Will the Real Benjamin Netanyahu Please Stand Up?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

With the old peace process precariously poised between Palestinian flirtations with seeking international redress, U.S. congressional threats to funding, and Middle East Quartet incantations to resume negotiations, October promises to be just as rhetorically intense on the Israel-Palestine front as was the long-awaited September. Much depends on one's reading of Israel's man at the helm -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

»

Ex-Israeli officials: 'Price tag' attacks could start intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Following a recent increase in 'Price tag' attacks on Palestinian holy sites, former high-ranking Israeli security officials warned of the risk of a surge in violence across the region. The attack this week on a mosque in the village of Tuba-Zangariya in northern Israel, where the interior prayer hall and religious emblems were set on fire, was the most recent in a series of attacks that Jewish settlers label "Price Tag" attacks, signifying payback for any Israeli curbs on settlements in the West Bank.

»

You and I and the next Yom Kippur War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Here's a new law of nature: The further we get from the Yom Kippur War, the closer it gets to us. At the end of this week we will once again recall that war, the pages of the newspapers and the television programs will be full of stories of heroism - and the real lesson will once again be blurred beyond recognition, as always happens here.

»

No realistic chance of permanent Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Avineri - October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas once again made a common Palestinian mistake: a Palestinian leader does not have to persuade the nations of the world, but rather the Israelis. A Palestinian state will arise only if the Palestinians convince the Israelis that they are indeed ready to live in peace and mutual recognition. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was able to do so with his historic speech to the Knesset, which turned him in the blink of an eye from a bitter and cruel enemy to the most popular figure in Israel.

»

Netanyahu is 'happy' to accept peace plans, less so to seal the deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

If the government's declaration that it welcomes the Quartet's plan is really true, it is not only a political revolution the likes of which we have not seen since the signing of the Oslo Accords 18 years ago, it is also a dramatic political change unlike any other since the Likud won the 1977 elections.

»

Opposing Statehood Bid, Supporting a New Path to Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Logan Bayroff - (Opinion) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

At college campuses across the country this fall, students are lining up on one side or the other of the most current fault line in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: To support the Palestinian statehood bid, or not?

»

US says Israel, PA support new Quartet approach to talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

In an apparent effort to keep the most recent Quartet initiative alive, the US embassy circulated a statement on Tuesday giving the impression both Israel and the Palestinians have equally accepted a Quartet framework for returning to direct talks, though the Palestinians have not yet formally endorsed the idea. Under the proposal, Israel and the Palestinians are supposed to sit down for a preparatory meeting by October 23, or two weeks from Sunday.

»

Israel to demand adjustment of Quartet Mideast peace plan, official says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that he welcomed "the Quartet's call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions," the premier intends to present a list of qualifications to the Quartet's statement on a resumption of Mideast talks that in effect enfeeble that statement.

»

Encountering Peace: Yes, but!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Ah, the status quo, it’s so good, let it only last. September is gone. The UN is behind us. No tsunami, no international sanctions. In fact, Israel came out pretty good from the whole thing.

»

Israelis and Palestinians embrace only parts of peace initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem— Israelis and Palestinians are struggling to respond to the latest international peace initiative, with each side embracing parts they liked and dismissing those they didn't. More than a week after the group known as the Mideast quartet launched its effort to get the two sides back to the bargaining table, neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority has formally accepted or rejected the initiative as a whole, reflecting an apparent desire to avoid alienating the body, which is composed of the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017