Jerusalem Diary: Monday 21 September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Tim Franks - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

It's one of the grandest geo-political entities of them all, every word capitalised … The Middle East Peace Process. But its current progress, or signal lack of it, has been hanging on something rather more lower case - whether Israel is prepared, for a few months, to stop giving out new permits for construction in West Bank settlements. Dani Dayan believes it's not so much mundane as barmy. He's the Chairman of the Settlers' Council. "Two pandemics are running wild all over the world," he says. "The first is swine flu, the second is 'settlement psychosis'."

»

Commentary: Middle East tunnel vision
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI)
by Arnaud De Borchgrave - (Editorial) September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

The only bank this Rothschild ever owned was the West Bank. Danny Rothschild, an Israeli general and onetime coordinator of all government activities in the occupied territories, and now one of 1,200 former intelligence officers in Israel's Council for Peace and Security, says the Palestinians should be allowed to have their capital in Arab East Jerusalem. The very thought of allowing Palestinians to set up a government where 200,000 Israeli settlers moved in since the 1967 war, when Israeli forces "liberated" East Jerusalem from Jordanian rule, is sacrilegious.

»

Settling for Failure in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Stephen Walt - (Opinion) September 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Like so many of his predecessors, President Obama is quickly discovering that persuading Israel to change course is nearly impossible.

»

Parties bargain ahead of peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Like its predecessors in trying to solve the vexing riddle of Middle East peace, the Obama administration has sought to manage expectations for progress. But despite the best efforts of Washington, parties on all sides of the conflict now anticipate an early moment of truth for the young administration: the possibility that President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will announce an agreement next week, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting, to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

»

PA Cabinet maintains hope for Obama peace efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

In their Monday meeting the West Bank cabinet ministers expressed positive sentiments around current US efforts to halt settlement construction and limit Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas. In a statement summing up the proceedings of the meetings, ministers expressed their hope around the visit to the region of US Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell this week. The cabinet said the visit indicates the serious of the US administration around re-launching the peace process.

»

Israeli peace groups target US fundraising
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli peace activists are planning to ratchet up their campaign against groups in the United States that raise money for settlers by highlighting how tax exemptions are helping to fund the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Gush Shalom, a small peace group that advocates Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories, is preparing to send details to the US tax authorities questioning the charitable status of several organisations.

»

Editorial: It’s time for action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Opinion) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Egypt has been quietly negotiating between Israel and Hamas for the release of Hamas prisoners held by Israel and also for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006. A deal appears imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was also in the Egyptian capital a few days earlier and is expected there again this week. Neither of the two men would have turned up there if there were still a mountain of details to climb.

»

U.S. Mideast efforts impaired amid Palestinian, Israeli infighting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Power struggles and partisan frictions within Israel and among the Palestinians have become a hindrance to the peace efforts in the region, including an on-going Mideast tour by U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Mitchell, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, expected to strike a deal during his visit on an Israeli settlement freeze and revival of the stalled peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis.

»

Israel: Won't accept 'complete freeze' on settlement building
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that there will not be a complete freeze on settlement building and that building in Jerusalem will proceed as usual. "The Palestinians expect a complete halt to building; it is now clear that this will not happen," Netanyahu said, "Jerusalem is not a settlement and the building [there] will continue as normal." While speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset, Netanyahu spoke about progress made in regards to the peace process as well as the U.S. demand to freeze building beyond Israel's Green Line.

»

Mubarak: Stop attempts to judaize Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel to halt "all settlement activity" and warned of the dangers it posed in Jerusalem, in talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo on Sunday. Mubarak "called on Israel to stop all settlement activity, including 'natural growth' settlements," presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said. The president "also urged (Israel) to stop attempts to judaize Jerusalem, warning of the dangerous consequences to peace efforts and highlighting the sensitivity of the Jerusalem issue to the Arab and Islamic worlds," Awad said.

»


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