Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Give Keynote Address at ATFP Gala
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Give Keynote Address at ATFP Gala Washington DC, Oct 14 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is proud and honored to announce that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at its Fifth Annual Gala which will be held in Washington DC on Wednesday, October 20. The Gala will be at the Ritz Carlton at 1150 22nd Street, NW, Washington, D.C., and is themed: “Building Palestine: the Indispensable State for Peace.”


A diplomatic incident exposes rifts between PM Netanyahu and FM Lieberman. Israeli Amb. Oren says Palestinians must recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.” Palestinians say they will do so if Israel returns the 1967 borders. The US says Palestinians are right to ask for clarified borders, but must do so in negotiations. Israel's mayor in Jerusalem wants to rezone Arab neighborhoods. Israel says it may reconsider its demand for a long-term security presence in the Jordan Valley after Palestinian independence. Israelis and Palestinians try to bridge the divide in the Galilee. Stone-throwing Israeli settlers clash with Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. Larry Derfner says Netanyahu has revealed himself to be an extremist. Avner Cohen says Israel should be open about its nuclear arsenal. The Forward dismisses Israel's new loyalty oath for non-Jews. Israeli forces reportedly train for population transfer. Osman Mirghani says Netanyahu has shown he's not serious about peace. George Hishmeh says Israel doesn't know what it wants. Michael Jansen critiques Israel's new loyalty oath. Daoud Kuttab dismisses Israel's “Jewish state” demand. Hussein Ibish looks at the dangers of another intifada.

An Unworthy Oath
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

The Declaration of Independence approved on May 14, 1948, heralds the new nation of Israel as a “Jewish state” but never defines what that actually means. There’s no mention of religion, indeed no mention of God.

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Should Israel Abandon Policy of Nuclear Ambiguity? A New Book Argues Yes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

It’s a policy that has been around for so long that most Israelis and Americans cannot imagine a world without it. For the past four decades, Israel has adhered, almost religiously, to the idea of nuclear ambiguity, or opacity. It has refused to either confirm or deny it has the bomb, and it has repeated the same vague mantra that “Israel will not be the first country to use nuclear weapons” in the Middle East.

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Israeli forces train for Arab transfer riots
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel secretly staged a training exercise last week to test its ability to quell any civil unrest that might result from a peace deal that calls for the forcible transfer of many Arab citizens, the Israeli media has reported. The drill was intended to test the readiness of the civil defence units, police, army and prison service to contain large-scale riots by Israel's Arab minority in response to such a deal.

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Why Not Just Submit to Netanyahu?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Osman Mirghani - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Those who predicted that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was serious in his pursuit of peace should now engage in some self-reflection. Netanyahu is a manipulative and deceitful man of the highest order, and it is a fact that he does not want to achieve a genuine peace settlement, which would lead to a viable Palestinian state. Instead, he has demanded complete Palestinian and Arab submission, to all his prohibitive conditions, and provocative maneuvers.

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Israel doesn't know what it wants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

It is generally recognised that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), now a 100,000-member pro-Israeli lobbying group, has had an impressive record since the ‘50s in advocating pro-Israel policies mostly to Congress. But of late several key officials, all American Jews in sensitive government positions, have outpaced this lobbying group established in 1950.

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Rattling the Cage: Any more doubts about Bibi?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Until this week, the question posed by “neutral observers” about Binyamin Netanyahu was whether he was going to follow the examples of Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, or that of Yitzhak Shamir. Would he transform himself into a peacemaker like Begin and Sharon by uprooting settlements and relinquishing occupied territory, or would he be an immovable object like Shamir, aiming only to keep things “quiet” so he could build more settlements and close the door on Palestinian statehood?

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Israel is taking a dangerous direction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The adoption by Israel of a loyalty oath to be applied to non-Jews seeking naturalisation was inevitable. It was inevitable because Israel is a “Jewish state” founded by Zionist Jews for Zionist Jews.

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Danger of Israel’s racist demands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

Without any reason, the Israeli government has created a totally artificial problem for all future persons wishing to get citizenship: they will have to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Once again the Israelis are trying to push their internal problems and their hesitation to pay the needed price for peace onto others.

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