Diplomacy | The American Task Force on Palestine

Obama seeks to reset relationship with Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Julie Pace - February 6, 2013 - 1:00am

After a long and chilly four years, Barack Obama hopes to reset his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he makes his first trip to Israel as president this spring.

Palestinian leaders welcome Obama's visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 6, 2013 - 1:00am

The Palestinian leadership on Wednesday welcomed US President Barack Obama’s announced plans to visit the region in March. President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina told Ma'an that "the visit reflects that the US is willing to achieve peace in the region."

Israel unlikely to retaliate after Bulgaria report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Tia Goldenberg - February 5, 2013 - 1:00am

Israel on Tuesday welcomed a Bulgarian report implicating Hezbollah in the deaths of five Israelis in a bus bombing last summer, signaling that it will use the findings to focus on a diplomatic battle rather than military retaliation against the Lebanese militant group. Israel has long blamed Hezbollah for the attack, which targeted a bus carrying Israeli tourists in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas.

Herzog, Fayyad meet, warn of PA collapse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am

Labor MK Isaac Herzog met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah on Monday and warned that the collapse of the PA would be "catastrophic" for Israel. Fayyad told Herzog that Israel's continual withholding of tax revenues to the PA and the failure of donor states to transfer promised aid to the West Bank had the Palestinian Authority on the brink of collapse.

Israeli airstrike complicates Syria's crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am

Israel's recent airstrike on a Syrian military research center has complicated the Syria crisis that has been protracted for nearly two years with no signs of an end in sight. On Monday, Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij said Israel launched the Wednesday airstrike in cooperation with armed Syrian rebels fighting government forces on the ground.

Saudi Arabia opens housing project in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am

A Saudi delegation on Monday opened the biggest housing project in the Gaza Strip and pledged further funding to support Palestinian refugees. Saudi Arabia financed the 752-home neighborhood in Rafah for families whose homes were destroyed by the Israeli army. It features four schools, a market, a mosque, a clinic and a community center.

Interview: Palestinian official slams Israel for settlement expansion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Interview) February 5, 2013 - 1:00am

A senior Palestinian official on Monday accused Israel of continuing settlement construction and " Judaizing" the holy city of Jerusalem, warning that it would endanger the Palestinians' presence in East Jerusalem.

Enforce the UNHRC settlements report to push Israel out of its state of denial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Saeb Erakat - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am

It is time for Israel to relinquish its current state of denial and confront reality. It is clear to everyone, including Micronesia and the Marshall Islands (two of the few countries who voted against Palestine’s recognition as a state by the UN General Assembly), that Israeli settlements are illegal and that Israel should withdraw to the 1967 border.

Encountering Peace: Opportunities for US peace initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am

Is there a renewed opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking after the Israeli elections? That is exactly what US Secretary of State John Kerry will be seeking to determine on his first swing through the Middle East over the next couple of weeks.

In Israel raid, Syria options severely constrained
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Zeina Karam - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am

Syria's defense minister signaled Monday that his country won't hit back at Israel over an airstrike inside Syria, claiming the Israeli raid was actually in retaliation for his regime's offensive against rebels he called "tools" of the Jewish state.

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