ATFP Senior Fellow Discusses Palestine and the Art of the Possible at Monmouth University
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

A two-state negotiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is the only workable formula for peace, ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish told an audience of 50 at the ninth annual global understanding conference at Monmouth University. The address on the second day of the conference, April 6, 2010, touched on a number of themes centered around the idea of the art of the possible. Ibish explained in detail his view that alternatives to a two-state solution are all fanciful because one or more of the parties in question would simply not agree to them.


In addition to state building and diplomacy, the PA increasingly backs nonviolent protests against the occupation. David Ignatius says Pres. Obama is "seriously considering" issuing a US peace plan, and Rami Khoury says the US must clarify its position. Palestinians say US efforts to influence Israeli policy have met with a "dead end." A projectile fired by Gaza militants injures 5 Palestinians. The PA will license a third mobile provider. Israel seizes land for a checkpoint near a highway that will now be open to Palestinians. FM Lieberman warns Palestinians not to declare statehood. PM Fayyad says municipal elections will pave the way for presidential and legislative ones. Settlers push to evict more Palestinian families. Israel admits to illegally removing large amounts of money from the occupied territories. Due to a dispute with DM Barak, the IDF Chief of Staff will not be reappointed. A YNet commentary asks what Israel is doing to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and another says a deal on Jerusalem should be prioritized. David Newman says Israel should not link the restoration of the Hurva synagogue to broader ambitions in Jerusalem. Schmuley Boteach is appalled that Jewish Americans, especially in Congress, are siding with Pres. Obama. Palestinians say the recent shipment of clothes to Gaza has been ruined by storage.

The US must put bite into its position
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The open disagreement and tough words exchanged in public by the United States and Israel a few weeks ago on Washington’s demand that Israel freeze all new settlements in occupied Arab East Jerusalem has now entered Phase Two. Now, both sides are working quietly behind the scenes to harness their political resources, gauge the other side’s intentions, and prepare to continue the battle.

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Small comfort for traders as Gaza blockade loosened
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory McCarthy - April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli authorities have allowed shoes and clothes into the Gaza Strip for the first time in three years of the tight economic blockade of the Palestinian territory. But Gazan businessmen say much of the shipment is ruined and their spiralling costs will never be recovered. Ten containers were allowed into Gaza on Sunday and a further 10 today of goods have sat in storage for three years, costing their owners thousands of pounds in fees and in some cases arriving so riddled with damp that the items are unsellable.

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American Jewry’s deafening silence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Shmuley Boteach - (Opinion) April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

When it came to protecting the right of the Libyan Ambassador to the UN living immediately next door to me in Englewood, my Democratic Congressman, Steve Rothman, found his voice, issuing a three page press release about a deal he had brokered with the State Department 27 years ago for the Libyans to bizarrely remain in a New Jersey suburb.

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Barak shows who's boss
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - (Analysis) April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The timing of Defense Minister Ehud Barak's announcement on Tuesday not to extend IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi's term leaves little doubt that despite the growing threats against Israel, two of the country's main security officials do not get along. Why else would have Barak released such a statement? After all, when the government approved his appointment in 2007, Ashkenazi's term was set as four years, in contrast to his predecessor Dan Halutz, who stepped down prematurely due to the Second Lebanon War.

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Obama weighs new peace plan for the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Despite recent turbulence in U.S. relations with Israel, President Obama is "seriously considering" proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials.

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Losing legitimacy in the Jewish Quarter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Newman - (Opinion) April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The first day of Pessah is a good time to pray at the Kotel if you want to experience the festival atmosphere on the one hand, but avoid the crowds that tend to pray there on most other festivals. A late-night Seder the previous night means many regular worshippers give this particular morning a miss, and you can even find an orderly prayer group (minyan) with enough space and relative privacy to participate with appropriate contemplation.

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A capital for 2 nations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yoram Kaniuk - (Opinion) April 6, 2010 - 12:00am

At the end of the day, both the Jews and the Arabs have been fooled for years now. Jerusalem will be neither Arab nor Jewish, but rather, the city of the three major religions. It sits in the narrow margins between a populated country and the desert; between the jackals and Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers. Its light, which comes from the Dead Sea, filled it with glory even before the existence of monotheistic religions in the world. Yet its sanctity has turned it into a punching bag for thousands of years now.

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A state in progress
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moshe Elad - (Opinion) April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad said a while ago that they intend to declare Palestine’s independence at the end of 2011. In the past, such statements would anger the Americans, who would rush to reprimand the PA, noting that a Palestinian state will only be established following negotiations with Israel. Yet this time around, even if we heard a response from the White House or the State Department, it was rather meek.

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