Robert Mackey assess the challenge posed by established Israeli settlements to the creation of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank (1), while Haaretz reports that settlement expansion has recently seen its most acceleration in five years (13). Treasury Department official Michael Rosen announces that the federal government may revise its voluntary guidelines for donating overseas, and suggests American Charities for Palestine as an alternative model (2). The Obama administration reiterates its determination for peace based on two states at the annual AIPAC conference (3), while German chancellor Angela Merkel states that there is no alternative to an agreement between two states (7). Arab leaders meet in Cairo to formulate a unified approach to the Mideast peace process (4).

Nation building for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


Not everything is bad. True: The situation in Pakistan is deteriorating from day to day. True: Iran is continuing to gallop toward nuclearization. True: The new U.S. administration has yet to find its strategic path. True: Benjamin Netanyahu is still holed up in a bunker, outside of which bizarre coalition partners wait in ambush. But there is good news in the diplomatic world surrounding Israel.


U.S.: We are committed to Syrian-Israeli peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid, Yoav Stern - May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


The United States told Syria on Thursday it was committed to seeking a peace deal between the Syrian government and Israel, a main objective for Damascus in its rapprochement with Washington. "We conveyed...President Obama's sincere commitment to pursue Arab-Israeli peace on all tracks, including on the Syrian-Israeli track," senior State Department official Jeffrey Feltman said after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in the Syrian capital.


Border Guard kills Palestinian near Tomb of Patriarchs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Erfat Weiss - May 6, 2009 - 12:00am


Border Guard officers stationed at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron shot and killed a Palestinian man who approached a guard post and disobeyed several orders to halt. One officer was lightly wounded in the incident. The officers became wary of the Palestinian when he approached their post and refused to undergo a search. He then fled towards a guard post located nearby, where other officers were standing watch.


Settlement expansion seeing biggest boost since 2003
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


West Bank construction has been accelerating for several months, putting Israel on a collision course with a U.S. administration taking a hard line on settlement expansion. A new outpost, new roads, and other building projects have raced ahead in and around the settlements, often without legal permits, producing the biggest construction drive since 2003, according to Dror Etkes of the Israeli advocacy group Yesh Din. That group monitors construction in the West Bank.


Gaza: Why probe is neccessary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


The world has looked on aghast as the Israelis have sowed a deadly harvest of cluster bombs in south Lebanon and bombarded the helpless penned-in citizens of the Gaza ghetto with rockets and heavy ordnance including deadly white phosphorus shells. Had the Serbs or the Iranians launched such attacks, Washington would have howled with rage. But for too long successive American administrations have stayed hypocritically silent while their Israeli ally has flouted the rules of war and common humanity and behaved like a terror state.


Israel has become its own worst enemy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


The UN Security Council was handed a report on Tuesday by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon about Israel’s campaign in Gaza and its targeting of UN facilities earlier this year. The report’s conclusions are damning: Israel’s actions “breached the inviolability of United Nations premises” and amounted in many cases to “recklessness”. As usual, Israel retorted that the report was patently biased. In this matter, Israel is right: there are no two sides to the truth, and as UN investigators found out, the blame for disproportionate and thoughtless violence lies squarely with Israel.


Arab parties angry over citizenship decision
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


Legislators from Israeli Palestinian parties yesterday blasted as racist and dangerous a plan by the country’s right-wing interior minister to rescind the citizenships of four Palestinians suspected of involvement in anti-Israel activities. Eli Yishai, the interior minister, announced on Tuesday that he will begin the process of revoking the citizenship of the four men, claiming they left Israel over three decades ago for countries such as Lebanon, considered by Israel to be enemy territory, and alleging they had been involved in acts that undermined Israel’s security.


Israel's human rights abuses out in open
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) May 7, 2009 - 12:00am


The revelation that harsh interrogation methods, including torture, were used against detainees during the US-led war in Iraq by the George W. Bush administration, continues to reverberate here and overseas. The actions, sanctioned in legal memorandums, were recently released by US President Barack Obama. The repercussions of Obama's actions, however, are being felt by key US government officials, especially those within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as within several other countries including Great Britain and Israel.


Khalid Mishal and Mama America
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) May 6, 2009 - 12:00am


In an interview with the New York Times that lasted a total of 5 hours and was conducted over a two-day period, Hamas chief Khalid Mishal said "In order to understand Hamas you must listen to its point of view directly, Hamas is pleased whenever people want to hear directly from its leadership, rather than hearing about the movement from others" What is the meaning of these words?



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