July 15th

Asali: Palestinians Support Abbas' Referendum Plan By Huge Majority In Print by Ziad Asali - Council On Foreign Relations (Interview) - June 1, 2006 - 12:00am Ziad J. Asali, president and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, a group dedicated to setting up a state of Palestine alongside that of Israel, says that the call two weeks ago by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a referendum by Palestinians on whether to proceed with negotiations for a two-state solution with Israel has energized many Palestinians who had earlier believed he was too weak. » Read more

On Solid Ground In Print by Ziad Asali - Al-Jazeera English (Opinion) - March 14, 2007 - 12:00am Guess which is the only Arab government that does not accept the Arab League peace initiative on Palestine? For more than a year now, it has been the government in Palestine. Needless to say, Israel has yet to accept it either. » Read more

Accepting The Other In Palestine In Print by Ziad Asali - The Daily Star (Opinion) - April 30, 2007 - 12:00am Drums of war were beating in early June 1967 in the waning days of my internship at the American University of Beirut hospital. We were excited at the prospect of a just war that would liberate Palestine, allowing those of us who became refugees in 1948 to go back to our homes. We were also fully confident of victory against the small Israeli Army. » Read more

A Paradigm Shift In Print by Ziad Asali - Common Ground News Service (Opinion) - May 2, 2007 - 12:00am A recurrent excuse that has acted as an obstacle to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the years is that of either the political weakness of the Israeli leader or the political irrelevance of the Palestinian leader, whomever they may be. The underlying assumption of these excuses is that the Israeli and Palestinian publics would not support the peace overtures of a weak Israeli or Palestinian leader. Such an assumption, however, could not be further from the truth. » Read more

The Palestinian Plight In Print by Ziad Asali - The Washington Times (Opinion) - June 17, 2007 - 12:00am Forty years ago this month, Israel stunned the Arab states in six days of war whose consequences are yet to be resolved. Hamas' version of its own six-day war has created new political realities that may be with us for some time to come. Negotiations, conferences and meetings of diplomats and pundits flying around the world will do very little to undo the new realities if we dither and lose the opportunity this crisis presents. » Read more

Let's Conspire To Defuse Religious Conflict In Print by Ziad Asali - The Daily Star (Opinion) - August 9, 2007 - 12:00am Those who define the war on terrorism as a religious conflict between Islam on the one hand and Christianity and Judaism on the other play right into the hands of Al-Qaeda and the present leadership of Iran. The ultimate success of the planners of the September 11, 2001, attacks was to initiate such a religious conflict and to define themselves as the true Muslims fighting the "infidels," in other words Christians and Jews. A Holy War is what Al-Qaeda wanted in order to achieve power and a Holy War is what it should be denied. Its adherents should be isolated, discredited and defeated. » Read more

Challenges Facing The Palestinian-american Community In Print by Ghaith al-Omari - The Jordan Times (Opinion) - September 23, 2007 - 12:00am As Palestinians struggle with the implications of the recent Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian-American community must decide for itself the vision for a future Palestine it embraces, and the way it seeks to partake in its achievement. » Read more

Engaging Hamas: The When And The How In Print by Ghaith al-Omari - The Orlando Sentinel (Opinion) - October 10, 2007 - 12:00am The Hamas takeover of Gaza in June and the resulting West Bank-Gaza split has raised serious questions. What are the short-term prospects for reunification? Can serious political progress be made with Israel without Palestinian reconciliation? What are the elements of a successful and lasting future reconciliation? » Read more

The Annapolis Summit In Print by Ziad Asali - The Washington Times (Opinion) - November 5, 2007 - 1:00am The skeptics have unassailable arguments: History and a consistent record of failure are on their side. Weak Israeli and Palestinian governments, an American president in the last stretch of his second term, dysfunctional Israeli and Palestinian body politics, and cynical media coverage all dampen any reasonable expectations of success for the Middle East summit in Annapolis. » Read more

Op-ed: Mideast-the Definite Conflict In Print by Ziad Asali - Middle East Times (Opinion) - November 8, 2007 - 1:00am It has festered for decades and has been at the core of other related conflicts across the Middle East that threaten global peace and security. Although the contours of its ultimate resolution have been known for sometime, the efforts to bring it about peacefully by creating a state of Palestine alongside Israel have been stymied by political forces on all sides that have exercised veto powers to block it. » Read more