NEWS:
Sec. Clinton says Israeli-Palestinian peace talks must resume, but this no longer seems to be a priority for American foreign policy.
Palestinian journalists are angered by Israeli efforts to strip search them before attending a press conference with Clinton. Israel was reportedly hoping for guidance from Clinton regarding the new Egyptian government. PM Fayyad asks the US to help alleviate the PA financial crisis, as he meets with Clinton in Jerusalem. Israel is preventing Palestinian medical graduates from working in occupied East Jerusalem.
Christians in Gaza stage a rare protest after what they claim are forced conversions to Islam. Hamas executes three Gaza residents for murder. PA police are launching a campaign against child labor in the West Bank. The Israeli military hires an architect to resume construction at an “unauthorized” settlement outpost. Settler leaders are expected to declare that a school in the settlement of Ariel is a “university.” Peace Now's Settlement Watch Director is again threatened by right-wing extremists. Israel claims it has thwarted more than 10 terrorist attacks emanating from the Sinai Peninsula.
Israel's governing coalition may break up over the question of national service. Israel's “social justice” protest movement is divided over the question of the occupation.
COMMENTARY:
Christiane Amanpour interviews Fayyad. Aaron David Miller lists five reasons why the two-state solution "will never die." Bradley Burston says American politicians should understand that "pro-Israel" does not mean anti-peace. Mira Sucharov says BDS supporters need to decide what it is they are fighting for.
David Newman says Israelis must understand the Palestinians are in the land to stay. Ethan Felson looks at the boycott vote recently taken by the US Presbyterian Church. Walid Khadduri says Palestinians must begin to develop their West Bank oilfields before Israel seizes them.
American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017