U.S.-Arab Relations | The American Task Force on Palestine

EU rejects Palestinian bid for unilateral declaration of state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The European Union has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request to back its plan for gaining recognition as an independent state at the United Nations Security Council without Israeli consent. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU presidency, explained that the EU does not believe conditions are ripe yet for such a move. The EU is not on the Security Council, but EU members France and Britain are permanent council members that wield veto power.

Palestinian threat to declare statehood seeks to put onus on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Frustrated by a lack of progress toward statehood, the Palestinians are considering taking their case to the United Nations. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had hopes a more Muslim-friendly U.S. administration would press Israel into a peace deal on terms favorable to the Palestinians. When this failed to materialize, Abbas announced plans to resign. Now he is following up with a threat to go to the U.N. Security Council to ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

Peace can be made despite Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

It might be tempting to dismiss as diplomatic bluster the statement by Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinians, that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation would declare statehood unilaterally in the near future. Certainly it would not be a novel analysis given how rife the peace process is with grandstanding and brinkmanship on both sides. The PLO tried it twice before under Yasser Arafat, who backed down both times in return for concessions and reassurances. But this time is different.

Washington Committed to Middle East Peace Process- US Officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mina Al-Oraibi - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Many questions are being asked whether it is possible to resume peace negotiations in the Middle East that can achieve real and concrete results after the peace process has been faltering over the past few months. A total of 10 months have passed since US President Barack Obama announced his determination to bring peace to the Middle East on his first day in the White House. However, there have been no indications that such a peace would be reached.

Between a rock and a hard place
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

It is almost impossible to adequately convey the present degree of Palestinian despair but the recent announcement that President Mahmoud Abbas might resign and that the rest of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership may follow – in effect dissolving the PA – should provide some indication.This seems to many to be the only real remaining weapon the Palestinian leadership has, albeit something of a doomsday scenario. Abbas and the others clearly feel all their other options have been systematically foreclosed.

A Mideast Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

I’ve grown so pessimistic about Israel-Palestine that I find myself agreeing with Israel’s hard-line foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman: “Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict simply doesn’t understand the situation and spreads delusions.” That’s the lesson of early Obama. The president tried to rekindle peace talks by confronting Israel on settlements, coaxing Palestinians to resume negotiations, and reaching out to the Muslim world. The effort has failed.

The US and peace: more than a dance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

There’s an increasing sentiment in the US, particularly among the liberal Left, that America has done all it can in the Middle East. If the Israelis and Palestinians don’t want peace, then why should America make them? Even more pernicious is the notion that withdrawing from the debate will allow the two sides to grow up and solve problems like adults. This is false. If the US had entered the process by choice, then it had no business being involved in the first place; but that is not the case.

Perfect Storm: Wide Gaps, Weak Leaders, Elusive Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Aaron David Miller - (Analysis) November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s threat to withdraw from Palestinian Authority politics — an act that could have grave consequences should he make good on it — is only the tip of a large iceberg threatening to sink the very structure of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Obama must get tough
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Like most of his predecessors, US President Barack Obama has failed to come up with a logical approach to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, now in its 62nd year. Many optimists on both sides of the great divide had believed that he would this month take his first, tough step towards bringing the two sides to agree on the outlines of a settlement.

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