The American Task Force on Palestine: Setting The Record Straight
Issue Paper by Hussein Ibish - October 15, 2007 - 12:00am

1: What ATFP does and why it does it

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Forecast Poor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) October 12, 2007 - 2:16pm

As the Annapolis meeting approaches, Palestinians grow less enthusiastic over its prospects. One can think of a number of good reasons for this pessimism, primary among them the bitter experience Palestinians have had with such summits in the past, especially when sponsored by the US. The last such meeting, lest we forget, was the Camp David summit in 2000.

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One Reason For The Absence Of Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
October 12, 2007 - 2:08pm

TWO months ago Heftsiba, an Israeli construction firm, went bust. One reason for its woes was a court order last year to freeze work on a big housing project on an Israeli settlement just inside the West Bank. The land, it turned out, had in effect been stolen from private owners in a neighbouring Palestinian village, Bilin. Yet after the bankruptcy, the same court ruled that the apartment blocks—and their prospective buyers, who had broken in and occupied them at the news of Heftsiba's impending collapse—could stay.

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Stalemate Threatens Mideast Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Bourdreaux, Paul Richter - October 12, 2007 - 2:00pm

After prodding the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table for the first time in nearly seven years, the Bush administration now confronts a stalemate that threatens to undermine the latest peace initiative and further diminish American influence in the Middle East.

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Accord Needed Before Mideast Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mark Lavie - October 12, 2007 - 1:04pm

President Bush should not convene his planned Mideast peace conference next month if Israel and the Palestinians have not achieved an agreement in advance, a Palestinian negotiator said Thursday. Israel has been pressing for a vaguely worded document that would gloss over the toughest issues still outstanding _ borders, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. Palestinians prefer a detailed preliminary agreement with a timetable for creating a Palestinian state, though it is not clear if they would refuse to agree to less.

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Olmert, Abbas Narrow Land Gap, Other Snags Remain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - October 12, 2007 - 12:58pm

The gap is narrowing between Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the amount of territory Israel would hand over to a Palestinian state, people close to the talks said a month ahead of a U.S.-sponsored conference. But Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials say sketching the boundaries of a future state may be the easy part -- real progress, they say, depends on narrowing differences over the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, on which little progress can be discerned so far after closed-door meetings.

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The International Inversion Towards The Two State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Reut Institute
October 11, 2007 - 3:06pm

The International Inversion towards the Two State Solution refers to the danger that leading actors among the international community will abandon their support for the 'Two State Solution' and instead support the 'The One State Solution' on the basis of 'one man one vote'. Definition The concept 'The International Inversion towards the Two State Solution' refers to the danger that leading actors among the international community will abandon their support for the 'Two State Solution' (or any other option establishing the principle of separation between Israel and the Palestin

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Hamas Ready For Talks With Rival
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
October 11, 2007 - 2:43pm

The Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, has said it is ready to hold reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah group of President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas leader Ismail Haniya hinted Hamas might be willing to relinquish control of Gaza, which it seized from Fatah in June, in a statement on its website. Mr Haniya said his group's control of the coastal territory was "temporary". Mr Abbas has ruled out reconciliation with Hamas until it gives up the Gaza Strip and submits to his authority.

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Abbas Lays Out Territorial Demand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Conal Urquhart - October 11, 2007 - 2:41pm

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, insisted yesterday that Israel must give up 2,400 square miles of territory under its control for a Palestinian state, as he set out his demands before a US-sponsored peace conference next month. The area is the sum of territory of the West Bank and Gaza which Israel conquered in 1967, and which the Palestine Liberation Organisation has argued should be set aside for a Palestinian state.

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A Guide To A Successful November International Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by Frederic C. Hof - (Special Report) October 11, 2007 - 2:35pm

President Bush has announced an international meeting devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be held in the fall, presumably mid-November, and likely in Washington, D.C. This is a potentially important step in moving the stalled peace process forward, especially given the recent appointment of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as the Quartet’s Middle East envoy.

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