Diplomacy | The American Task Force on Palestine

Fayyad: PA Operating in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The prime minister in Ramallah said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority was working inside occupied East Jerusalem, despite Israeli restrictions on PA activities. The PA is continuously trying to allocate resources inside the city, which Israel occupied in 1967, Salam Fayyad said. The Israeli government is trying to impose its policies to control Jerusalem and its institutions, which is contrary to international law and signed agreements, Fayyad said.

Palestinians? Who cares!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Guy Bechor - (Opinion) February 10, 2012 - 1:00am

For some 100 years, the following was considered an undisputed fact: The Arab-Israeli conflict is the “father of all Mideastern conflicts.” Should it be “resolved,” the world thought, we shall see cosmic tranquility descending upon the entire region. Mounds of “research” were written about this conflict, inflating to the point of becoming a bubble threatening to explode.

Freed Palestinian Prisoners Adapt to Qatar Exile
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Michael Buchanan - February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

As part of the deal to free the captured Israeli soldier Sgt Gilad Shalit last year, more than a 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails. The vast majority were allowed back into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but 40 prisoners were forced to leave the region entirely, deemed by Israel to be a continuing security threat. The releases were enormously controversial in Israel, where some of the prisoners were seen as mass murderers. A two-bed flat not far from the cornice in Qatar's capital, Doha, is now home for 47-year-old Ibrahim Shammasina from Ramallah.

Israeli PM answers questions from Arab Internet surfers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 31, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday answered questions on Facebook from Arab Internet users regarding issues, including the ongoing turmoil in Arab nations and the peace process with the Palestinians. For the first time, the Prime Minister's Office, through their Facebook page in Arabic, allowed users to pose questions that were answered via a translator from Hebrew to Arabic.

Israel suffers from political alzheimer's disease
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) January 18, 2012 - 1:00am

The leader of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, dropped a bombshell this week when, asked in an interview if he was in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria, he said, "For such a situation to stop the killing ... some troops should go to stop the killing." It was the first time an Arab leader has proposed sending soldiers to another Arab state to come to the aid of that country's citizens. And considering an Arab military alternative to a Western military operation would be a first for the Arab League.

Israel must understand that Europe is indeed relevant
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) January 18, 2012 - 1:00am

First Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s adage ‘what matters is not what the goyim say, but what the Jews do," may have been charming when Israel was a young state, but does not befit a mature country. Nevertheless, current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has made this adage into a whole worldview.

Leading Article: Mere words will not secure peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
(Editorial) January 18, 2012 - 1:00am

Nick Clegg's description this week of Israeli settlements as "deliberate vandalism" of the basic premise of peace negotiations drew a sharp response from Israel. Yet it was only exceptional in making public what every sentient minister across Europe knows to be true, but seldom dares to say. There is ample justification for his remarks in two recent internal EU reports covered in this newspaper.

Yalla Peace: Falafel, fences and Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ray Hanania - (Opinion) January 17, 2012 - 1:00am

A day never passes without an Arab complaining about Israel. Of course, a day never passes without an Israeli complaining about the Arabs, either. The complaints vary widely, covering everything from food to violence. A common complaint is that Israel “stole” the falafel. Well, Israel has stolen Palestinian land, but can you really steal a food? I recently read an Israeli official’s counter to this claim: has Israel also “stolen” Italian food? To be fair, Israelis don’t go around bragging about their “Israeli spaghetti” the way they promote “Israeli falafel.”

Playing for time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) January 16, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is currently managing two very different and in many ways contradictory negotiating tracks. Neither has produced any sort of substantive success thus far. If one does produce a breakthrough, the other will probably collapse. Meanwhile, the counterpoint between them is instructive.

PA Shares Israel's Nuclear Iran Fears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Chronicle
by Stephen Pollard - January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, has attacked the behaviour of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said that he shares Western - and Israeli - concerns with the Iranians' nuclear project. Speaking in his Ramallah headquarters, Prime Minister Fayyad said that the Palestinians were "greatly harmed" by the Iranian leader's conduct. President Ahmadinejad, he said, should stop acting as a supposed spokesman for the Palestinians. The Iranian president was concerned only with increasing Iranian influence in the region.

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