The Background on Jerusalem in International Relations
Press Release - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Numerous recent developments have reconfirmed the centrality of Jerusalem to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


ATFP Senior Fellow Urges Audience to Support Palestinian State Building
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish joined Ori Nir of Americans for Peace Now in a panel discussion hosted by the South Mountain Peace Action of Maplewood and South Orange, NJ, on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. Ibish focused on the current confrontation between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over settlements and other issues.


Roger Cohen says the Middle East is starting to change. Israeli ministers reiterate determination to settle occupied East Jerusalem, call US demands "irritating." Rachel Corrie's parents persist in Israel lawsuit. Israeli troops kill Palestinian child, injure several other protesters. A new survey finds 55% of settlers are in Jerusalem. Gaza banks go on strike after Hamas gunmen seize cash in daylight heist. The PA approves $3.9 billion 2007 budget. Akiva Eldar says Israelis are suffering from a plague of darkness. Thousands attend Land Day ceremonies. A court orders more arguments on whether the PLO and the PA are liable for a Hamas terrorist attack. Israel agrees to allow a shipment of clothes and shoes into Gaza. Malcolm Hoenlein says Pres. Obama must do more to mend ties with Israel. British MPs say UK weapons not used in the occupied territories. An Israeli journalist is reportedly being held in secret house arrest for leaking details of Israeli assassinations. Ron Kampeas outlines the present state of the US-Israel confrontation, and analysts say Arab states have failed to take advantage. Tariq Alhomayed says the Arabs must not allow Iranian clients like Hamas to exploit the situation. The Arab News says Pres. Obama should make sure Israel understands the cost of its policies.

Israel gags news of soldier turned journalist under arrest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has held a journalist under secret house arrest since last December based on allegations that during her military service she leaked classified documents suggesting that the Israeli army violated laws dealing with targeted killings. Anat Kam, 23, was arrested last December and charged under Israel's espionage and treason laws, JTA has learned. Prosecutors are seeking a 14-year sentence, which is considered severe by Israeli standards.

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Ensure Israel arms curbs, say MPs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The UK government must ensure that military equipment sold to Israel is not used in the occupied territories, MPs have said. Ministers must learn "broader lessons" about ensuring the ban on the trade in such products for use in Gaza and the West Bank is enforced, a report adds. The MPs said it was "regrettable" that UK arms sold to Israel were "almost certainly" used in Gaza in 2008. However, they said the UK provided less than 1% of arms exported to Israel.

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No resolution to U.S.-Israel tensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

For Benjamin Netanyahu, the formula for resolving U.S.-Israeli tensions came in the form of a flow chart. The Israeli prime minister took the chart with him when he met with Obama administration officials and visited the White House last week, two weeks after Israel angered the U.S. administration by announcing plans for 1,600 new housing units in a Jewish neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden. But the flow chart presentation didn't quite do the trick, and Netanyahu's relationship with President Obama remains on the rocks.

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'Obama must do more to mend ties'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

A top Jewish leader on Monday urged the Obama administration to do more to push back against negative aspersions about the Jewish community and the state of the US-Israel relationship in the wake of recent tensions between the two countries. “The outward appearances have been perceived and described in much of the media in very negative terms and I would hope that’s something theadministration would address,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

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'Israel to allow clothes, shoes into blockaded Gaza'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel will allow a shipment of clothes and shoes to be delivered to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for the first time in its almost three-year-old tight blockade of the enclave, Palestinian officials said on Monday. They said the first 10 truckloads would be arriving via the Israeli-controlled Gaza border point on Thursday. Israel is under international pressure to relax its blockade, which the United Nations says punishes Gaza's 1.5 million people over their leaders - the Islamist group Hamas, who are pledged to Israel's destruction.

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Arab countries miss opportunity to cash in on strained Israeli-US relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The 22nd Arab League summit that ended on Sunday was, as is common by now, long on rhetorical support for the Palestinians but short on practical measures to implement such support. Arab leaders did agree to draw up a strategy, in the words of Amr Moussa, the league’s secretary general, to stand up to Israel. In this context, however, it was surprising that the apparently strained US-Israeli relations were not more of a topic.

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US judge to reconsider ruling in terror case
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

A federal appeals court said a judge must hear arguments on whether the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority can be forced to pay more than $116 million for a Hamas terrorist attack that killed a US citizen and his wife. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals said US District Judge Ronald Lagueux in Rhode Island should have taken more factors into account before deciding last May to uphold the default judgment against the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. The court sent the case back to Lagueux for more arguments.

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