The Background on Jerusalem in International Relations
Press Release - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Numerous recent developments have reconfirmed the centrality of Jerusalem to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Deep chill in U.S.-Israeli relations
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Bad personal chemistry, public confrontation and mutual silence a full day after a two-hour meeting Tuesday night between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have deepened the impression of a worsening fracture in the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

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Netanyahu meets Obama as new housing controversy emerges
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is supposed to meet with President Obama at the White House at 5:30pm. The meeting comes shortly after Israeli media reported that late last week, the Jerusalem municipality gave final approval to a group of settlers to construct 20 apartments at the Shepherd Hotel site in the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

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Netanyahu's reluctant gift to Palestine
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Guardian - March 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not being honest with his fellow Israelis by insisting that settlement building is compatible with a peaceful future between Israelis and Palestinians, or that the colonisation of occupied East Jerusalem "in no way harms" Palestinians and is not in any sense different from building in Tel Aviv.

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A message for Palestinians in the Israel-U.S. disagreement?
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) - March 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Jeffrey Goldberg lamented the other day that the AIPAC policy conference had too many speakers from the center-right and not enough from the left. One exception he did cite was Ghaith al-Omari, advocacy director for the American Task Force on Palestine, who spoke Sunday afternoon on a panel entitled "Prognosticating Peace: Are Direct Israeli-Palestinian Talks in Sight?" And al-Omari had an interesting perspective on the recent flareup in tensions between the U.S. and Israel, believing there was an important message in the episode for Palestinians, as well.

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Israeli-Palestinian peace hopes rise as US envoy prepares to get talks moving
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Guardian - March 22, 2010 - 12:00am

The US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is due to fly to the region on Sunday to try to secure a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks amid optimism about a breakthrough. Mitchell had been due to visit Israel on Tuesday but his trip was cancelled – a victim of US-Israeli tensions. It was reinstated after Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, bowing to US pressure, phoned the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, last night to offer concessions.Mitchell is scheduled to see Netanyahu in Israel and the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah.

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Why Israel simultaneously both is and is not a "Jewish State"
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - March 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Talk delivered by ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, March 16, 2010


US-Israel crisis — this time it's serious
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Arab News - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Tension between the United States and Israel went up a notch on Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said construction in occupied East Jerusalem would continue as usual. "Construction will continue in Jerusalem as has been the case over the past 42 years," Netanyahu told members of his Likud party.

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Parsing Mitchell's statement
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell issued a statement from Israel today which on its face seemed a quiet victory wave on achieving agreement for Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks over the weekend. But a former Israeli official reading the statement interprets it differently, to suggest they haven't agreed on what they are going to be talking about indirectly. While an American Palestinian expert says the indirect proximity talks provide a bridging mechanism to potentially get the parties back to direct negotiations.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton's harsh words stun Israel
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Los Angeles Times - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am

Beginning as a spat over a single housing project, a dispute this week between the Obama administration and Israel has ballooned into the biggest U.S.-Israeli clash in 20 years, adding to months of strain between Washington and one of its closest allies. Israel's decision to move ahead with 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, drew criticism from Washington in language rarely directed at even Iran or North Korea. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Israel's announcement "was an insult to the United States."

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