One-state solution is a blueprint for a nightmare
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The continued failure of the Mideast peace process and the escalation of violence from the second intifada to the Gaza war have led many to think that the two-state solution is pedestrian, unimaginative and inhuman. Many Palestinians and a small but vocal group of Jews back Edward Said's claim that a one-state solution with full right of return for all Palestinians must be endorsed. This, they say, would finally lead to absolute and full justice.

»

U.S. mulls Peres plan for Palestinian state with interim borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The American administration is said to be studying President Shimon Peres' plan for the establishment in the near future of a Palestinian state with temporary borders, with guarantees and a timetable for a permanent agreement that will include solutions on all core issues. Peres presented the plan to U.S. envoy George Mitchell as well as senior Palestinian officials and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He also discussed it with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni.

»

Netanyahu slams Vice Premier's anti-peace jibe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday lambasted Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon, who told a closed-door meeting of far-right activists last week that he was "not afraid of the Americans" and that anti-settlement groups like Peace Now were "viruses" to Israel. The statements, referring to the United States' role in the Middle East peace progress and its demand Israel halt settlement activity, came to light after video footage taken by a cellular phone was leaked to Channel 2.

»

What was he thinking?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Sima Kadmon - (Opinion) August 20, 2009 - 12:00am

What was he thinking? This is the most intriguing question today. What was the deputy prime minister thinking when he attended earlier this week a meeting organized by the Feiglins; yes, the Jewish Leadership faction which Netanyahu made every effort in the last two years to push out of Likud.

»

Netanyahu's Defiance of U.S. Resonates at Home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - August 19, 2009 - 12:00am

For five months, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been fending off U.S. pressure to halt the expansion of West Bank settlements. Now he is reaping dividends for his defiance. Although Israeli leaders have historically been reluctant to publicly break with the United States for fear of paying a price in domestic support, polls show that Netanyahu's strategy is working. And that means that after months of diplomacy, the quick breakthrough that President Obama had hoped would restart peace talks has instead turned into a familiar stalemate.

»

The Holocaust's shadow over Israel's choices
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Bill Glucroft - (Opinion) August 17, 2009 - 12:00am

No people mourn better than the Jewish people. For seven days after death, the family sits shiva, a vigil at home for loved ones to comfort one another and reflect on the life lost. During the following year and then beyond, the stages of mourning develop to allow next of kin to continue their lives while still remembering who is gone from them.

»

'Israel Is Real: An Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and its History' by Rich Cohen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ruth Andrew Ellenson - (Book Review) August 16, 2009 - 12:00am

If you have an inclination to be a rabble-rouser and find yourself bored at a dinner party with American Jews, bring up Israel. You might not get invited back, but in the meantime you'll have fun throwing down a choice apple of discord. Just for kicks, ask people how they feel about Noam Chomsky, the Jewish American linguist who's famously critical of Israel's policies regarding Palestinians, and let the games begin.

»

US Jewish leaders rally in Consul Tamir's Defense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yitzhak Benhorin - August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

“I’ve known Israeli consuls general for the last 30 years or so. And I don’t think Israel has had a more effective leader in New England in that time than Nadav Tamir," former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Steve Grossman told the Boston Globe Monday. Tamir has been summoned to Israel by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman after a confidential memo he wrote criticizing the way Israel was handling its relations with the US was leaked to the media. He is scheduled to land in the country Tuesday.

»

Fear breeds distrust, but it is also the underrated enabler
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Paul Scham - (Opinion) August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

In 1997, at a time when I travelled frequently from Israel, where I was living, to Jordan, I was invited to give a talk to the Amman World Affairs Council, composed of distinguished, educated and cosmopolitan retired judges, ambassadors and other prominent Jordanians. I chose as my topic “Israeli fears,” because then, as now, I was convinced that fear is the most important underlying – and underrated – reason for the intractability of the Middle Eastern conflict. The audience was not pleased. One member told me angrily, “You’re equating the oppressors with the oppressed!”

»

Netanyahu’s proposed ban on NGO funding raises questions for U.S. groups
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - August 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Larry Garber remembers the last time he was living in Israel and someone wanted to cut off foreign government funds to human rights groups that discomfited the political establishment. It was 2000 and Garber, who then ran the U.S. Agency for International Development mission in the West Bank and Gaza, was meeting with Hasan Asfour, a Cabinet minister in Yasser Arafat’s notoriously corrupt Palestinian Authority government.

»


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