Not So Hidden Influences
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate
by Christopher Hitchens - (Opinion) October 4, 2010 - 12:00am

I wasted a little time before writing this article, to see if I could produce a satire or a parody. This would have consisted of a fundraising letter from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to a potential donor. "Dear Leo," it might begin. "We are asking you, even in these straitened times, to make the largest contribution you can afford. The security of the state of Israel is threatened as never before, and your help is urgently required. Alas, we can offer you nothing in return for your donation.

»

Did militant Israeli settlers burn mosque near Bethlehem?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Tel Aviv, Israel — Israel is worried that Jewish militants torched a West Bank mosque overnight Monday in a bid to undermine peace negotiations with the Palestinians. A mosque in the Palestinian village of Beit Fajar, just south of Bethlehem, became the fourth in the last two years to be the target of an arson attempt, according to human rights workers. The attack is believed to be part of a campaign by vigilante settlers to ignite violence by attacking Muslim holy sites.

»

Bibi pushing quiet diplomacy in bid to restart talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
October 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is "in the midst of sensitive diplomatic contacts with the U.S. administration" in the effort to continue peace talks with the Palestinians. In a statement Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu called the direct peace negotiations begun one month ago "a vital interest for the State of Israel." He urged his ministers to "be patient, act responsibly, calmly and -- above all -- quietly."

»

Five myths about Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Aaron David Miller - October 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Yet again, Israelis and Palestinians are negotiating (or trying to), and yet again, a U.S. administration is in the middle of the muddle. We've seen this movie many times before, and I've watched it up close as a negotiator and adviser for both Democratic and Republican secretaries of state. Is there any reason to believe that this time around, there will be a happy ending? Mutual suspicions, domestic political constraints and substantive differences between the parties are hampering the talks.

»

Future of vast Jewish enclave in West Bank far from settled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Reporting from Ariel, West Bank advertisement Ron Nachman had waited 10 months for this day. But when Israel's West Bank construction moratorium expired a week ago and settlers celebrated with balloons and bulldozers, the mayor of the fourth-largest Jewish settlement was nowhere to be found. Nachman, 68, was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy for recently diagnosed bladder cancer.

»

Israeli Soldiers Convicted of Using Boy as Shield
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - October 3, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — An Israeli military court convicted two soldiers on Sunday of using a 9-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield by forcing him to check bags for explosives in Israel’s 2008-9 Gaza war. The court said that the two soldiers, both infantry sergeants, had taken part in an operation to seize an apartment building in Tel al-Hawa, a southern suburb of Gaza City, while under attack from Hamas fighters.

»

Not on the same page
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) October 2, 2010 - 12:00am

One can't help but wonder: What would former Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon or Yitzhak Rabin have done if their foreign ministers had delivered jaw-dropping speeches to the U.N. General Assembly contradicting their policies on peacemaking with the Palestinians, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's did this week?

»

Defining 'Jewish state': For many, term has different meanings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - October 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Nine years ago, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered a speech on the Middle East in which he briefly called on Palestinians to recognize Israel as a "Jewish state." Powell doesn't recall how the phrase ended up in his speech, but David Ivry, then the Israeli ambassador to the United States, says he persuaded an aide to Powell to slip it in.

»

Fire Lieberman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am

The official response from the prime minister's bureau, following Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, was surprising. "The content of the foreign minister's speech was not coordinated with the prime minister," the statement said, adding "Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one handling the negotiations on Israel's behalf."

»

PA official: Israel to be blamed if talks breakdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
September 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian officials on Wednesday expressed skepticism about the resumption of peace talks and signaled they would accept nothing less than an extension of the West Bank settlement construction moratorium ahead of the scheduled arrival of US Mideast Envoy George Mitchell and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton to the region on Thursday. Veteran Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha'ath said Israel should be blamed for any breakdown of the negotiations if it insists on expanding settlements on lands claimed by the Palestinians for their state.

»


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