News stories by Mitchell Plitnick, page 4

The 'pro-Israel, pro-peace' lobby group J Street has drawn a lot of attention in its short lifetime. Despite decidedly moderate politics, its leader, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has repeatedly been the centre of controversy, and the group's very existence has stirred debate in the U.S. Jewish community about the boundaries of acceptable discourse on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out what he called his vision for peace with the Palestinians Tuesday, but laid out a set of conditions the Palestinians immediately called 'a declaration of war'.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an extended meeting Friday amid controversy over Obama's call for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians based on the borders that existed before Israel's victory in the 1967 war which saw it occupy the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

With Jordan's King Abdullah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coming to Washington next week, anticipation of a major Middle East policy speech by President Barack Obama set for Thursday is growing rapidly.