NEWS: Pres. Obama is managing expectations on US efforts to rekindle Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Pres. Abbas welcomes the news of Obama's visit. Palestinian officials say Israel is continuing to withhold Palestinian tax revenues in contravention of long-standing agreements. Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party, declares there can never be a Palestinian state in the "God-given" Land of Israel. Stateless Palestinians are buying citizenships from struggling Caribbean islands. Israel condemns North Korea's latest nuclear test. A new poll finds most Arab citizens of Israel are opposed to compulsory national service. Mossad is reportedly still using the passports of immigrants to Israel for clandestine operations in spite of promises not to. Mystery and speculation surround reports about the death of an unidentified prisoner in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say Abbas is going to issue decrees establishing a new unity government and ordering new elections. The Palestinian Election Commission says 70,000 have registered to vote in Gaza. Hamas says it's going to demolish 75 Palestinian homes it claims have been built on public land. Palestinian MKs in Israel say they're going to raise the question of hunger striking prisoners. Palestinians complain a new exhibit of Herod the Great artifacts in Israel were mostly looted from occupied Palestinian lands. Palestinian farmers from Gaza attend an agricultural conference in southern Israel. The UN says the war in Syria has complicated what was already an emergency situation for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. COMMENTARY: David Keyes says Abbas and the PA are cracking down on dissent in an unacceptable manner. The Media Line interviews Nour Odeh, Director of the Palestinian Government Media Center. Bernard Avishai says Obama must take expectations about an intervention on peace seriously. Steven Cook argues there's almost nothing from Israel or the Palestinians for Sec. Kerry to work with. Akiva Eldar insists the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be managed, but must be resolved. Daniel Nisman says Israel's military strike against a target in Syria shows its strategic strength. Dmitry Shumsky says the Holocaust is being exploited to make the case that Israel has the right to deny self-determination to the Palestinians. Hillel Halkin says there is no reason to think Jewish settlements couldn't remain in a Palestinian state. Mira Sucharov describes what happens when a liberal Zionist watches the new film "5 Broken Cameras." Atef Abu Saif says Palestinians desperately need a new strategy and vision. Gershom Gorenberg says Judith Butler gets so many of her facts wrong it's impossible to take her intervention on Israel and the Palestinians seriously. Robert Blecher says the international community should focus on immediate needs in Jerusalem, rather than its long-term future. The Jerusalem Post thinks that in Syria "an Alawite-Shi’ite victory is not necessary [sic] the worst scenario for Israel."

Syria intervention
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
(Editorial) February 11, 2013 - 1:00am


In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the beginning of the month, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, affirmed that they both supported the call by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus, former director of the CIA, to provide lethal support to the Syrian opposition.


Jerusalem in the Here and Now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Robert Blecher - (Opinion) February 12, 2013 - 1:00am


The brouhaha over Israel's recent settlement announcements faded as suddenly as it emerged. After the United Nations General Assembly vote on November 29, 2012 that granted Palestine non-member observer status, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized an aggressive push in and around East Jerusalem.


It's How Badly She Said It
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) February 12, 2013 - 1:00am


So what did Judith Butler actually say?


Toward a New Palestinian Strategy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Atef Abu Saif - February 11, 2013 - 1:00am


The deadlock in the Palestinian political scene is not a historical coincidence or the result of a single factor, but of many.


State of the Union 2013: Obama's Israel expectations game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Josh Gerstein - February 12, 2013 - 1:00am


President Barack Obama’s domestic audience isn’t much interested in foreign policy Tuesday night - and if they are, it’s more about Iran and now North Korea than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But his global audience is eager for him to dive back in to an issue that Europeans and many moderate Arab leaders see as a rallying cry for extremism and anti-American sentiment. Their biggest worry: they see any hope for peace slipping away.


Palestinian president welcomes Obama's visit to Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 13, 2013 - 1:00am


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Tuesday a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Middle East region slated for next month. "We welcome this important visit for Obama, and also the U.S. efforts to break the ice in the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel," Abbas said following a meeting held here with U.S. Consul General Michael Ratney in Jerusalem.


PA official: Israel continues to withhold tax revenue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 13, 2013 - 1:00am


Israel is still withholding Palestinian tax revenue breaching the 2004 Paris agreement, an official in the Palestinian Ministry of Finance said Tuesday. Spokesman Rami Mahdawi told Ma'an that the ongoing breach "confirms that Israel is going on with its piracy on Palestinian money."


How a liberal Zionist watches Five Broken Cameras
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) January 31, 2013 - 1:00am


  J.J. Goldberg intriguingly writes that of the two documentary films from Israel and Palestine currently nominated for an Academy Award - The Gatekeepers and Five Broken Cameras - both are “painful to watch” but The Gatekeepers is “much harder.”


'No place in Israel for Palestine,' says Naftali Bennett in maiden Knesset speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - February 13, 2013 - 1:00am


In his first address to the Knesset, Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett on Tuesday rejected any possibility of an agreement that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "There's no place in our small and stunning piece of God's country for another state," he said. "It won't happen. But friends, before any debate about territory, it must be said: The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. Now let's argue." Bennett also referred to his commitment to making the defense burden more equitable.



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