Peace Negotiations | The American Task Force on Palestine

Pursuit of the holy land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by James Carroll - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

‘LAND For peace’’ was the early mantra of the Mideast peace process, and it was realized in Israel’s treaties with Egypt and Jordan. The formula has proven to be more problematic between Israel and Palestine because the disputed territory defines core identities of both peoples. Having accepted the principle, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a fellow Jew for whom any surrender of Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) violated the sacred trust given by God.

US presses Abbas to resume direct peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

A senior U.S. envoy warned the Palestinian president that he must move quickly to direct talks with Israel if he wants President Barack Obama's help in setting up a Palestinian state, according to an internal Palestinian document obtained by The Associated Press on Monday. The 36-page memo, sent to senior Palestinian officials, advised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resist growing U.S. pressure, warning that rescinding his conditions for face-to-face negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be "political suicide."

Abbas: Israel renewing cycle of violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Israel’s continued settlement building on what would become a future Palestinian state was impeding a two-state solution and renewing the cycle of violence. In his speech delivered at the summit of the African Union in Kampala, Abbas said Palestinians were clinging to peace “to build a better future for our coming generations and all peoples of the region,” the PA news agency Wafa reported.

Abbas: 'Entire world' wants direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he was under pressure from the international community to begin direct negotiations with Israel. He told the PA’s Voice of Palestine radio station that he would enter direct talks only if progress was first achieved on the future borders and security of a Palestinian state. Without “clear and specific references,” the negotiations would collapse from the beginning, Abbas said.

Palestinian official hints at accepting direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 25, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official on Sunday hinted at accepting U.S. demands to start direct peace talks with Israel. "We don't rule out any possibility or form of negotiations," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). However, Abed Rabbo stressed that Washington should present guarantees that the direct discussions would lead to an agreement. "These negotiations should not be taking place in vicious circle." Israel and the Palestinians started four-month indirect negotiations in May.

Rosemary's baby - Uri Avnery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Since I witnessed the rise of the Nazis during my childhood in Germany, my nose always tickles when it smells something fascist, even when the odor is still faint. When the debate about the “one-state solution” began, my nose tickled. Have you gone mad, I told my nose, this time you are dead wrong. This is a plan of the left. It is being put forward by leftists of undoubted credentials, the greatest idealists in Israel and abroad, even certified Marxists. But my nose insisted. It continued to tickle. Now it appears that the nose was right, after all.

U.S. upgrades diplomatic ties with Palestinians in bid to woo Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - July 23, 2010 - 12:00am

The U.S. announced this week that it would upgrade its diplomatic relations with the PA by granting its mission in Washington - which is actually a PLO mission - the same status it enjoys in most European countries: that of a PLO "general delegation." This is still a lower status than an embassy - a status the PA mission does have in many African and Asian countries, as well as some European and South American states. But it is a major step above what the PA has had until now.

In Order Not to be Fooled by Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Osman Mirghani - (Opinion) July 23, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli writer Gideon Levy described Benjamin Netanyahu as a huckster and con-artist in his article [Tricky Bibi] that was published in the Haaretz newspaper on 15 July 2010. Why?

Egypt's Mubarak says to continue efforts for Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Egypt seeks to bring about peace and achieve stability in the Middle East region without any hidden agendas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday. Egypt will continue its efforts for fair peace, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, said the president in his speech on the eve of the 58th anniversary of the country's July revolution. The president said Egypt has sacrificed a lot for the Palestinian cause.

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