March 17th, 2010

US-Israel crisis — this time it's serious Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Arab News - March 17, 2010 - 12:00am Tension between the United States and Israel went up a notch on Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said construction in occupied East Jerusalem would continue as usual. "Construction will continue in Jerusalem as has been the case over the past 42 years," Netanyahu told members of his Likud party. » Read more

March 15th

Hillary Rodham Clinton's harsh words stun Israel Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Los Angeles Times - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am Beginning as a spat over a single housing project, a dispute this week between the Obama administration and Israel has ballooned into the biggest U.S.-Israeli clash in 20 years, adding to months of strain between Washington and one of its closest allies. Israel's decision to move ahead with 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, drew criticism from Washington in language rarely directed at even Iran or North Korea. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Israel's announcement "was an insult to the United States." » Read more

March 12th

Joe Biden delivers 'hardest truth' in Israel Media Mention of ATFP In Politico - March 12, 2010 - 1:00am Vice President Joe Biden departed from Israel Thursday leaving behind a raging controversy over the consequences of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists was the unintentional embarrassment of the highest-ranking member of the Obama administration to visit his country. » Read more

Washington is the indespensible partner for a settlement Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Daily Star - March 12, 2010 - 1:00am The situation facing Israel, the Palestinians and all other interested parties, especially the United States, is difficult, but it also presents important new opportunities. Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians may resume soon, although continued disagreements over Israeli settlement building may yet derail this. » Read more

March 9th

New talks may be Mitchell's moment Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - March 8, 2010 - 1:00am For much of the past year as he has shuttled dozens of times to the Middle East and Europe quietly trying to persuade Israelis and Palestinians back to the peace table, U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell has borne the brunt of criticism of both those offended by the Obama administration’s early pressure on Israel to halt new settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and others disappointed that Obama failed to follow through when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to stop the new construction as a precondition for negotiations. » Read more

February 16th

Palestinians reverse on terror victim Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - February 15, 2010 - 1:00am In a highly unusual step likely to come as a significant relief to U.S. officials, the Palestinian Authority has quietly paid an undisclosed amount to settle a lawsuit by the widow of an American killed in Israel in 2002. » Read more

February 12th

Bit of a Stir as Clinton Strays From Script on Mideast Peace Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The New York Times - February 4, 2010 - 1:00am With an inadvertent bit of shorthand, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton set off a buzz in diplomatic circles on Wednesday, and may have offered a glimpse into how the Obama administration hopes to revive the stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Answering a question at a news conference about how the talks might be revived, Mrs. Clinton said, “Of course, we believe that the 1967 borders, with swaps, should be the focus of the negotiations over borders.” » Read more

February 4th

'Making Sense of the Arab-Israeli Nightmare' Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Washington Report On Middle East Affairs - September 1, 2008 - 12:00am IN A JUNE 27 panel entitled “Making Sense of the Arab-Israel Nightmare” held at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, speakers discussed the lessons to be learned from past administrations and prospects for the Bush administration in its final months, as well as prospects for the next administration. Ghaith al-Omari, a former policy adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Daniel Levy, former senior policy adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office, and Aaron Miller, author of The Much Too Promised Land, addressed the Arab-Israeli conflict largely as an inherited problem. » Read more

February 2nd

Obama's Middle East Strategy Stalls Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Voice of America - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am From the beginning of his administration, U.S. President Barack Obama said resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be a top foreign policy priority. After nearly 10 months of diplomacy, however, the peace process appears to be stalled and no negotiations are on the horizon. Some Middle East analysts say the failure to make progress is due, at least in part, to missteps made by the Obama administration. Last January, on his second full day in office, President Obama named a special envoy to the Middle East as part of an effort to rejuvenate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. » Read more

January 28th

PA issues 2010 state-building budget Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - January 27, 2010 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority has issued a 2010 budget document laying out a state-building plan. Palestine: Moving Forward: Priority Interventions for 2010, issued this week by the Palestinian Authority finance and planning ministries, is a Palestinian state and institution building program that complements the diplomatic process the Obama administration is trying to revive, the American Task Force for Palestine's Hussein Ibish told POLITICO. » Read more