Obama tells Israel to halt expansion
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Boston Globe - June 5, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House yesterday with an invaluable welcoming gift: a toughly worded, categorical US demand for Israel to stop expanding settlements in the West Bank. But hours before the two men met, the Israeli government flatly rejected the demand. Spokesman Mark Regev said that "normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue," including some construction.

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Muslims in U.S.: Speech hit 'right notes'
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In USA Today - June 5, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama's call for Arabs, Israelis and Americans to abandon their suspicions and work together for a more secure future was welcomed more enthusiastically by Muslims on this side of the world than by Jews who expressed concerns about his support for the Palestinian cause. "He hit the right notes with the right tone," said Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine. "He gave the big picture in a speech that takes the high moral ground. It takes courage to say the things that are not exactly what your audience wants to hear."

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Hussein Ibish on WHYY-Philadelphia's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, June 4 -- ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish joins NPR affiliate WHYY Philadelphia's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane to discuss US President Barack Obama's upcoming speech in Cairo and related regional issues. NPR Program Description


Obama's Cairo speech rabbis
Media Mention of ATFP In Foreign Policy - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Who advised President Barack Obama on the big speech? "Over the weekend, White House officials hosted a group of Muslim and other foreign policy scholars to discuss what points Mr. Obama should touch on," Politico's Mike Allen reports in Playbook. The New York Times details: Ghaith Al-Omari from the American Task Force on Palestine, Carnegie Endowment's Karim Sadjadpour, Iran expert Vali Nasr, who's been working for Holbrooke, and Brookings' Shibley Telhami, who's been all over the airwaves incidentally commenting on the speech:

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Rival Messages as Obama Lands in the Mideast
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The New York Times - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Aiming to repair the American relationship with the Muslim world, President Obama was greeted on Wednesday with reminders of the vast gulfs his Cairo speech must bridge, as voices as disparate as Al Qaeda’s and the Israeli government’s competed to shape how Mr. Obama’s message would be heard.

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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.


Muslims Will Judge Obama by Actions More Than Words
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The New York Times - June 4, 2009 - 12:00am

It is too soon to tell whether President Obama’s 55-minute speech to the Muslim world from Cairo will be the balm to America’s broken relationship with Islam that White House officials hope. Some early signs are promising — and not just that several times someone in Mr. Obama’s audience in the domed hall yelled out, “I love you!”

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With Speech in Egypt, Obama Calculates Risk of Alienating Israel
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Fox News - June 3, 2009 - 12:00am

As President Obama prepares to depart for the Middle East to promote improved U.S. relations with Muslim nations, he has reaffirmed Iran's right to develop nuclear energy and met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The president is not headed to Israel on his five-day tour, one of the most important trips of his fledgling presidency. Instead, he will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and deliver a speech at Cairo University in Egypt on Thursday. He then travels to France and Germany for D-Day commemorations.

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AFTP Advocacy Director Joins Panel on "After the Visits: What Next for Middle East Peace?"
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - June 2, 2009 - 12:00am

On Monday, June 1, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, AFTP Advocacy Director Ghaith Al-Omari took part in the panel "After the Visits: What Next for Middle East Peace?" along with M.J. Rosenberg, the Director of Policy Analysis at the Israel Policy Forum, and Geoffrey Aronson, Director of Research and Publications at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The panel was co-sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, the Middle East Institute, the Israel Policy Forum, & the American Task Force on Palestine.


Israeli Minister's Visit Aims To Calm Settlements Dispute
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Washington Post - June 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak began a round of meetings with top U.S. officials yesterday in a bid to head off an increasingly sharp dispute between the United States and Israel over the expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory.

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