Peace Based on Two States | The American Task Force on Palestine

Make a choice: Settlements or democracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tal Harris - (Opinion) June 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The events surrounding last week’s Knesset vote on the illegal Ulpana outpost seemed like a vindication of Israeli democracy for many of its citizens. The Supreme Court ruling to evacuate 30 families living on Palestinian land was upheld, as was the notion that Israel’s democracy and the rule of law can exist side by side with its expanding presence in the West Bank. This is fiction.

Israel Must Move Toward a Two-State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by John Lyndon - (Blog) June 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The events surrounding last week's Knesset vote on the illegal Ulpana outpost seemed like a vindication of Israeli democracy for many of its citizens. The Supreme Court ruling to evacuate 30 families living on Palestinian land was upheld, as was the notion that Israel's democracy and the rule of law can exist side by side with its expanding presence in the West Bank. This is a fiction.

To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Daily Star (Opinion) - June 13, 2012 - 12:00am

I do not need anyone to teach me about the Palestinian Nakba. It is the defining moment of my existence. During the 1948 war, my family had fled our home in Talpiot in southeast Jerusalem and taken shelter in a monastery. We quickly gathered some possessions and climbed down and up the mountain to Bethany, and then to Jericho. We eventually resettled as refugees in East Jerusalem.Because I was a graduating medical student at the American University of Beirut during the war of 1967, I became a double-refugee.

Palestinian inhibition in the walled city of Bethlehem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Leila Sansour - (Opinion) June 12, 2012 - 12:00am

It is 45 years since Israel invaded the West Bank, including my hometown of Bethlehem; practically the whole of my lifetime. I have not known my city under any state except Israeli occupation. A year ago, looking at a photo album of an old friend and neighbor, I became acutely aware of how alien his experience of Middle Eastern geography was to me. In the mid-Fifties, he would spend Saturday nights jitterbugging at the Everest, a restaurant coolly positioned on top of the highest hill in Bethlehem, and, at dawn, would drive to Beirut to continue the party.

An Emerging One-State Israel-Palestine Reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Journal
by John Rosove - (Opinion) June 11, 2012 - 12:00am

A resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not look promising, though it is still possible. The window for a two-state solution is rapidly closing, and conversation is shifting to consider the meaning of an emerging one-state reality. Though polls show that both Israelis and Palestinians still favor a two-state solution, facts on the ground and politics are allowing the status-quo to take root, and the status-quo supports a one-state reality. This will be good for no one!

The Netanyahu government and the Arab stereotype
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Blog) June 6, 2012 - 12:00am

It used to be an old Jewish habit to try to understand our surroundings. One reason was curiosity; the other was to figure out whether current events are good for the Jews or not – because this allowed Jews to survive under often very difficult circumstances. The first motivation is certainly laudable; the second reflects good old prudence.

Abbas to Israelis: Don't turn your backs on peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - June 6, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday called on Israel “not to turn [its] back to the prospects of peace” and cautioned that the chances to achieve peace may not remain for too long.

Learning from the Nakba
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) June 5, 2012 - 12:00am

I do not need anyone to teach me about the Palestinian Nakba. It is the defining moment of my existence. During the war in 1948, my family had already fled our home in Talpiot in southeast Jerusalem and taken shelter in a monastery. We quickly gathered some possessions and climbed down and up the mountain to Bethany, and then to Jericho.

UN envoy warns of 'one-state reality'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 29, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process warned a session of the UN Security Council on Tuesday of the continuing diplomatic impasse between Israel and the PLO. Robert Serry told the council “if the parties do not grasp the current opportunity, they should realize the implication is not merely slowing progress toward a two-state solution.

People Power for Peace
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Huffington Post (Blog) - May 25, 2012 - 12:00am

June 5, 2012 marks the 45th anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War. One of us experienced the war in Jerusalem at the age of 11, and the other in Beirut at age 4, yet it haunts us to this day. The war led to the ongoing Israeli military occupation that has come to define the conflict. It has lessened neither the fears of the triumphant Israelis, nor those of the defeated Arabs; the mindset of confrontation that produced the war still haunts the region.

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