July 7th

Obama Says Direct Israeli-Palestinian Talks May Be Imminent Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Bloomberg - July 7, 2010 - 12:00am President Barack Obama said direct Israel-Palestinian talks may get started within less than three months, praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a leader prepared to take “risks for peace.” Obama and Netanyahu, speaking to reporters at the White House yesterday after an 80-minute meeting, both said they wanted to dispel concerns that the U.S. commitment to Israel has been weakened by disputes over construction in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem. The two leaders ate lunch together with advisers. » Read more

President Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu try to mend fences Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - July 7, 2010 - 12:00am President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to exude a new sense of warmth in their rocky relationship Tuesday as both expressed confidence that the Israeli leader will soon hold direct peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable,” said Obama, seated in the Oval Office alongside Netanyahu following their meeting that lasted more than 90 minutes. “We’ve seen over the last year how our relationship has broadened,” Obama added. “In fact, our relationship is continuing to improve.” » Read more

July 6th

Israelis, Palestinians, Americans produce 24 hours of "theater": analyst Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Xinhua - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am The diplomatic activities in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Washington on Monday and Tuesday is nothing more than theater, according to an analyst. The political science professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ira Sharkansky, was highly dismissive of the meeting on Monday in Jerusalem between Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Likewise, Sharkansky expected little more than showmanship when United States President Barack Obama hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday. » Read more

June 17th

While No One's Looking, the Palestinians Are Building a State Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Foreign Policy - June 17, 2010 - 12:00am In the world of Palestinian politics, the recent weeks have been a study in contrasts. The international media has trained its focus off the shores of Gaza, where the flotilla fiasco has generated dramatic images of dead civilians and battered Israeli soldiers. The politics of this incident reflect the traditional sturm und drang of the Palestinian national movement: full of grand gestures and transformative ambitions that might result in bloodshed and embarrassment for Israel, but make no substantive contribution to Palestinian liberation. » Read more

June 15th

Obama’s Israel Policy Showing No Difference With Clinton-Bush Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Bloomberg - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am President Barack Obama clashed so often and so publicly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the first 16 months of his tenure that one Israeli newspaper reported Netanyahu believed Obama wanted a confrontation to improve U.S. ties to the Arab world. Then on May 31 came a moment that former U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk says showed the real nature of Obama’s policy toward Israel: the deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza that unleashed a torrent of international criticism and a move in the United Nations to censure the Jewish state. » Read more

June 9th

Abbas Arrives Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation have arrived in Washington, ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House Wednesday. “The whole entourage is here,” the American Task Force for Palestine’s Hussein Ibish said. “The real ask they have is really for the U.S. to tell Israel to simply be more serious about peace negotiations, to talk about the substantive issues, in a more permanent, serious way, and not kind of dance around the problem – to focus on a well in Nablus or a procedural question.” » Read more

Palestine's Great Hope Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Slate - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Given the deadly confrontation off the coast of Gaza, the recent froideur in U.S.-Israeli relations, Iran's defiant pursuit of a nuclear weapon, not to mention two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader fight against al-Qaida, it's perhaps forgivable that the biggest news story to emerge from the Middle East in years has been eclipsed. But no one can accuse the Palestinian prime minister of neglecting to call attention to himself. » Read more

June 7th

Israel must clarify Palestine's status Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am While world attention has been heavily focused on efforts to break the siege of Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank are pursuing a series of new, nonviolent, strategies challenging the Israeli occupation. What they are primarily seeking, and what the Israeli government is desperately trying to avoid, is clarity about the status of the occupied territories. » Read more

ATFP Senior Fellow on All Things Considered: Israeli Raid Presents Opportunity For Palestinians Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In National Public Radio (NPR) - June 7, 2010 - 12:00am GUY RAZ, host:Now, the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, is proud of its reputation as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington, D.C. The question I asked Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, is whether pro-Israel groups are losing influence under the Obama administration. » Read more

May 20th

The US may have no Plan B, but the Palestinians do Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Daily Star - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am The Obama administration was successful in arranging for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations through “proximity talks,” which began recently. However, expectations in all quarters are understandably low for any near-term breakthrough. Consequently, Palestinians have been systematically developing a new set of peaceful strategies to achieve independence and advance a resolution to the conflict. » Read more