May 29th

Misery Hangs Over Gaza Despite Pledges of Help ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am Dozens of families still live in tents amid collapsed buildings and rusting pipes. With construction materials barred, a few are building mud-brick homes. Everything but food and medicine has to be smuggled through desert tunnels from Egypt. Among the items that people seek is an addictive pain reliever used to fight depression. » Read more

Misery Hangs Over Gaza Despite Pledges of Help ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am Dozens of families still live in tents amid collapsed buildings and rusting pipes. With construction materials barred, a few are building mud-brick homes. Everything but food and medicine has to be smuggled through desert tunnels from Egypt. Among the items that people seek is an addictive pain reliever used to fight depression. » Read more

Obama Calls for Swift Move Toward Mideast Peace Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper - May 29, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama called on Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday to move swiftly toward peace talks, as his administration embarked on its first public dispute with Israel. Speaking to reporters at the White House after talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Mr. Obama said that the absence of peace between Israelis and Palestinians was clogging up other critical issues in the Middle East. » Read more

Obama Pushes Israel On Settlement Issue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - May 29, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama yesterday continued to press his administration's tough stance on Jewish settlements in the West Bank, telling reporters after a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that Israel must halt all settlement activity to build momentum for peace. » Read more

U.S.-Israel rift becomes an unusually public one ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter - May 29, 2009 - 12:00am Reporting from Jerusalem and Washington Richard Boudreaux -- President Obama and top Israeli officials staked out sharply opposing positions over the explosive issue of Jewish settlements Thursday, propelling a rare dispute between the two close allies into full public view just days before the U.S. leader is due to deliver a long-awaited address in Egypt to the world's Muslims. » Read more

Questions of Legitimacy Loom Over Abbas In Meeting with Obama Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In PBS - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday to discuss divisions among the Palestinian people and the ongoing controversy over Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Two Mideast analysts mull the outcome of the meeting. » Read more

Netanyahu: "What the hell do they want from me?" Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Foreign Policy - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am » Read more

Obama tells Israel to halt expansion Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Boston Globe - May 29, 2009 - 12:00am WASHINGTON - President Obama received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House yesterday with an invaluable welcoming gift: a toughly worded, categorical US demand for Israel to stop expanding settlements in the West Bank. But hours before the two men met, the Israeli government flatly rejected the demand. Spokesman Mark Regev said that "normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue," including some construction. » Read more

May 28th

ATFP Welcomes President Obama’s Strong Support for Palestinian Statehood, Israeli Settlement Freeze Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - May 29, 2009 - 12:00am Washington, DC, May 28 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today welcomed President Barack Obama’s statements of strong support for Middle East peace based on the creation of a Palestinian state to live alongside Israel and for a complete freeze to all Israeli settlement activity. President Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met privately at the White House this afternoon before being joined by their delegations, and spoke briefly with reporters afterwards. Read more

ACP Begins Delivery of $200,000 Worth of Laptop Computers to Palestinian Schools Press Release - Contact Information: Mohammed Maraqa - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am Washington, DC, May 28 – The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is proud to announce that its sister organization, American Charities for Palestine (ACP), has initiated the delivery of laptop computers to schools in Palestine. This project has been coordinated with One Laptop Per Child, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Palestinian Ministry of Education. Read more