violence complicates Gates' call for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Lolita Baldor - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived Thursday in Israel, one day after an eruption in violence that has complicated his plans to urge progress in the peace process. The latest spike in attacks began Wednesday with a bus-stop bombing in Jerusalem, followed by Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. The events have heightened tensions and added to Israel's anxiety over the wave of rebellion in the region.

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U.S. Group Stirs Debate on Being ‘Pro-Israel’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - March 24, 2011 - 12:00am

On one side were members of the Israeli Parliament and advocates who argued that there was only one legitimate way to support Israel from abroad — unconditionally. On the other were those who insisted that love and devotion did not mean withholding criticism.

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Is J Street a Threat? Not to Most Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) March 23, 2011 - 12:00am

In the three years since its founding, the dovish lobby J Street has become a household name across Jewish America. But ask Israelis about it, and they are more likely to think you are asking for directions to some thoroughfare they haven’t heard of. In polling commissioned by the Forward, only 14% of Jewish Israelis said they had heard of J Street. The remaining 86% had not.

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Amid violence, pen pals in Congress focus on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - March 23, 2011 - 12:00am

It happens almost like clockwork: Something happens in the Middle East, and it reverberates across the Atlantic with new letters from the U.S. Congress. With so many relatively new members looking to establish their pro-Israel credentials, the reaction in Congress to the recent violence in Israel was particularly swift.

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Bethlehem a step too far for Palin's Israel visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Sarah Palin, the US former vice presidential candidate, yesterday appeared to make an aborted trip to Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, when her vehicle approached an Israeli checkpoint before turning back.

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Palin visits Jerusalem, reaching out to Israel's right
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Following a path tread by many a US presidential hopeful, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is making her first visit to Israel. Today, she toured the Old City of Jerusalem wearing a Star of David necklace before arriving at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence for a private dinner. Though the visit is being described as private, Ms. Palin's three-day stop on the way home from India could both burnish her thin foreign policy credentials and curry favor with Jewish and evangelical constituencies back home.

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