Diplomacy | The American Task Force on Palestine

Semites unite! You’ve nothing to lose but your pain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Roi Ben-Yehuda - (Opinion) August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

On July 15 a small bit of history was made in Jerusalem. Around 3,000 Jews and Arabs marched from the Jaffa Gate in the Old City to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem calling for Palestinian independence, freedom and dignity. The demonstration was organized by the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement and leaders of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood committees. We, an Israeli from Tel Aviv and a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, were among those who joined and made our voices heard.

The Israeli protest is indifferent to the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yisrael Harel - (Opinion) August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Until Barack Obama entered the White House, Abu Mazen (PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) was obliged, under pressure from the United States and the Quartet, to negotiate with Israel. But his goal was never to reach agreement. This was graphically illustrated in late 2008 by his refusal to accept the most generous set of principles ever proposed by an Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

Deadly direction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

When attacks and counterattacks erupted Thursday in Gaza, it might have been expected to hear analysts and the media talk about a sudden outbreak of violence – in fact, the developments of the last few months represent an instance of deliberately laying the groundwork for such an explosion.

The Mideast blame game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) August 19, 2011 - 12:00am

When Secretary of State James Baker was organizing the Madrid peace conference in 1991, he resorted to a device he called the dead cat on the doorstep. Simply put, Baker threatened to publicly blame Israeli, Palestinian and Syrian leaders if they didn’t accept the terms and attend the conference. It worked. Ironically, the dead-cat routine also explains the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process — but in reverse.

Palestinians can still negotiate after the UN declaration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

In their frantic efforts to stop the Palestinian leadership from going to the UN, Israeli officials and propagandists pose what appears to be a mistaken choice. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Palestinians to have direct talks, and even offered to meet Palestinian officials anywhere if they choose what he called direct talks instead of unilateral action. On the surface of it, this position seems logical, but if one digs just beneath the rhetoric, it becomes obvious that the position is a continuation of Israel’s policy of obfuscation and political manoeuvring.

A Pyrrhic victory for the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Shai Bazak - (Opinion) August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership has made clear its intentions to declare statehood unilaterally and seek admission to the United Nations this fall. While such a move might score the Palestinians a political win by serving to isolate Israel even further in the international arena, any victory will be symbolic at best.

Hold Israel accountable with Leahy law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Hill
by Josh Ruebner - (Opinion) August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Apologists for Israeli occupation and apartheid claim that advocates for holding Israel accountable for its human rights abuses of Palestinians are “singling Israel out for extra scrutiny” or “holding Israel to a higher standard than other countries.”

Secret talks do have a place in diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Chronicle
by Oded Eran - (Opinion) August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Israelis love secret meetings with Arab leaders in London. The most famous were held with King Hussein of Jordan in 1963, in the house of his Jewish physician. As a junior diplomat in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I kept the secret file of these meetings, codenamed "Charles". At the time, the talks produced a greater understanding between Jordan and Israel, but King Hussein was reluctant to be the first Arab leader to sign a peace treaty.

The boundaries of July 14
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Abir Kopty - (Opinion) August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Although some Israelis are calling for making a clear connection to Israel's occupation, the July 14 movement for "social justice" is far from endorsing a position on this, for many reasons.

Palestinians talk of protest, little sign of action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
(Analysis) August 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Calls for Palestinian protests to back a diplomatic push for statehood at the United Nations next month have put Israel on guard; the peace process in deep crisis, some see a violent September, inspired by the Arab Spring. Yet to many, a sustained Intifada, or uprising, appears unlikely, at least for now. To ordinary Palestinians, the significance of U.N. manouvres in New York is hard to fathom, their leaders in the West Bank are wary of violence with Israel and their national movement remains weakened by a deep schism.

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