November 2nd, 2009

Fayyad condemns "terrorist" settler violence
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Ma'an News Agency - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday condemned an attack during which Israeli settlers shot a Palestinian and injured four others in occupied East Jerusalem. Five relatives, three of them over 60 years old, were hospitalized after right-wing Israelis attacked the Salah family, shooting one, in a bid to take over their home in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa on Friday.


ATFP Senior Fellow Moderates HCEF Conference Panel on Two-State Solution
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - November 24, 2009 - 1:00am

On Saturday, October 24, ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish moderated a panel on the two state solution between Israel and the Palestinians at the 11th international conference of The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF). Panelists in the discussion were Dr. James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute (AAI), and Paul L. Scham, Esq., Executive Director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland and Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute.


ATFP Senior Fellow on Speaks on Palestinian Perspectives at J Street Conference
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - November 27, 2009 - 1:00am

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish participated in a panel discussion on "Palestinian Perspectives: Looking Forward" on Oct. 27, 2009, at the first annual conference of the pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street in Washington, DC. The panel was moderated by Amjad Atallah, Co-Director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation, and also included Nadia Bilbassy of the Middle East Broadcasting Center and Bassim Khoury, a former Minister of National Economy for the Palestinian Authority.


Israeli police arrest an American-born Jewish terrorist accused of killing both Palestinians and Jewish Israelis, while a commentary in Ha'aretz says that if he had confined his attacks simply to Arabs he would not have been caught. Secretary of State Clinton seemingly softens the US stance on an Israeli settlement freeze, while Palestinian Pres. Mahmoud Abbas insists this is a precondition for resumption of negotiations. Reuters analyzes his options, and The National looks at a future without Abbas. The Washington Post says the Jordan Valley could be a sticking point in any future talks. James Wolfensohn, former head of The World Bank, says that the PA's two-year state building plan is "a very smart move." Raghida Dergham lays out a strategy for Palestinians to advance the Goldstone report through the UN General Assembly rather than getting buried in the Security Council. In the Guardian, Hussein Ibish argues that the PA state and institution building plan complements Palestinian diplomacy and constitutes an effective program of practical resistance to the occupation.

Palestinians must prepare for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


In an article last week, Ahmad Samhi Khalidi derisively dismissed the plan of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to build the infrastructural, administrative and economic framework of a Palestinian state in spite of the occupation.


Support the boycott-Israel campaign
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


A new dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is emerging as an effective means of peaceful protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land: boycotting Israel. Some four years ago, a loosely connected group of Palestinian activists and civil organisations launched an international appeal calling on citizens and corporations to join the boycott Israelcampaign to protest the occupation.


So that the Goldstone Report Does not Get Buried at the Security Council
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


A third mistake lies in wait for the Palestinian Authority if it does not pay heed to the dynamics of the interests shared by the five permanent members of the Security Council, represented by their unwillingness to allow the Goldstone Report to reach the council hall at this juncture.


Analysts look ahead to a peace process without Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is on another mission to persuade Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate peace. But she may have to continue in the future without Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, who twice last week reportedly said he was considering not running for a second term if and when new Palestinian elections are held. With Washington apparently softening its position on an Israeli settlement construction freeze as a precondition for talks, Mr Abbas may feel he has been backed into a corner and can ill afford to back down.


US credibility damaged by reversal on Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Paul Woodward - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


In a speech in Cairo that was widely applauded across the region last June, the US president, Barack Obama, boldly declared: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop." Five months later Mr Obama's resolve appears to have withered. He sent his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to deliver news that Israel was only too eager to hear.


Rips in the Peace Camp’s Big Tent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am


The first national conference of J Street, the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby, convened October 25 in Washington, D.C., with all the understated reserve of a new iPhone launch or the christening of the Queen Mary. Gathered in a swank hotel a short walk from the White House, some 1,500 activists from across the country sat through hours of speeches by big-shot politicians and diplomats, earnestly debated tactics and philosophy, handed out awards over chicken dinners and jabbered excitedly in the corridors.



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