International Community | The American Task Force on Palestine

Revolt in Egypt, impact on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - February 6, 2011 - 1:00am

WE are in the middle of a geological event. An earthquake of epoch-making dimensions is changing the landscape of our region. People are afraid of change. Israelis are no exception. While in neighboring Egypt earth-shattering events were taking place, Israel was absorbed with a scandal in the army high command. But what is happening now in Egypt will change our lives. As usual, nobody foresaw it. The much-feted Mossad was taken by surprise, as was the CIA. Yet there should have been no surprise at all — except about the incredible force of the eruption.

Why Israel fears a free Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Aaron David Miller - (Editorial) February 6, 2011 - 1:00am

Having dealt with the Israelis for the better part of 40 years, I have learned never to dismiss or trivialize their foundational fears. As both former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and current premier Binyamin Netanyahu reminded me on different occasions, Israelis don't live in some leafy Washington suburb, but in a much tougher neighborhood. And today, it is impossible to overstate the angst, even hysteria, that Israelis are feeling about their neighborhood as they watch what is unfolding in the streets of Cairo.

Why the Palestinian Authority Is Worried About Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Karl Vick - February 5, 2011 - 1:00am

On the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by Mahmoud Abbas may not qualify as a sovereign government. But it is moderate and U.S.-backed, and has been behaving of late like one of the region's brittle and freshly vulnerable autocratic regimes.

Ministers: Paris to host new Palestinian donor conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Paris will host a new international donor conference for a Palestinian state in June, ministers from donor countries and the so-called Quartet on the Middle East said following talks Thursday. "At the request of the PA, a new international donors? conference for the Palestinian State will be held in Paris in June 2011," a statement released after the talks said, referring to the Palestinian Authority. The group also "call on Israel to take more ambitious, structural measures to continue to ease access and movement" of Palestinians.

Fayyad: Occupation factor in regional instability
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Thursday said the failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had contributed to unrest across the Middle East. Fayyad said protests across the region reflected people's desire for political reform and their legitimate aspirations for democracy. But while internal conditions sparked the wave of demonstrations across the Arab world, the PA premier said the ongoing occupation of Palestine was a source of growing despair for Arab people.

Intriguing alliance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - February 4, 2011 - 1:00am

The surprising determined refusal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in office for nearly 30 years, to step down immediately has probably stunned many worldwide, and especially the hundreds of thousands of his ever-increasing opponents who have been demonstrating for days against his regime in Egypt’s main cities. Equally alarming were Mubarak’s brief televised remarks, broadcast late Tuesday night, that he would not seek reelection but promises an orderly transition before his term expires in September.

Uneasy lies the head
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Asher Susser - February 3, 2011 - 1:00am

In the early 1960s, when Jordan's King Hussein was embattled by Nasser's regime in Egypt that was bent on the export of its revolutionary fervor, the young king published an autobiography entitled "Uneasy Lies the Head". Taking his cue from Shakespeare's King Henry IV ("Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"), Hussein's characterization of his predicament could equally apply today to his son and heir, King Abdullah II. Egypt is once again the source of inspiration for revolutionary fervor.

Why Palestinians remain so quiet as Egyptians loudly rail against Mubarak
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Daniella Cheslow - February 2, 2011 - 1:00am

Cries for President Hosni Mubarak's ouster in Egypt are being echoed in Jordan with antigovernment protests and a "day of rage" planned for Syria this Friday. But in the Palestinian territories, it's the silence that is most notable. Part of that quiet is due to a rare common effort from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to suppress vocal support for Egyptian protesters. Both sides dispersed solidarity demonstrations that were planned for last Sunday and Monday.

Israel urges West: Make sure new Egypt regime honors peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 2, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister wants international community to make clear that new leadership must meet a series of conditions similar to those posed by Hamas in order to gain recognition of legitimacy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked U.S. President Barack Obama and a number of other Western leaders in recent days to make it clear to any new Egyptian regime that it must abide fully by the peace agreement with Israel.

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