January 25th

Encountering Peace: What does Netanyahu want?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am


Understanding what has been leaked, the PM should move forward with current Palestinian leadership as soon as possible.


News Analysis: Turkey-Israel relations to remain strained after Israeli flotilla report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am


After the Israeli Turkel Commission cleared the Israeli soldiers of wrongdoings during last year's deadly raid on a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza, the relations between Turkey and Israel are expected to remain strained. The Commission, appointed by the Israeli government and headed by a retired supreme court judge to investigate the Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in Mediterranean last year which killed nine Turkish citizens, reported its finding that the soldiers acted in accordance with international law.


No Partial Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Editorial) January 23, 2011 - 1:00am


The two-state solution remains viable. That is the message sent out this weekend by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Nodding to Palestinian demands to use the pre-1967 lines as a basis while at the same time ensuring that a strong majority of the 327,000 Jewish settlers presently living in Judea and Samaria would stay put, David Makovsky, a former Jerusalem Post editor and senior fellow at the institute, presented options for resolving the territorial aspects of a two-state scenario, complete with maps and statistical data.


Defiant Abbas says he's on 'right path'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - January 25, 2011 - 1:00am


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned to a hero's welcome in the West Bank on Tuesday, making his first public appearance at home since Al-Jazeera published embarrassing documents showing him making broad concessions to Israel in peace talks.


Peru recognizes 'free and sovereign' Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 25, 2011 - 1:00am


Peru recognized a "free and sovereign" Palestinian state Monday, joining a wave of Latin American countries. "Today the government communicated to the ambassador of Palestine in Lima recognition of the Palestinian state as free and sovereign," said Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Belaunde. The Peruvian foreign minister contacted the Palestinian ambassador to Peru, Walid Abdul-Rahim, to inform him that his country decided to recognize a Palestinian state.


The Palestine papers help Abbas in the diplomatic jiujitsu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Aluf Benn - January 25, 2011 - 1:00am


The Palestine papers reveal that Israel has – or had – a partner for a negotiated two-state solution. They reveal that our previous government, led by Ehud Olmert as prime minister and Tzipi Livni as foreign minister, discussed a detailed partition plan involving serious give and take with its Palestinian interlocutors. Alas, the Palestine papers also reveal the lack of political will to conclude the deal, shown by the wide gaps over substantive positions, and both sides' leaning towards fruitless debating, rather than seeking a compromise.


Palestine Papers backlash? Protesters rally for Mahmoud Abbas at Al Jazeera office
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ruth Sherlock - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am


Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Al Jazeera television station in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday afternoon, infuriated over the leak of confidential documents that reveal Palestinian negotiators offered Israel big concessions during peace talks over the past decade. The leak of the so-called Palestine Papers has embarrassed Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, but some 250 supporters rallied to his defense in today's demonstration.


The Palestine Papers: Despair. But we still need a deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Editorial) January 25, 2011 - 1:00am


Yesterday Yasser Abed-Rabbo and Saeb Erekat, senior PLO leaders, attacked al-Jazeera, which obtained the Palestine papers, for distortions and fraud, and questioned the political motives of its Qatari owners. A demonstration in Ramallah burned an al-Jazeera logo. This leak originated in the Palestinian Authority's own institutions, and al-Jazeera is a rarity in the Arab world. It was praised for its coverage of the invasion of Iraq by the very people who attack it today. It should be defended by all who want democracy in the Arab world.


Israel's lost weekend
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) January 24, 2011 - 1:00am


Even before last weekend, the news from the Israeli-Palestinian peace front was not good. The most recent round of talks fell apart months ago. The Palestinian Authority is weakened and unsure where to turn; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with terrorist incidents down and the economy growing, has little incentive to move forward. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ripped apart the opposition by leaving the Labor Party. Prospects for near-term solution: low to none.


WEST BANK: Leaks from peace talks don't show Palestinians making shocking concessions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am


If there’s a lesson from Sunday's leak of alleged meeting minutes from 2008 Mideast peace talks involving Palestinian, Israeli and U.S. officials and from the previous WikiLeaks dump of U.S. diplomatic cables, perhaps it's this: Governments needn't be so afraid of having their private business aired in public.



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