July 15th

Palestinian-Americans Concerned about New Jerusalem Settlement Plans
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 1, 2008 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, June 2 – New Israeli settlement expansions in and around occupied East Jerusalem threaten prospects for a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, according to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). On Monday ATFP warned that further Israeli construction in and around Jerusalem dangerously prejudiced final status talks and made the creation of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem more difficult.


ADC, AAI, and ATFP meet with State Department
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 18, 2008 - 12:00am

On June 19, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the American-Arab Institute (AAI), and the American Task Force for Palestine (ATFP) met with State Department officials from the Bureau of Consular affairs, and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs to discuss the practice of denying entry to US citizens of Palestinian or Arab descent into Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).


Hamas-israel Prisoner Swap Remains Elusive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Khaled Moussa Al-omrani, Adam Morrow - July 15, 2008 - 3:01pm

Despite intensive mediation efforts by Egyptian officials, a delegation from Palestinian resistance faction Hamas departed Cairo Saturday (Jul. 12) without securing a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. According to local analysts, fresh swap proposals -- featuring the release of long-time Israeli captive Gilaad Shalit -- continue to run up against Israeli obduracy. "The respective positions of Israel and Hamas are still miles apart," Abdel-Halim Kandil, political analyst and editor-in-chief of independent weekly Sout al-Umma, told IPS.

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Blair Cancels Gaza Visit After Threats
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Peter Walker - July 15, 2008 - 3:00pm

Tony Blair today cancelled a planned visit to Gaza in his role as Middle East peace envoy after what his spokeswoman described as threats made against him. The planned trip would have been the highest-level diplomatic mission to the territory since the militant Hamas group seized control of it a year ago. Ruti Winterstein, Blair's spokeswoman, said the visit had been called off because of "specific threats" against the former prime minister, giving no further details.

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Marwan Muasher Stresses Importance of A Two-State Solution for Arab Reform
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 26, 2008 - 12:00am

On Friday, June 27, the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) hosted a discussion the National Press Club in Washington of “The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation” (Yale University Press, 2008) with its author, Dr. Marwan Muasher. Dr. Muasher is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Information Minister of Jordan, as well as Jordan’s first Ambassador to Israel.


In A Typical Week In Gaza, No News Is Good News
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Quds
by Sami Abdel-shafi - (Opinion) July 25, 2008 - 8:00pm

?TAKE A PHOTO of me now, for tomorrow I may be dead,? young Gazans shout as they attend their friends? funerals. Death found the man buried today, for example, while he was at yesterday?s funeral for his friend. Such uncertainty about life, with everyone aware that for them tomorrow may not come, spawns a darkly tragic humor. If an Israeli sniper doesn?t hit his mark, perhaps a tank, F-16 or Hellfire missile will. And God help those who survive. Israel?s ongoing siege of Gaza leaves the hospitals nearly bare of life-saving medicines and bandages.

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July 14th

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancels a planned visit to Gaza on account of threats reportedly made against him (1). The prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel runs into continued obstacles (2). The IDF makes several Hamas-related arrests in the West Bank town of Nablus (3) (6). A Palestinian military court sentences two Palestinians to death for alleged collaboration with Israel, though the sentence is unlikely to be carried out (4). The European Union denounces Israeli settlement activity (5). Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama is set to visit Ramallah next week (8).

Report: Israel Reneging On Shalit Agreements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - July 14, 2008 - 1:54pm

Hamas' delegation to Cairo is under the impression that Israel has reneged on all of the understandings reached over the past few months regarding a prisoner exchange deal that will include the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, according to the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

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Fayad Urges Hamas To Form Unity Government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 14, 2008 - 1:50pm

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad on Saturday called for the establishment of a unity government with Hamas, saying it was time to reunite the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Referring to the recent IDF crackdown on Hamas-affiliated institutions in the West Bank, Fayad said: "The response to the Israeli measures should be the immediate reunification of the two parts of the homeland [West Bank and Gaza Strip]. We must end the division and restore unity immediately." Fayad's remarks were published in the London-based Al-Hayat daily.

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Palestinian Conflict Hits Cyberspace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - July 14, 2008 - 1:49pm

RAMALLAH // What do the world’s most popular board game and most popular online social networking site have in common? Both have run into trouble over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Facebook, the ubiquitous networking site that has both users and employers scrambling to learn as much as possible about people’s personal lives, recently angered Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank when they found that Facebook located their settlements in “Palestine”.

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American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017