October 22nd

Clinton Speaks Warmly of Palestinian Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Tablet Magazine
by Allison Hoffman - October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

If there is one Palestinian outreach event on the Washington calendar that the city’s establishment is likely to attend, a senior Hill staffer told me earlier this week, it’s the annual gala of the American Task Force on Palestine, a seven-year-old group that advocates for a two-state solution.

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Clinton: We promise not to 'turn our backs' on Palestinians or Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Paul Rogin - October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

In a rousing 30-minute speech Wednesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implored attendees at the annual gala for the American Task Force on Palestine not to give up on the struggling Middle East peace process, despite past, current, and future obstacles.

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The Palestinians' Ploy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Paul Pillar - (Blog) October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Whatever is your opinion about the issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians, you have to give the Palestinians credit for having hit upon a clever idea to inject into the current impasse. That idea, currently a subject of discussion among Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, is to appeal to international bodies for some kind of affirmation of Palestine as a state on land Israel conquered in the 1967 war.

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Clinton calls for release of Gilad Shalit—Palestinian American audience applauds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - (Blog) October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

This moment, at about 23 minutes into the video* was not an extraordinary one, to those familiar with the American Task Force on Palestine. It's a group that works closely with the Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian Authority, that rejects Hamas, that engages Jewish groups that also embrace two states. Here it is from the transcript of the secretary of state's remarks to the group's dinner:

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October 21st

At ATFP Gala, Sec. Clinton Vows Administration “Will Not Turn Our Backs” on Palestinians, Israelis
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Washington DC, October 21 -- “I promise you this: The Obama administration will not turn our backs on the Palestinian people or the people of Israel,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience of over 700 in a major policy address last night. She spoke at the Fifth Annual Gala of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) in Washington DC. Expressing the administration's determination to push forward with the peace process, she said, “we will continue working every day to achieve the just, lasting and comprehensive peace that has been a cornerstone of U.S.


Remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at last night's Fifth Annual ATFP Gala are covered by numerous publications. Tom Friedman says Israel really is behaving like a spoiled child. Palestinians mull seeking international recognition. The drive to free convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard revs up. PM Netanyahu insists settlements are not an obstacle to peace. Settlers torch and vandalize a school near Nablus. Rachel Corrie's parents confront the bulldozer driver at a civil trial in Israel. A blast at a Hamas compound in Gaza injures children. Israelis mark 15 years since the assassination of PM Rabin. Settlers are working on 550 new homes in the West Bank. Avi Issacharoff says settlements are incompatible with peace. Rappers face tough times in Gaza. Palestinian citizens of Israel feel increasingly alienated.

Israeli-Arabs fear for their future
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Like other Arab citizens of Israel, Leyla Ahmoud is anxious about her future. A young mother of two girls with another on the way, Ahmoud says recent moves by the Israeli government are making it increasingly obvious that the Arabs are not welcome in their own country. "I feel like my life is not in my hands," said 24-year-old Ahmoud, who lives in Umm al-Fahm, a mountain-ridge town of some 43,000 inhabitants in northern Israel. "The government decides how I live and where I live. We exist in fear, from one day to the next."

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Last rapper in Gaza struggles to make voice heard
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Mothafar Assar's spell in the limelight lasted only 30 minutes before the Hamas security forces came to break up his inaugural gig. A crowd of 450 people had crammed into the hotel venue for Gaza's first rap party, scheduled to last for three hours. As the audience left, the police confiscated video cameras, returning them later with the subversive images of Assar's Street Band Rappers removed.

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Clinton: Talks only way forward
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Israel and the Palestinians on Wednesday there was no "magic formula" to break an impasse over peace talks, but said hard work could still yield a deal. Clinton, speaking to a Palestinian advocacy group that supports a peaceful end to the conflict, said both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remained committed to a two-state solution despite a standoff that threatens to torpedo the US-brokered peace talks less than two months after they were launched.

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Clinton: Talks the only way to move forward toward peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said that a deal that would save peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians could still be worked out, however there exists no "magic formula" for breaking the impasse in negotiations, Reuters reported. Clinton, speaking at a banquet hosted by the American Task Force on Palestine, said that both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were still committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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