Peace Negotiations | The American Task Force on Palestine

AP Interview: Palestinian doubts 2-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dan Perry - (Analysis) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am

ABU DIS, West Bank — With gloom deepening over prospects for peace, a leading Palestinian is suggesting they might drop the "two-state solution" that has underpinned two decades of negotiations, aiming for Israel and a Palestinian state next to each other. Instead, Palestinians might seek a multi-ethnic state covering all of historic Palestine — including today's Israel, said former Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in an interview at his office in this West Bank town.

The sunshine over the horizon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am

The unilateral Egyptian decision to cancel the gas deal with Israel is another sad benchmark in the deterioration of relations between Israel and its neighbors. This cancelation is a clear violation of the agreement between the two countries, which beyond its economic importance to both sides is a blow to status of the peace between Israel and Egypt.

Game changer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not intend to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, he has, at long last, admitted that the body, created under the flawed and defunct 1993 Oslo accords, has no authority. Abbas rightly blamed Israel for the failure of the “Oslo process” and said Israel stripped the Palestinian Authority of any “meaningful jurisdiction in the political, economic, territorial and security spheres”.

Palestinians Restate Demands to Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday, reiterating that for peace talks to resume, Israel must stop settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and accept the 1967 borders as a basis for a two-state solution.

Palestinians Deliver Letter from Abbas to Israel’s Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karin Brulliard - April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A much-anticipated letter written by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was delivered here Tuesday, but both sides expressed little hope that it would resuscitate peace talks that have been stalled since 2010. The contents of the letter were not made public, but drafts had been widely circulated. Palestinian leaders had depicted it as a salvo of frustration from a leader who believes that Israeli actions have caused the Palestinian Authority to lose its clout.

Analysis: Diplomatic theater, not diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday for the first time ever, diplomatic theater – rather than true diplomacy – will be on display. True diplomacy would be if PA President Mahmoud Abbas would meet Netanyahu himself and give him a letter stating the Palestinian negotiating positions.

Of Herrings and Elephants: Benny Morris and "Palestinian Rejectionism"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Daniel Levy - (Blog) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

In his recent column for Open Zion, Benny Morris predicts that nothing will come of next week’s planned meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Palestinian who goes by the same title, Salam Fayyad. It is a safe prediction and one with which I fully agree. Morris however, uses his column to suggest that it is a prediction that can hold for any negotiation with any Palestinian, at any time, due to what he describes as a “deep, basic Palestinian rejectionism.” At the same time, settlements are belittled (they can be “finessed” according to Morris).

Netanyahu’s offer for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Musa Keilani - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be drafting a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, detailing his offer of renewed peace negotiations in response to a Palestinian statement on their stand. Netanyahu’s letter, according to officials quoted in the Israeli news media, will contain nothing new except that it will not include a demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Netanyahu will restate his demand that Israel maintain control over the Jordan Valley and that any future Palestinian state be demilitarised, according to the reports.

The Peace Process Stuck in a Rut of Malaise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - April 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, the UN, the EU and Russia - met Wednesday on the sidelines of the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Washington. But the Quartet's first high-level meeting since December passed almost without notice in the US. Neither The Washington Post nor The New York Times had a story about it in yesterday's editions. In part, say observers, the lack of interest is due to other, more pressing issues. The violence in Syria dominates the attention of the foreign-policy circuit in Washington, where Iran's nuclear programme is also a perennial concern.

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