Mar

8

New talks may be Mitchell's moment

March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Laura Rozen
Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34098.html

For much of the past year as he has shuttled dozens of times to the Middle East and Europe quietly trying to persuade Israelis and Palestinians back to the peace table, U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell has borne the brunt of criticism of both those offended by the Obama administration’s early pressure on Israel to halt new settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and others disappointed that Obama failed to follow through when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to stop the new construction as a precondition for negotiations.

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Feb

16

Palestinians reverse on terror victim

February 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Josh Gerstein
Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33021.html

In a highly unusual step likely to come as a significant relief to U.S. officials, the Palestinian Authority has quietly paid an undisclosed amount to settle a lawsuit by the widow of an American killed in Israel in 2002.

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Jan

27

PA issues 2010 state-building budget

January 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Laura Rozen
Politico
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0110/PA_issues_2010_statebuilding_budge...

The Palestinian Authority has issued a 2010 budget document laying out a state-building plan.

Palestine: Moving Forward: Priority Interventions for 2010, issued this week by the Palestinian Authority finance and planning ministries, is a Palestinian state and institution building program that complements the diplomatic process the Obama administration is trying to revive, the American Task Force for Palestine's Hussein Ibish told POLITICO.

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Dec

8

The Pragmatist: Salam Fayyad, the technocratic Palestinian prime minster, has a plan to build a functioning Palestinian state.

December 8, 2009 - 3:49pm

Michael Weiss
Tablet Magazine
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/21812/the-pragmatist/

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, was sharing his vision for the future. “The key requirement for a Palestinian state,” he began, speaking on a cellular telephone from his office in Ramallah. Then the line went dead, a dropped call. “You’ll have to excuse,” he said when he rang back. “We have a lot of competing cellular networks here, and sometimes our signals get crossed.”

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Nov

11

Obama and Netanyahu's 70 minute one-on-one, and dumping "unprecedented"

November 11, 2009 - 8:09pm

Laura Rozen
Politico
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1109/Obama_and_Netanyahus_70_minute_one...

When Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns spoke to the Middle East Institute on Monday, he used some subtly but notably different language on the Israeli offer for a partial settlement moratorium and related issues than key senior U.S. officials had used recently.

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Nov

5

Abbas pushes back

November 5, 2009 - 12:46pm

Laura Rozen
Politico
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1109/Abbas_pushes_back_with_threat_to_q...

A day after Hillary Clinton returned from a swing through the Middle East where she pushed the Palestinians to go into peace talks with Israel short of a full Israeli settlement freeze, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to not run in Palestinian elections he has called to be held in January, reports say.

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Nov

3

Hussein Ibish on the Fantasy World of One-Staters

November 3, 2009 - 12:39pm

Jeffrey Goldberg
the Atlantic
http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/11/hussein_ibish_on_the_fan...

[NOTE: this text includes three very minor typo revisions from the text at the Atlantic website.]

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Nov

1

Clinton's message seems to misfire

November 1, 2009 - 12:47pm

Laura Rozen
Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29012.html

MARRAKESH, Morocco — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's message on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks this weekend was not notably different from what President Barack Obama himself said in New York in September at a meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But the prevailing perception and coverage in the wake of Clinton's meetings in Israel and Abu Dhabi Saturday are that the U.S.

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Oct

29

Hillary Clinton to embark upon uphill Mideast mission

October 29, 2009 - 3:40pm

David Harris
Xinhua
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/29/content_12357393.htm

Hillary Clinton to embark upon uphill Mideast mission by David Harris

JERUSALEM, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank this weekend. This will be her second visit to the region since Barack Obama entered office as U.S. president some 10 months ago.

Coming at a time when relations between Israel and the Palestinians show no outward sign of improvement, analysts see Hillary's visit to be a tough mission and do not expect it to achieve much

A NEGATIVE BACKDROP

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Oct

22

Clinton gives Obama Mideast progress report

October 22, 2009 - 3:57pm

Laura Rozen
Politico
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1009/Clinton_gives_Obama_Mideast_report...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was at the White House giving President Barack Obama a report on efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks this afternoon.

But despite near constant diplomatic effort underway in recent months, and some progress achieved, success in getting peace talks relaunched still eludes the Obama administration.

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