July 16th

Israeli Troops Abduct 12 Hamas Members In West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
July 16, 2008 - 3:17pm

NABLUS, Occupied West Bank: Israeli troops abducted 12 Hamas members in a dawn raid in the Occupied West Bank on Tuesday, a Palestinian security official said, as part of a widening crackdown on the Islamist movement. The troops rolled into the northern city of Nablus in about 40 jeeps and detained 12 members of the movement, including two women and two city council members, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

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Gaza Siege Batters Women
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Mel Fryberg - July 16, 2008 - 3:16pm

GAZA CITY, Jul 16 (IPS) - The siege of Gaza has led to a sharp rise in the number of battered and sexually abused women and children in the Gaza Strip, say members of the Gaza Community Health Programme (GCHP). Manal Awad, director of the women's empowerment project of the GCHP, said reports of domestic violence had been slowly increasing since the outbreak of the second Intifadah (uprising) in 2000 but had spiked dramatically during the siege of Gaza over the last year.

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Israel Targets Hamas Philanthropy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Peter Hirschberg - July 16, 2008 - 3:15pm

JERUSALEM - Shopping malls. Schools. Medical centers. Charities. Orphanages. Soup kitchens. These are the latest targets in the campaign the Israeli military is waging against Hamas in the West Bank. Israeli military officials have identified Hamas' civilian infrastructure in the West Bank as a major source of the Islamic group's popularity, and have begun raiding and shutting down these institutions in cities like Hebron, Nablus, and Qalqilyah.

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Israel’s Delicate Prisoner Swap With Hezbollah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Der Spiegel
by Ulrike Putz And Holger Stark - July 16, 2008 - 3:14pm

The hopes had been high. Just a day earlier, Shlomo Goldwasser, the father of the Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser, had held out the possibility that his son, abducted by Hezbollah on the Lebanese border two years ago, might still be alive. But on Wednesday, when Hezbollah fulfilled its part of the much anticipated prisoner exchange involving Goldwasser and the other Israeli soldier abducted in the 2006 raid Eldad Regev, the Islamist extremists were only able to hand over two black coffins.

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The View From Club Med
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
July 16, 2008 - 3:12pm

AMID exceptionally tight security, and beneath the magnificent glass roof of the Grand Palais, the leaders of 43 European and Mediterranean countries met in Paris on Sunday July 13th to launch a new club: the Union for the Mediterranean. For President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will co-chair the new grouping, along with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the summit provided a chance to reassert French diplomacy and to grab a part in the quest for Middle East peace. With careful orchestration, both Syria's Bashar Assad and Israel's Ehud Olmert sat at the same table.

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ATFP Joins With Groups Urging Travel Rights for Palestinian Students
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - July 15, 2008 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, July 16 - The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) has joined with six other American organizations to urge Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to use her good offices to convince Israel to allow hundreds of Palestinian students in Gaza to travel to their universities around the world. The organizations sent a letter to Secretary Rice dated July 15 asking the Administration to help secure travel permission for hundreds of Palestinian students in Gaza who have been accepted in foreign universities but who are not being allowed to leave the territory by Israel.


July 15th

The Economist discusses the recent inaugural meeting of the Mediterranean Union (1). The much anticipated prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah is carried out, to mixed reactions (2) (9). The IDF continues their crackdown on Hamas-affiliated organizations in the West Bank (3) (5). Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancels his planned visit to Gaza (8) and expresses his doubts about the prospects for a peace agreement this year (7).

ATFP Offers its Vision for a future Palestinian State
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 25, 2006 - 1:00am

Washington, D.C., January 26 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) released its vision of what a future Palestinian state should look like, in a briefing at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace in Washington, D.C. today. The briefing is part of a multi-pronged media campaign that includes publishing the "Vision for Palestine" document in Arabic and English in Mideast newspapers, a full-page New York Times advertisement and related op-eds. Attending today's briefing was on overflow crowd of diplomats, U.S.


ATFP Reiterates Path of Peaceful Negotiation to Achieve Statehood
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 25, 2006 - 1:00am

Washington, D.C., January 26 -- ATFP expressed satisfaction today with the Palestinian people's successful conducting of their elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC.) An estimated 78% of registered Palestinian voters exercised their democratic right to vote yesterday in an orderly and peaceful manner.


ATFP and AAI Head Coalition of Arab American and Humanitarian Groups in Summit on Palestinian Aid
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 20, 2006 - 1:00am

Washington, D.C., February 21 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and the Arab American Institute (AAI) co-chaired a daylong summit of Arab American leaders and organizations in Washington, D.C. on Friday, February 17th to discuss the humanitarian and political consequences of suspending U.S. aid to the Palestinians and what can be done to inform the U.S. government about this issue.



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