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

Encountering Peace: I should be a millionaire!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) August 1, 2011 - 12:00am

‘The people demand social justice” – I can hear the rhythm of the chant of the masses along the route from the tent encampment on King George Street in Jerusalem to the prime minister’s house. The beat, the words – “the people demand….” so reminiscent of the sounds of Tahrir square in Cairo or Tunis a few months before. The Arab spring has arrived in Israel – unbelievable!

Peres holds secret talks with Palestinians in bid to restart negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - July 29, 2011 - 12:00am

President Shimon Peres has been holding intensive talks with Ramallah in an effort to resume negotiations and head off a unilateral Palestinian statehood bid at the UN in September. The meetings are being held in complete coordination with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

UN: Palestinians ready for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 27, 2011 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The Palestinian Authority is ready to govern a nation but deadlock with Israel has made a two-state solution far from certain, the UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process said Tuesday. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold for 10 months. They broke down shortly after Washington relaunched the first direct negotiations between the two sides for nearly two years.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Abbas not deterred by U.S. threats regarding Palestinian state recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, does not seem deterred by U.S. threats of financial cuts or political castigation if he proceeds with plans to ask the U.N. for recognition of a Palestinian state in September. Abbas Wednesday summoned his Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council, a 120-strong legislative body in exile, to ask its blessings for his plans.

Debating an extremist Israeli settler
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) July 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Last week I had a fascinating debate with David Ha’ivri, an extremist Israeli settler—an event loosely connected to a conference of the pro-settler Christians United for Israel organization.

Security Council Debate Offers Preview of Palestinian Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil MacFarquhar - July 26, 2011 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS — A preview of the expected showdown over whether to admit a Palestinian state as a full member of the United Nations when world leaders gather here in September played out in the Security Council on Tuesday. Supporters evoked the Arab Spring, in which millions of people across the Middle East sought freedom from oppression, as a fitting backdrop for an endorsement of the Palestinian people’s release from 44 years of Israeli occupation.

Force and anti-force in the United Nations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gidi Grinstein - (Opinion) July 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel and the Palestinians may be advancing toward understandings with regard to recognition of Palestinian statehood in 2011. While it seems that both parties are determinedly heading toward confrontation, this outcome is made possible by the powerful interests that are at stake.

EU 'disappointed' in settlement construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The European Union on Tuesday expressed "great disappointment" in a tender issued by the Construction and Housing Ministry this week for the construction of 6,900 housing units, including some 300 units in the settlements of Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron. Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for the EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, said that such acts go against the international community's ongoing efforts to form a peaceful solution which will maintain Israel's safety and the Palestinians' right for an independent state.

Standing up to the pro-Israel establishment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com
by Teresa Cotsirilos - (Interview) July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

In the two years since Jeremy Ben-Ami founded J Street, which bills itself as a "pro-peace, pro-Israel" voice for a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, his organization has been attacked as "morally deficient" and "appallingly naive" by critics in the American Jewish community and on the right end of the political spectrum. And in Israel, members of the Knesset have even formed a committee to determine whether J Street is "anti-Israel" and should be publicly condemned.

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