The Paris Conference Can Foster Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Gerard Errera - (Opinion) June 29, 2011 - 12:00am

The United Nations General Assembly is currently on track to endorse the unilateral proclamation of a Palestinian state in September. The United States will oppose the measure, while a majority of Europeans nations will approve it and the Israel-Palestinian conflict will only deepen. This is why French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé announced recently that France will convene an international conference in Paris to try to resolve the issue.

»

Heated diplomacy behind Palestinian statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Barbara Plett - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

For the next two months, a lot of diplomatic capital will be spent on dealing with a Palestinian bid for an international recognition of statehood that appears to be almost certain to fail. The Palestinian Authority, which governs the Palestinian controlled parts of the West Bank, formally announced on Monday its intention to apply for full membership of the United Nations, arguing it can no longer wait for a paralysed peace process to bestow independence on the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

»

Perpetual self-sabotage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Aaron Menenberg - (Opinion) June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

The only way France and Britain will vote with the US is if negotiations get under way with at least the appearance of promise – and that was Obama’s strategy with his speech.

»

Let the flotilla go
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The term "flotilla" is understood in Israel as a declaration of war. This is the case with respect to the latest Gaza-bound flotilla, just as it was with the one that set off from Turkey in May 2010. Furthermore, due to unstable relations with Turkey, Israel is still feeling the repercussions of its deadly raid on that maritime convoy.

»

Europe's responsibility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

BRUSSELS - Last week I met with more than a dozen European officials who closely follow Israel and its dispute with its neighbors. Some wondered how it could be that Israel's defense minister warns about a "tsunami," while the country's public os focused on cottage cheese. Some asked whether I had a clue as to what my prime minister wants. Are all statements made by Benjamin Netanyahu about negotiations, they asked, aimed at giving the settlers another year or two, and also at scuttling any prospect of dividing the country?

»

U.S. Funding Rigorous Study of Palestinian and Israeli Textbook Incitement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Naomi Zeveloff - June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

In an effort to settle one of the longest-running disputes in the Middle East peace process, American, Israeli and Palestinian researchers are conducting what purports to be the first scientific study of incitement in Palestinian and Israeli textbooks.

»

Avoid Gaza Flotilla, Israel Warns Foreign Journalists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 26, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel threatened Sunday to bar for up to a decade any foreign journalist who boards a flotilla seeking to challenge an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Oren Helman, the director of the Government Press Office, sent a letter to registered foreign correspondents here asserting that the flotilla, scheduled to sail this week, was illegal and that participation in it, even as a reporter, was “liable to lead to participants being denied entry into the State of Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions.”

»

Israel urged to speak directly to Arab world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Few countries are as active in courting international opinion as Israel. An entire ministry is devoted to a kind of global PR called hasbara, the Hebrew word for "explaining." Israelis studiously track public opinion in the United States and Europe, and Israel's military has taken to using YouTube, Twitter and an army of bloggers to disseminate real-time updates around the world, sometimes in the middle of battle. But the public diplomacy campaign, which has largely focused on the West, has ignored the Arab world, which many in Israel have viewed as a lost cause.

»

Israel trumps the Arab world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Peninsula
June 25, 2011 - 12:00am

There is no doubt that Israel is superior to all Arab countries in the sphere of Information Technology, a comparative study between Arab nations and Israel on ‘Scientific Research and Patent Rights Compared’ conducted by Dr Khalid Said Rubaia, a Palestinian researcher at American Arab University in Palestine, says. Israel spends 4.7 percent of its total GDP on scientific research, which is the highest in the world. However, Arab states are spending 0.2 percent of their total incomes and Asian Arab countries around 0.5 percent of their incomes on research, said the report.

»

EU casts doubt on chances of UN vote on Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 24, 2011 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV // The European Union's foreign policy chief yesterday cast doubt on whether the United Nations will proceed with a Palestinian push for the 192-member body to vote in September on backing Palestinian statehood. Catherine Ashton, speaking in an interview with Haaretz newspaper after a visit to the Middle East, said the EU has been making major efforts, so far unsuccessfully, to press the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume negotiations before the possible UN vote.

»


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