November 11th

Palestinian Authority’s Future Is in Question
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The New York Times - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The collapse of the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s negotiating partner, was raised as a possibility on Monday, as several aides to its president, Mahmoud Abbas, said that he intended to resign and forecast that others would follow.

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Palestinian despair for peace
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Washington Post (Opinion) - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

It is almost impossible to adequately convey the present degree of Palestinian despair, but the recent announcement that President Mahmoud Abbas might resign and that the rest of the Palestinian Authority leadership may follow -- in effect dissolving the PA -- should provide some indication.

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Palestinians commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of Pres. Arafat, and debate the possibility of a unilateral declaration of statehood. Hamas reiterates that it will never negotiate with Israel, and bans all public commemorations in Gaza of Arafat's death. Tony Blair welcomes the latest economic progress in the West Bank, while the New York Times profiles the struggle of Gaza shopkeepers. White House officials express disappointment at the meeting between Pres. Obama and PM Netanyahu. Israeli military intelligence is re-examining the notorious "Lavon Affair" of the 1950s in which Israel plotted terrorist attacks against Western targets in Egypt. The JTA argues that Obama has quietly adopted Israel's position on negotiations without preconditions. In Bitter Lemons, Ghassan Khatib explains that a settlement freeze is crucial to peace negotiations. On the Washington Post website, Hussein Ibish tries to explain the frustrations of the Palestinian leadership and people.

Palestinian despair for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

It is almost impossible to adequately convey the present degree of Palestinian despair, but the recent announcement that President Mahmoud Abbas might resign and that the rest of the Palestinian Authority leadership may follow -- in effect dissolving the PA -- should provide some indication.

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Settlement construction contradicts negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The issues of Israeli settlement activity and the need for a settlement construction freeze are again at the top of the political agenda.

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Adieu President Abbas?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-Sharif - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

It is probably ironic that the only direct, and most likely genuine, plea with Mahmoud Abbas to stay on and rescind his decision not to contest next year’s elections, came not from his close Arab and Western allies, but from Israeli President Shimon Peres.

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Prospects for peace against the wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

It was moving to see a group of Palestinians tear down a section of the separation wall on Monday. They were sending a message to the Israelis: the Palestinians will not disappear just because you can no longer see them. Unfortunately, Israel doesn’t appear to be in the listening mood.

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Abbas is playing a bluff with few cards
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Craig Nelson - November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

The year was 1990, and the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, was dragging his feet yet again on committing his government to talks with the Palestinians aimed at setting a date for a peace conference. In a fit of frustration, James Baker, who was the US secretary of state, turned to Israeli officials and uttered those now famous and – as it turns out – tragically rare words from the mouth of a top US official: “When you’re serious about peace, give us a call.”

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Top Obama aide upbeat on Middle East peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Steven Stanek - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

Even as US-backed peace efforts in the Middle East appear to be losing momentum, the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, told American Jewish community leaders yesterday that the peace process has reached a critical juncture and that both sides should move forward immediately with negotiations. “This moment is fragile. History tells us that nothing stands still in the Middle East,” Mr Emanuel, the son of an Israeli Jew, told the annual gathering of the Jewish Federations of North America, an umbrella group of more than 500 Jewish federations and communities.

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Obama shifts to Israel’s corner, but tries not to show it
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Uriel Heilman - November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

When the White House chief of staff took to the podium at the federations’ General Assembly to call for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations without preconditions, he sounded almost exactly like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day earlier. "All issues should be resolved through negotiations," Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday to delegates at the Jewish Federations of North America's annual meeting. "No one should allow the issue of settlements to distract from the overarching goal of lasting peace."

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