West Bank Economic Development | The American Task Force on Palestine

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Avi Shlaim - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders".

Birth Pangs of a New Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report
by Mouin Rabbani - (Opinion) January 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Shortly after 11:30 am on December 27, 2008, at the height of the midday bustle on the first day of the Gazan week and with multitudes of schoolchildren returning home from the morning shift, close to 90 Israeli warplanes launched over 100 tons of explosives at some 100 targets throughout the 139 square miles of the Gaza Strip. Within minutes, the near simultaneous air raids killed more than 225 and wounded at least 700, more than 200 of them critically.

Mideast political conundrum: Settlement expansion is a threat to peace negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another definitive demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians; Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel.

Mideast political conundrum: Settlement expansion is a threat to peace negotiations
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Washington Times (Opinion) - January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another definitive demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians; Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel.

Why Peace Now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Reema I. Ali - January 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Whether the United States continues to advocate the preemptive war doctrine or becomes a 'green' and 'soft' superpower, and whatever maps the new administration looks at, the central apparent issue that cannot be and should not be ignored is the stability of the Middle East and the impact this has on U.S. strategic national interests. Key to the stability of the region is the resolution of the Israeli Palestinian conflict through the implementation of a two-state solution along the lines of international consensus of the pre-1967 borders.

Israel's Attacks On Gaza Deepen Palestinian Rift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Griff Witte - January 1, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip has exacerbated the deep divisions between Palestinians who want to make peace with Israel and those who support Hamas's militant struggle against the Jewish state. The fractures are stark in the West Bank, where sympathy for Hamas appears to be rising in the streets even as the territory's leaders suppress pro-Hamas demonstrations and blame the Islamist movement for the breakdown of a six-month truce with Israel.

Bush to meet Abbas on Friday: White House
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 17, 2008 - 1:00am

President George W. Bush plans to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday at the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Tuesday. "President Bush will welcome Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas to the White House on Friday, December 19th," Perino said. "The president looks forward to discussing with him our shared efforts toward peace in the Middle East, including progress in building capable Palestinian institutions, fostering economic development, and training and deploying Palestinian security forces in the West Bank," she said.

Brown urges Olmert to lift curbs on Palestinian economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 17, 2008 - 1:00am

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday urged Israel's caretaker leader Ehud Olmert to ease constraints on the struggling Palestinian economy. Brown held talks with Olmert at Downing Street a day after joining Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, at a forum in London to promote British investment in the Palestinian territories. The pair also discussed the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Brown described Monday as a "barrier that's got to be overcome" in the Middle East peace process.

Palestinian PM Fayyad says West Bank settlement must end for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - December 15, 2008 - 1:00am

Settlement activity in the occupied West Bank must stop at once if there is to be any prospect of reaching a two-state peace agreement with Israel, the Palestinian prime minister has warned in a Guardian interview. Salam Fayyad said he found it "devastating" that Israelis were not even debating the settlement issue in their election campaign. He warned that Palestinian support for his policy of reform and negotiation would collapse if prospects for a workable deal faded away. Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad talks to Ian Black Link to this audio

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