![]() |
Bibi: Preoccupation with settlements waste of time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - June 23, 2009 - 12:00am The preoccupation with the issue of the settlements is a 'waste of time' and hinders progress towards peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. Netanyahu arrived in Italy on Tuesday on his first trip to Europe since being elected, visiting Rome and Paris to sound out regional allies about his qualified endorsement of a Palestinian state. |
![]() |
Encountering Peace: Dressing up the Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) June 22, 2009 - 12:00am OK, Binyamin Netan-yahu said the magic words "Palestinian state," now what? I want to give our prime minister the benefit of doubt and say that he even meant it; at least that is what he told US President Barack Obama. Where do we go from here? How do those words become transformed into reality? Let's try to imagine. |
![]() |
Abbas offers olive branch to Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Mohammed Mar’i - June 23, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday ordered his security forces to release most members or supporters of Hamas in a goodwill gesture to his rival movement before the renewal of inter-factional talks. Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah team to Cairo reconciliation talks, said that the release process is expected to complete during the coming 24 hours and will include all Hamas activists "except the people who pose a public security threat and still have trials underway." |
![]() |
Palestinian Premier Sets 2-Year Statehood Target
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - June 23, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday called for the establishment of a Palestinian state within two years, a timeline he said is possible if Israel upholds its existing commitments and Palestinians "roll up their sleeves" and concentrate on building government and civic institutions. In comments directed as much at the Islamist Hamas movement as at Israel, Fayyad said competing Palestinian factions need to take advantage of international support for the creation of a Palestinian state, something the Obama administration is pushing as a priority. |
![]() |
Palestinian premier seeks stronger institutions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux - June 23, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday that Palestinians can make a stronger case for ending Israel's occupation by building up self-governing institutions that would strengthen global support for a Palestinian state. He set a goal of establishing an independent state within two years. "I call upon our people to unite around the project of establishing a state and to strengthening its institutions . . . so that the Palestinian state becomes, by the end of next year or within two years at most, a reality," he said in a speech to a university audience. |
![]() |
Outpost Watch: Obama's future minefield - and Netanyahu's
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Analysis) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am The following is the first phase of a project aimed at helping monitor outposts and clarify the potential difficulty in countering them for the sake of peace. The data is based in large part on extensive research conducted over years by the Peace Now organization, augmented with and cross-referenced by information from settlers and Haaretz correspondents. The accompanying map of outposts is under construction. It is, as is the lists of outposts below - and the outposts themselves - a work in progress. |
![]() |
Report: Israel plans to legalize, expand outpost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press June 23, 2009 - 12:00am The Israeli government has formulated plans to legalize 60 existing homes at an unauthorized settlement outpost in the West Bank and allow the construction of 240 other residences, an Israeli group said Tuesday. Such a move would flout a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze. It would also bolster the claim by Palestinians that the unauthorized outposts are intended to permanently seize land they want as part of their future state. |
![]() |
Israel authorises 300 new settlement homes - report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 23, 2009 - 12:00am Israel has authorised construction of 300 new homes at a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Army Radio said on Tuesday, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth. The station said 60 of the 300 homes slated for the Talmon settlement in the West Bank have already been built and that Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who oversees West Bank operations, had approved plans to construct another 240 units there. The Defence Ministry had no immediate comment, saying it was checking the report. |
![]() |
Israel released Palestinian parliament speaker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press June 23, 2009 - 12:00am The Hamas-affiliated speaker of the Palestinian parliament was freed Tuesday from an Israeli prison after serving the bulk of his three-year sentence. Abdel Aziz Duaik is the most senior of dozens of Hamas politicians arrested after Gaza Strip militants loyal to the group captured an Israeli soldier in June 2006. The soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, will mark three years in captivity on Thursday. |
![]() |
Create a real American coalition on Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am For years now, my colleagues and I at the American Task Force on Palestine have argued that advocates of a two-state resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict need to form a real, functioning national coalition in the United States to support this goal. President Barack Obama has put a great deal of his political credibility and capital on the line in pursuit of negotiated resolution, forcefully articulating what all parties must do to build momentum toward this goal. |