Leading Palestinian and Jewish American groups announce joint internship program
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
June 30, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON: The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and Americans for Peace Now (APN) started their joint summer internship program on Thursday. ATFP is hosting an Israeli student, and APN is hosting a Palestinian student. This is the third time that ATFP and APN, a pro-Palestinian organization and a pro-Israeli organization, are cooperating on a joint internship program, making it a tradition intended to underscore that Americans who care about Middle East peace — be they Arab or Jewish — have more in common than what sets them apart.

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Egypt should now be responsible for Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

It may well turn out that one of the positive outcomes of the mass disturbances against the Mubarak government in Tahrir Square will be the change in the policy of the new government in Cairo toward the Gaza Strip.

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What does Fayyad's ultimatum mean?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Editorial) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Prime Minister in Ramallah Salam Fayyad said in Bil'in on Friday that Israel "should either give Palestinians freedom or the right to vote." Does this mean the two-state solution is history? For economic, security, and social considerations the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank alone is not possible. The West Bank has no geographic contiguity with the Gaza Strip, and the capital Jerusalem has been encircled with a 15-meter cement wall.

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Is the Arab Peace Initiative still viable?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Alon Ben-meir - (Opinion) June 22, 2011 - 12:00am

In 1973, Israel's Foreign Minister Abba Eban famously stated that “Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Today, however, this phrase is more aptly attributable to Israelis than to the Palestinians. It is clear that Israel is missing a historic opportunity now to capitalize, at least in principle, on the contents of Arab Peace Initiative (API), which offers full normalized relations with the entire Arab world in exchange for the return of the territories captured in 1967 and a negotiated two-state solution.

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Obama’s morally confused Mideast policies endanger Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Newt Gingrich - (Opinion) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel and America are at a dangerous crossroads in which the survival of Israel and the safety of the United States both hang in the balance. Year after year, the forces of terrorism become stronger, and the claims of terrorists become more acceptable to our European allies and more powerful in the United Nations. Year after year the Iranian dictatorship, with its openly stated desire to annihilate Israel and defeat the United States, moves closer to having nuclear means to do so. Year after year, Hamas grows stronger in Gaza and Hezbollah grows stronger in Lebanon.

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Netanyahu says there's no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Etgar Keret - (Opinion) June 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The flight to Rome leaves in the middle of the night. When I finish packing my small travel suitcase, my wife gives me a scrap of orange notepaper. It isn’t meant for me; it’s for the prime minister. It reads: “Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, I beg you do everything in your power to bring peace, for the sake of the future of our children and yours. Thank you, Shira.” I find this amusing, and she is offended. “What are you thinking?” I ask her. “That Bibi is like the Western Wall? That you can stick a note into a crack in him somewhere, pray a little and he’ll bring peace?”

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Under no illusions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jerzy Buzek - (Opinion) June 12, 2011 - 12:00am

I am a friend of Israel. These are not cheap words. As a Pole growing up in the shadow of Auschwitz, and as a European, I am all too aware that the fates of Europe and Israel hang together. Europeans have a special responsibility toward Israel: to remember what has gone before, and to act on these memories – to secure the right of existence for Israel at a time of tumultuous change. We take this moral duty very seriously. The European Union – whose citizens are represented in the parliament of which I am president – was created to prevent the recurrence of the nightmare of war.

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Obama’s path paves the way for a secure Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Stuart E. Eizenstat - (Opinion) June 12, 2011 - 12:00am

A strong secure Jewish state of Israel, supported by the United States as a close ally, has been a central feature of my public and private careers.

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The Language Bibi and Bam Used
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Philologos - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am

“On the Same Page?” asked a front-page caption of the June 3 edition of the Forward, beneath which were parallel excerpts from President Barack Obama’s May 19 speech on U.S. policy in the Middle East and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s May 24 Congressional address. The second pair of matching quotes had the U.S.

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The Palestinians’ trick answer to Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel staked out a new position Tuesday in Washington: “We want to resume negotiations,” said Saeb Erekat, on the basis of President Obama’s recent Middle East address.

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