Who Wants to Resolve the Palestinian Issue?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mamoun Fandy - (Opinion) June 18, 2009 - 12:00am

I know full well that the Israelis do not want a solution to the Palestinian issue, and perhaps this is what many are content to acknowledge. However, we are obliged to also ask: Do Arabs want a solution to the Palestinian problem? The behavior of many Arab states, and along with Hamas, the opposition movements, and the moderates, does not suggest that any of these parties want a solution to the Palestinian problem either.

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Debating, Again, the Founding of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - June 17, 2009 - 12:00am

As the Obama administration deepens its outreach to the Muslim and Arab world, it faces the difficult task of countering Holocaust denial without reinforcing an increasingly popular anti-Zionist narrative that ties the legitimacy of the State of Israel to Jewish suffering in Europe. And as discussion of the Holocaust becomes more widespread, so does the argument heard from Tehran to Gaza that while Europeans were responsible for atrocities against Jews, it is the Palestinians who are paying the price.

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Netanyahu Feels the Heat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Harold Meyerson - (Opinion) June 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has at last acknowledged, with caveats, the need to establish a Palestinian state. Actually, Netanyahu's Palestine is primarily caveats, with a dash of state thrown in for appearances' sake. In his speech last Sunday, the prime minister failed to address the continual growth of Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank, where close to 300,000 Israeli settlers live. The Palestine that Netanyahu envisions must steadily shrink to accommodate the growing number of Israeli settlers in its midst. It would be a collection of barely contiguous cantons.

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Haaretz poll: 64 percent of Israelis back two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) June 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Figures close politically to Benjamin Netanyahu, and even Labor Party leaders, were worried that the prime minister's fear of U.S. President Barack Obama would overcome his terror of the settlers and force the words "settlement freeze" from his mouth. Here is what senior labor figure Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog said two weeks ago at a Knesset hearing on the illegal outposts: "There are components that certainly can be authorized or for which a solution can be found through negotiations," adding, "I absolutely believe in the need for natural growth."

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Barack the Zionist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) June 17, 2009 - 12:00am

It took Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 10 days, but he has finally responded to President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo. On June 4, Obama challenged both Israelis and Palestinians to work toward a two-state solution. On Sunday, Netanyahu responded with an assent wrapped in so many preconditions as to render it virtually meaningless. Obama also demanded that Israel freeze the growth of its settlements in the West Bank. To this Netanyahu responded with defiant rejection.

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How the Palestinians should respond to Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Hussein Ibish - (Analysis) June 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The response from Palestinian and Arab leaders to Benjamin Netanyahu's defiant foreign policy speech last Sunday has so far consisted mainly of throwing up their hands in despair. While understandable given the prime minister's intransigence on Israel's prior commitment to a complete settlement freeze and other key issues, this approach is not likely to accomplish very much.

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How Long Can Israel Resist US Pressure?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Spiegel Online
by Christoph Schult - (Analysis) June 16, 2009 - 12:00am

As US President Barack Obama presses ahead with his Middle East peace intiatives, America's new tone and new modesty are going down well in the region. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is finding it hard to resist the pressure to compromise on the Palestinian question.

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ATFP President Joins Wilson Center Panel on “Obama and the Two-State Solution”
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, June 8 -- Dr. Ziad Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), joined a panel discussion on “Obama and the Two-State Solution: An Israeli, Palestinian, and Egyptian Perspective” at the Woodrow Wilson Center on June 8, 2009. The panel was moderated by Dr. Aaron David Miller, a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Institute and also included included Dr. Martin Kramer, Adelson Institute Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, and Dr. Samer Shehata, a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center.


Netanyahu to Outline Thinking on Peace, Security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
June 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a "major diplomatic speech" to outline his government's "principles for achieving peace and security." Netanyahu announced the speech, planned for next week, at the beginning of Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting.

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ATFP Warmly Welcomes President Obama’s Historic Cairo Speech
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, June 4 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) warmly welcomed the speech delivered today by President Barack Obama in Cairo. “It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true,” the President said, as he reaffirmed the determination of the United States government to seek a negotiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that allows for the creation of a Palestinian state to live in peace and security alongside Israel.



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