Report: Dennis Ross in Israel for secret talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Veteran US diplomat Dennis Ross arrived in Israel Tuesday evening and is scheduled to hold talks with Israeli security officials, Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday. Ross, a prominent US policy maker, was allegedly sent by US president Barak Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to check out what security coordination would be necessary if a final peace agreement was reached in the region.

»

Envoy says US committed to Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

The U.S. will not be deterred by setbacks and will persevere until a Palestinian state is established alongside Israel, President Obama's Mideast envoy said Tuesday after meeting the Palestinian president. Envoy George Mitchell presented ideas on how to move forward, said Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He would not elaborate.

»

Arabs against peace talks without clear borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Sarah El Deeb - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinians have asked European countries to recognize an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — a new step in the campaign to pursue statehood outside the framework of a peace deal with Israel. Peace talks with Israel have been deadlocked since September, leaving Palestinians to start exploring alternative ways forward. The campaign by President Mahmoud Abbas and his West Bank government aims to pressure Israel, though it will likely change nothing on the ground as long as Israel remains opposed.

»

The Palestinians must not repeat their mistake of 1947
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

For the time being, the United States has mercifully stopped the embarrassing haggling about the settlement freeze. While Obama’s administration officially says that it will continue to look for ways of reviving the peace process, it is probably realizing what has been fairly clear since Benjamin Netanyahu chose to form a coalition with his "natural" partners, Avigdor Lieberman and Shas: this government is unable and unwilling to deliver an agreement with the Palestinians.

»

EU keeps up pressure for Israeli settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
by Justyna Pawlak - December 14, 2010 - 1:00am

The European Union pressed the Israeli government on Monday to freeze settlement building, offered the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip more aid and urged Israel to open Gaza's border crossings more fully to increase trade. EU foreign ministers "noted with regret" Israel's failure to extend a moratorium on construction of Jewish settlements, and took a stand at odds with the decision by the United States to drop efforts to persuade Israel to freeze settlement building.

»

Abbas, Mitchell meet amid US efforts to renew peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
December 14, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US Mideast envoy George Mitchell were meeting in Ramallah on Tuesday afternoon, amid US efforts to renew stalled peace talks. Mitchell met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday night, and is set to travel to Doha and then back to Washington after the Abbas meeting. Mitchell arrived back in the region on Monday to discuss the core issues separately with each side in the hope that gaps could be narrowed and direct negotiations restarted.

»

Palestinians' future is in their hands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Akiva Eldar, Carlo Strenger - (Editorial) December 14, 2010 - 1:00am

The Israel-Palestine conflict has been endlessly long, tragic, filled with wrong decisions on all sides and there are many ways of telling the story. Saeb Erekat, in his recent article on the Palestinian right of return, chooses to begin his story ("narrative" is the fashionable word) with the assassination of Count Bernadotte, the first UN mediator, by Jewish militants commanded by Yitzchak Shamir, later prime minister, in 1948. The implication is clear: Israelis killed justice from the very outset.

»

Not walking away from peace just yet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) December 14, 2010 - 1:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech at the Brookings Institution on December 10 has again shown that the Obama administration is not willing to walk away from efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in spite of the obstacles and setbacks it is facing. The position Clinton laid out presents an important potential opportunity for Palestinians to make the point that they are ready for and serious about peace, and to test Israel’s willingness.

»

U.S. Middle East Envoy Attempts to Restart Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - December 13, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — After nearly two years of frustration and failure, the Obama administration began its Middle East peace efforts anew on Monday with its special envoy, George J. Mitchell, holding talks here on ways to improve the atmosphere between Israel and the Palestinians and ultimately negotiate over the core issues that separate them.

»

A U.N. Plan for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Robert Wright - (Opinion) December 13, 2010 - 1:00am

The blogger Andrew Sullivan has called America’s policy toward Israel “assisted suicide.” That may be an exaggeration, but on Friday it became less of one. The occasion was a speech by Hillary Clinton, much anticipated after the collapse of talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

»


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