Mideast political conundrum: Settlement expansion is a threat to peace negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another definitive demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians; Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel.

»

French President Sarkozy: Deal on Gaza truce 'not far away'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday a deal for a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip was "not far" away. "I'm convinced that there are solutions. We are not far from that. What is needed is simply for one of the players to start for things to go in the right direction," he told reporters during a visit to French United Nations peacekeepers in south Lebanon. Sarkozy said he was returning to Sharm el-Sheikh to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to work out the details of a peace plan.

»

Incursion Into Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

With its ground incursion into Gaza, Israel has gambled that it can finally silence the Hamas rockets that have terrorized its people for years. We sympathize with that goal. But we are concerned that short-term success on the battlefield might encourage the Israelis to keep pressing further and longer in an attempt to decimate Hamas and wrest Gaza from its grip. That is also a goal we can sympathize with — there is no justification for Hamas’s attacks or its virulent rejectionism. But it is highly unlikely, and there is a point of diminishing returns that could be easy to miscalculate.

»

Mideast political conundrum: Settlement expansion is a threat to peace negotiations
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Washington Times (Opinion) - January 6, 2009 - 1:00am

The renewed violence between Israel and Hamas, in which 1.5 million innocent Palestinians are caught, is yet another definitive demonstration that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will not be able to secure its future, normalize its relations with the region and live in peace without an agreement with the Palestinians; Palestinians will not achieve liberation and independence without an agreement with Israel.

»

Righting a Wrong for the Sake of the People of Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - January 5, 2009 - 1:00am

There is a clear difference between the 1.5 million people that make up the population of the Gaza Strip, and the few hundred which comprise the leadership and activists which fill the Hamas movement's ranks. Whatever differences one might have with the movement, one must realize that Gaza is not Hamas; and that the Gaza Strip is not owned by the Hamas movement, and its people are not Hamas soldiers, yet it is being punished in place of the movement.

»

Two Years Later: Two Wars and One Ideology
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Elias Harfoush - (Opinion) January 5, 2009 - 1:00am

The confrontation between the Israeli army and the Hamas movement following the ground invasion of Gaza is similar in many aspects to the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006.

»

Arab and International Efforts Needed to Save Israel and Hamas from Their Predicament
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) January 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel and Hamas have set traps for themselves and for each other; these traps will bring about dangerous repercussions as the escalation in Gaza lacks a clear-cut objective and an exit strategy. Both sides need help to escape this predicament. Otherwise, their recklessness will entail further loss of innocent lives as well as loose wars and catastrophic measures that must be prohibited. Neither Hamas nor Israel is going to win this war. Gaza's women and children and the innocent civilians on both sides will be the sole losers.

»

Israel's Insane War in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) January 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel's war in Gaza is an act of political insanity. It is the product of a deeply disturbed society, able neither to curb its military arrogance nor calm its profound paranoia. The consequences are likely to be painful for Israel's long-term prospects. By radicalising the Palestinians, and by arousing great anger in the Arab and Muslim world, this savage war rules out the possibility of Israel's peaceful integration in the region for the foreseeable future. That may even be its cynical aim, since Israel wants dominance, not peaceful coexistence.

»

Clinton, Familiar With Pitfalls of Mideast Politics, May Face Early Test in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Lander - (Opinion) January 2, 2009 - 1:00am

When Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for a New York Senate seat nine years ago, she labored to persuade skeptical Jewish voters of her support for Israel, after an incident in which she stood by as the wife of Yasir Arafat delivered an inflammatory attack on Israeli policies.

»

Humanity’s stake in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Vaclav Havel, Hans Kung, Mike Moore, Yohei Sasakawa, Karel Schwarzenberg, El Hassan bin Talal, Desmond Tutu - (Opinion) January 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Wasted time is always to be regretted. But in the Middle East, wasting time is also dangerous. Another year has now passed with little progress in bridging the divide between Palestinians and Israelis. The current air strikes on Gaza, and continuing rocket attacks on Ashkelon, Sderot and other towns in southern Israel, only prove how dire the situation is becoming.

»


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