Aid without peace ‘insufficient’: Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
March 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told international donors gathered in Egypt on Monday that financial aid without an end to the conflict with Israel would be 'insufficient.' "We are all conscious that the reconstruction and development efforts will remain insufficient, powerless and threatened in the absence of a political settlement," Abbas said at the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh.

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Clinton's Mideast mission
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
March 2, 2009 - 1:00am

AS HILLARY CLINTON begins her first diplomatic visit to the Middle East today in Egypt, the obstacles to peace in the region are daunting. But Palestinians and Israelis need a two-state peace agreement more desperately than ever. And America's need to forge such a peace is more acute than ever. If Clinton and the Obama administration's special envoy for the Mideast, George Mitchell, are to succeed at peacemaking, they will have to be patient but tough, aware of complexity but willing to cut through the excuses and sophistry of leaders in both camps.

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Hope for Palestinian state recedes as both sides edge towards other options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Hider - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Hillary Clinton starts her first tour of the Middle East as Secretary of State today with a mandate to reinvigorate collapsed peace talks. She will find, however, that support for a two-state solution – the central plank in US-led efforts to tackle the crisis for almost two decades – is at a record low. Not only is it waning on the Israeli side, which is under the new leadership of the right-wing hawk Binyamin Netanyahu, but it is also collapsing among Palestinians, who increasingly view the Oslo peace process, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) that was formed under it, as dead.

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Israel Plans to Double Size of Settlements in Palestinian Territory
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times
by Sana Abdallah - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am

One day before Hillary Clinton begins her maiden visit to Israel and the West Bank as the U.S. secretary of state, an Israeli peace group announced more settlement expansion plans on Palestinian territories, posing an even tougher challenge to the new American administration's peace endeavors. In a report released on Monday, Peace Now said the Israeli authorities have plans for 73,302 new housing units in Jewish settlements, which would double the number of settlers in the occupied territory and blow the chances for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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Israel's Netanyahu Meets With Envoy Mitchell
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Aron Heller - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel's next leader sat face-to-face Thursday with a man whose vision of Israeli-Palestinian relations is radically different from his own: the Obama administration's new Middle East envoy. Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu says negotiations on Palestinian statehood are pointless. But envoy George J. Mitchell wants Israel to resume negotiations to establish a Palestinian state. This is Mitchell's second Middle East visit since President Obama took office last month. Next week, Hillary Rodham Clinton will make her first trip to the region as secretary of state.

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‘Israel misses the point’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu is not giving up, still hoping that he can entice Tzipi Livni and even Ehud Barak with key portfolios, should they accept to join his projected coalition government, or else, he must know fully well that his days as head of an Israeli government of extreme rightists will be numbered. Hence, the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations will remain at a standstill.

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Israel’s Settlement Expansion Plans Seriously Threaten All Hopes for Peace
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Feb. 27 – The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today warned that a series of planned major expansions in Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank constitute an exceptionally dangerous threat to the prospects of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.


Israel’s Settlement Expansion Plans Seriously Threaten All Hopes for Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ATFP
February 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Feb. 27 – The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today warned that a series of planned major expansions in Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank constitute an exceptionally dangerous threat to the prospects of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Trade-off that ‘could be a positive development’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) February 26, 2009 - 1:00am

The Obama administration seems to be following a two-track policy on this region, starting with Syria and the Palestinians. On the declaratory track, US spokesmen and officials reiterate the timeworn mantras adopted by the Bush administration, conditioning renewal of relations on “a change in behaviour” in Damascus. Senator Benjamin Cardin, who took part in a five-member congressional delegation that visited the Syrian capital, stated, arrogantly: “We came here to see if Syria is ready to move forward and we will be watching its actions over the next weeks and months.”

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U.S. Helps Palestinians Build Force for Security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - February 26, 2009 - 1:00am

They rappel down a 65-foot tower, navigate obstacle courses, shoot in the firing range and sleep in pristine barracks. They eat in an air-conditioned mess where brushed aluminum glints from every kitchen surface. Rows of Land Rovers stand by. The entrance reads “The Presidential Guard, Always in Front: Strength, Sacrifice, Redemption.”

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